What drum machine did Clan of Xymox and Cocteau Twins use on their first albums?

I recall reading somewhere that the Cocteaus used an 808. It's all over the first few singles and Garlands especially.

Forget which drum machine (Boss Dr. Rhythm?) but think that big gated- snare sound is something off a John Bonham chip Robin Guthrie used to talk about at the time. Sounds like the notorious “When The Levee Breaks” snare.

Lots of other records had that sound c.'84-'86 ? but especially 4AD crew stuff. Got wearing after a while – “oh no, there’s that sound again!”… Ned knows what I’m talkin’ ‘bout.

Some drum machines keep repeating a hit if you hold a key/pad down, which may have led to the humourous overkill on “Persephone” and Dome’s “NA-DRM”.

Ned knows what I’m talkin’ ‘bout.

Yup. And it makes me happy. I am really a simple man.

Lots of other records had that sound c.'84-'86 ? but especially 4AD crew stuff. Got wearing after a while – “oh no, there’s that sound again!”… Ned knows what I’m talkin’ ‘bout.

Ah yes...the days before midi samplers, when people programmed a drum machine but got it to trigger sampled snare hits in an AMS or BEL digital delay. I vaguely remember how proud engineers were when they told you of some of the famous snare or bass drum sounds they could supply you with by this method. It was all so new then.

Martin Rushent's contribtion to The Human League springs to mind (Linn Drum I think). He kept it bass-y & dry...uncannily like he produced early Stranglers (I think...).

What I do find odd is that the loud gated snare & 'cracky' bass drum - clearly borne out of a drum machine's limitations - became imitated by producers working with real drums. Drums were SO loud in the '80s...& you just didn't notice it. Try listening to ABC'c Lexicon of Love...

What I do find odd is that the loud gated snare & 'cracky' bass drum - clearly borne out of a drum machine's limitations - became imitated by producers working with real drums.

The Linndrum supplied the user with a set of sounds typical of those that were in vogue at the time in certain circles (ie late 70s...West Coast Jazz-Fusion...Steve Gadd etc.). So the bass drum was already eq'd to sound clicky, but of course the engineers always wanted to add a second lot of eq so that clicky sound got exaggerated as the decade progressed. Digital reverbs were also new (AMS & Lexicon) and gave the engineer unprecedented control over reverb decay time, so that encouraged the overkill reverb on snares (and bass-drums and percussion...everything basically). But having said that, reverberant recordings were due a comeback anyway because the 70s were so close- miked and dry.

...reverberant recordings were due a comeback anyway because the 70s were so close- miked and dry.

Absolutely...'60s-style. I can't see how a close-miked kit (every single drum) can possibly replicate a live sound. We use 2 mikes: a basic vocal mike bnear the snare & a PZM on a block 1 foot or so away from the bass-drum. It takes 5 mins to set up & soundcheck...as long as the drums are in tune.

I've always had a bee in my bonnet about the way overall production went dry overnight in 1969 (coincidentally when all bands seem to have become blues-obsessed). All of the excitement went...along with the rim-shots...

In answer to the orig. question, I'm pretty sure that the drum machine on those early Cocteaus recordings is the E-Mu Drumulator (or possibly the E-Mu SP-12), with the John Bonham Chips option. Yep! When The Levee Breaks! That's the sound! It's certainly on Treasure- era Cocteaus discs. Also used on a few Trevor Horn things around the same time, I think (Close To The Edit, Owner Of A Lonely Heart). As to the current subject...yes, you can seem to pinpoint to almost the month when records started sounding bad. It's not just down to multitracking: the first 2 LPs to be recorded on 16 track (The Millennium's Begin & Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends) both sound extraordinary; multi-levelled, yet still full of depth & reverberation. So why did it happen? Perhaps studios started using their echo rooms for offices?

Also used on a few Trevor Horn things around the same time, I think (Close To The Edit, Owner Of A Lonely Heart).

It's a while since I heard those so I could be horribly wrong, but I would have thought it would have been a Fairlight on the Art Of Noise track, and I seem to remember OOALH sounded like it had real drums on it. But Drumulator for Cocteau Twins rings a bell actually.

So why did it happen? (unreverberant/close-miked drums)

It was a new way of recording drums that hadn't been explored before and people thought it sounded good. Actually it does...it makes the drums sound fatter. Then again anything can sound good if you've had ten years solid of whatever the opposite of it is.

FWIW, I had a TR707, and the drum sounds on "Tiny Dynamite" & "Echoes in a Shallow Bay" were damn near identical to that. I still have thee cocteaus rekords, but not the 707, so this only from memory.

The drum machine on Garlands is a Roland 606. It sounds a lot like an 808 only different. The drums on Treasure, etc. (I'm almost positive) are Fairlight (an early sampling unit that used a dedicated computer interface). Don't bother trying to find one. Yeah, the early Art Of Noise stuff used it t

Norman: ..."Tiny Dynamite"...

Ooh yes! I get to be pedantic! It's "Tiny Dynamine", actually.
:-)

I just met Robin Guthrie @ a Violet Indiana show this week in Portland. I asked him which drum machine was used on Treasure, and he verified that it was indeed an e-mu drumulator with Bonham samples. Very approachable guy. Great show, BTW...Jeff Brown