"The Trooper" Iron Maiden Isolated Drums

My post regarding the isolated guitar tracks from Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" drew a great response yesterday, so here's the isolated drum track as well. Who knew there were so many Maiden fans out there? Here are some things to listen for.

1) I'm not sure how the drums were recorded, but the sound is very "old school" in that it almost sounds like a stereo pair of overheads and a kick drums mic, perhaps augmented with a snare mic. The toms sound a little distant compared to the kick and snare, which is usually a sign that most of the sound coming from overheads.

2) There's not a lot of snap on the snare, which indicates that a bottom mic probably wasn't used.

3) The performance is fairly consistent, but there are a few fills (like around 2;05) that seem rushed. That being said, this is a very complex beat that drives almost non-stop for 4 minutes. You've probably never heard anything seem rushed in the song when listening with the rest of the instruments, which is why it's so dangerous to listen to isolated tracks in the studio while you're recording. You can always find something not to like about an other otherwise great performance.

4) There's a lot of reverb on the drums, but it never gets in the way because both the high end and low end is filtered. This is a great trick that used to be a lot more commonly used than it is today.

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