60s Motown Drops features loops and hits inspired by the legendary Motown Records sound, engineered, performed and produced by Timmy Rickard. This album takes its inspiration from the sound of the 1960's Detroit era of Motown Records, when the 'Funk Brothers' were the main musicians behind this pioneering sound and style.

This release is influenced by artists such as The Four Tops, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight And The Pips. Motown Drops delves deep into the catalogue of this revered record label, and includes not only the Funk Brothers signature grooves, but also a wide variety of lesser known tracks, making this release as varied as it is classic.

To recreate the 60s Motown Sound is almost impossible. Kits varied from session to session but Timmy studied the sound and we think we have created a great representation of the sound. Recorded in a large live room at Livingston 1 studio in London, the room was mic’d up as if there was a full Motown band in the room – brass section, vocal mic, talkback mic and then two mics on the kit – a kick, and a kit mic placed above the bass drum, between the rack toms and below the ride. Mix these mics into a 60s kit and voila the Motown sound is created. For customers that purchase the multi-tracks you will have the audio from each microphone in the room so you can mix the sound exactly as you want it.

For the kit we used Timmy’s 1960s Ludwig club date kit with a 20” x 14” kick drum one 12” x 8” rack tom and a 14” floor tom. Four snares were used – two Ludwig Pioneer Snares, a Ludwig Hollywood Snare and a Slingerland Shelbyville Snare. We used two cymbals a Zildjian Trans Stamp and a Zildjian Constantinople Hammered cymbal (both doubled up as rides and crashes) and some Zildjian vintage hi-hats. Across the tracks there is tambourine, claps and congas. All the drums used Remo Ambassador heads.

Mic wise we used Neumann Valve U47’s & 67s, Coles ribbon mics, a Sony C38b and an AKG Valve C28. Mic pre’s used were UA2-610’s, Telefunken V76s and a Neve 1073. All of the mics were recorded without EQ or compression except the overhead microphone which used an EAR valve EQ and compressor. All of the tracks were recorded on to a 16 track Studer A80 2” tape machine and then transferred to Pro Tools for mixing and editing. The drum tracks were mixed in Livingston 2 on a Custom Series CS75 console powered by Neve which is a modern desk based on vintage Neve technology. Included in the stems is an EMT plate reverb stem used on some of the drum tracks.

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