To rewind to the very beginning, how and when did you discover you had an interest for music and recording?
Early on, in my high school days, my friend Mitch Marlowe had a cool little four-track machine, and he would record bands. At that time, I had no idea about anything related to recording. I just wanted to slap the bass, and rock, haha! After being in a couple of bands back in NC, I moved to San Diego. It was in San Diego where I decided to take a community college course about recording. That only really consisted of MIDI, keyboards and sequencing. But, I was good at it, so I made the decision to continue the recording path and see where it would lead me. Fast forward and I ended up cutting my teeth at a couple studios in Hollywood, – and it was all downhill from there. Haha!

How did you first cross paths with Dirk?
The way I remember it, I met Dirk through his wife Hannah (the famous rock photographer). I had needed a guy to come play drums on some Danzig stuff, so knowing Dirk was a drummer, I hit him up. Dirk showed up to East West Studio 2 – and killed it – and we just hit it off. A guy like that, who’s beyond professional and easy to work with, of course you’re going to end up being long-term homies! I had no idea that a few years later, I’d be working with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, and that sooner or later, Dirk would be sitting at the drum set again.

What was your overall aim with the sounds and the project on a whole?
I wanted to capture an EZX that was fundamentally useful to producers and engineers, but also accessible to the bedroom musicians. What that really means is that I wanted to capture quality instruments (mostly Tama and Meinl – tuned by the great tech Dave Vanderlinde), struck properly (Dirk), with great mics (Austrian Audio, Shure, Neutrik, Sennheiser), in a great room (One On One, Studio A). I barely used any EQ over the entire session full of mics. I think maybe I rolled a little low end of the hat mics, but that’s it. The point is, this sample pack will respond well to EQ and post processing by the user because the phase hasn’t been jerked around by a bunch of on-the-spot EQ decisions during recording. Over years of mixing other artists’ records, it’s sometimes tough to chase a tone when other tonal decisions have already been recorded to tape. With this pack, you get a blank slate, which I think is reflected by my range of presets.

THE MIXER & THE PRESETS.

In addition to the presets created by the Toontrack sound design team, Chris Rakestraw has contributed with a broad collection of presets representing each kit and a wealth of styles. With each preset featuring its unique set of channels and macro controls, you’ll be able to fine-tune individual instrument levels, adjust the effects used behind the scenes, the overall saturation amount and more to make sure the final sound perfectly locks in with the song you’re working on.