If ‘What More Do You Want From Me’ from Al Green’s 2010 release...

If ‘What More Do You Want From Me’ from Al Green’s 2010 release was recorded in 1973, it may have sounded like this. A simple, but groove heavy pattern that has two subtle sections, which are interlinked using tasteful fills.

Taken from the forthcoming Royal Drops album due out in December. Royal Drops is an album of 15 sweet soul drum tracks, engineered and performed by Timmy Rickard. Royal Drops takes its reference from the music produced at Royal studio in Memphis during the 1970’s. Home to legendary producer and founder of Hi Records, Willie Mitchell. The tracks are based upon recordings of Hi Record artists Al Green and Anne Peebles, with drummers Al Jackson JR and Howard Grimes providing their unmistakable grooves.

This release incorporates key components found in the classic Hi Records drum sound, including swung bass drum patterns, 8th note emphasis on the hi hats, classically simple drum fills and a few 6/8 drum grooves. A big reason why this drum style is so revered is because of the thoughtful simplicity in which Al Jackson JR and Howard Grimes composed their drum parts. Using that same ethos, Royal Drops will be perfect for a wide range of producers and composers who are looking for timeless grooves to get creative with.

Unlike the one microphone, large open room drum sounds coming out of Motown and Stax in the 60’s/early 70’s, Willie Mitchell preferred a small dry room, often using three or four microphones on the drum kit. The concept behind the mic positioning is unique to this release. We used four mic’s, each placed in carefully selected positions around the kit, so each mic captures the drum kit as a whole, meaning you can use any one mic as your drum sound, or you can blend some/all of the mic’s to create your ideal sound…