BFD Percussion | Frequently Asked Questions

• What is BFD Percussion?
• What are the system requirements? 
• The BFD Percussion sounds are recorded in a new room. Will I be able to blend them properly with my other BFD drum sounds?
• Why do some of the kit-pieces have "Kick" and "Snare" in their names?
• How were the kit-pieces recorded?
• Do you allow license transfers?

What is BFD Percussion?

BFD Percussion is an expansion pack for BFD3

What are the system requirements? 

The BFD Percussion sounds are recorded in a new room. Will I be able to blend them properly with my other BFD drum sounds?

Absolutely. In conventional recording situations, the drum room is not often used as the recording space for the other instruments, especially if an expensive, specialized drum room has been used. Percussion sounds are more suited to smaller, more intimate rooms.

BFD Percussion simply sounds great and sits well in any musical context.

Why do some of the kit-pieces have "Kick" and "Snare" in their names?

Certain instruments are presented as kicks and snares for several reasons. Firstly, they feature multiple direct microphones. Also, some kit-pieces were classified as snares because they required the extra articulations provided by snare slots for full expression.

In the case of instruments such as congas, 2 snare slots will be required for a set of two congas, if you need all the articulations available for both.

Bongo sets are classified as toms, and should be loaded into the tom 4, 5 and 6 slots if both of the two available articulations are required.

Most of the other instruments have two articulations and are classified as kicks, cymbals or percussion.

How were the kit-pieces recorded?

BFD Percussion was produced by John Emrich and the same team responsible for BFD Jazz & Funk Collection, at Omega Studios in Rockville, Maryland, USA. The session was recorded at Omega’s Studio B, the recording room measuring 27 ft. x 24 ft. with a 12 ft. ceiling. This room was chosen because the nature of the instruments demanded a smaller, more intimate setting. The sound characteristic of the room is very similar to that in Jazz & Funk Collection, so it’s perfect to use with it, although the instruments in BFD Percussion Collection sound great when mixed with any other BFD kits, or anything else for that matter!

The recording chain was set up for maximum detail, precision, and transparency: the aim was to capture the diverse instruments as naturally and accurately as possible.

Digidesign HD 192 A/D converters were used for all the channels. Royer 122 ribbon mics were used almost exclusively for the direct mics, capturing the harmonic intricacies of these organic instruments without coloring the sound. No additional processing was applied, except for some very subtle compression on the Room and PZM channels. The channels were set up as follows:

• Direct
  A Royer 122 was used for the direct signal. Instruments that are classified as kicks or snares also used either a second Royer 122, a Neumann U84, or a Neumann FET47. These mics were fed into a set of API preamps. There are no bleed channels, as only one instrument was recorded at a time.
• Overhead
  Pair of Neumann KM184s through Focusrite ISA 115 mic preamps.
• Room
  Pair of Neumann U89s, approx. 20 ft. from the kit, into Focusrite Red 1 preamps and an SSL FX G384 bus compressor (set to 4:1 ratio, 1ms attack, auto release).
• PZM
  Pair of Crown PZM 30Ds, approx. 18 ft. from the kit, through Focusrite Red 1 preamps and a pair of linked Urei LA4 limiters (set to 4:1 ratio, 9:00 threshold, and 10:30 on the gain - there were no units on the front panels!).
• A few final words from John:
  "When recording the plastic bucket, the last articulation recorded was the hit on the bottom of the bucket. It broke after two strikes. I then spent 20 minutes looking around the studio for another bucket. Keep in mind that it was two in the morning! I found another bucket outside that had been used for cement. I spent another 20 minutes chipping out the dried cement and began recording again. All of this to bring the sound of a plastic bucket to the world of BFD!
  "This is the first documented high definition recording of a kitchen sink, in all of its glory, and we used a Royer 122 to capture this momentous occasion. My wife, Leslie, was thrilled! She got a new sink."
  
   

Do you allow license transfers?

Yes, however:

• If you're the seller, you must contact us in advance of the sale. If you're a prospective second-hand buyer, you must check that the seller is cleared to sell. If in doubt, contact us.
• Review copies, NFRs (Not For Resale copies, sometimes used for in-store demos), etc., cannot be transferred under any circumstances.
• We reserve the right to refuse a license transfer request.

Once a transfer is authorized the new owner is entitled to exactly the same upgrade paths and technical support resources as if they had bought the product new. Please see our guide on License Transfers for more information.

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