Toontrack has released the LA Sessions SDX, a Superior Drummer 3 expansion recorded by producer, engineer, and mixer Niko Bolas at The Village in Los Angeles. The library covers eight classic drum kits and one percussion combo kit, captured across four microphone positions in two rooms of the studio’s Studio D.
Bolas recorded the sessions in three spots within the main room: the piano area, the studio floor, and the riser. A fourth position used a sealed-off vocal booth for a contrasting, drier character. An extensive microphone setup was deployed across all four positions, including ambient mics capturing the resonance of the studio’s grand piano strings. The Village has operated as a major recording facility since the late 1960s, with Studio D serving as the primary tracking room for the expansion.
Several of the kits are personally owned by session drummers Bolas has worked with over the course of his career: Kenny Aronoff, Steve Jordan, Denny Fongheiser, Charley Drayton, Anthony LoGerfo, Russ Kunkel, and Stella Mozgawa. The eight main kits cover 14 kicks, 14 snares, 27 toms, 21 cymbals, and four sets of hi-hats. The accompanying percussion combo kit was sampled with both hands and mallets and contains djembes, klong yaw, doumbeks, tablas, and djun djun. Toontrack describes the combined palette as suited to jazz, acoustic pop, singer-songwriter, and rock applications. The expansion ships with 45 mix-ready presets programmed by Bolas and a collection of MIDI grooves and fills tailored to the kits.
The LA Sessions SDX continues Toontrack’s series of engineer-led SDX releases. Previous collaborators in the series include Tony Visconti, Sylvia Massy, Kevin Killen, Elliot Scheiner, James Farber, Frank Filipetti, Hugh Padgham, Al Schmitt, Bob Rock, Eddie Kramer, Michael Ilbert, Tom Dalgety, and Randy Staub.
Features
- 8 classic drum kits: 14 kicks, 14 snares, 27 toms, 21 cymbals, 4 sets of hi-hats.
- 1 percussion combo kit (hands and mallets): djembes, klong yaw, doumbeks, tablas, djun djun.
- Recorded by Niko Bolas in Studio D at The Village, Los Angeles.
- 4 room configurations: Piano Spot, Studio Floor, The Riser, Vocal Booth.
- Grand piano strings captured as part of the ambient mic setup.
- Kits sourced from Kenny Aronoff, Steve Jordan, Denny Fongheiser, Charley Drayton, Anthony LoGerfo, Russ Kunkel, and Stella Mozgawa.
- 45 mix-ready presets by Niko Bolas.
- MIDI grooves and fills tailored to the kits.
Price: $179 USD / €179 EUR. Requires Superior Drummer 3.
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