I love Questlove's drumming. It's always so tasteful and simple, but has a great feel. He never tries to show off or take the spotlight, but always plays what fits the song
The drum sounds came from Tony Williams (Cantaloupe Island) and Harvey Mason (Chameleon). Both legends would deserve their own episode on this channel.
What a work!!! You really capture de sound of Quest Love, kudos for you hardworking and explaining the details and the steps for learning a have fun to play this. Thanks and good vibes,, salute from Barranquilla, Atlántico/ Colombia 👍👏🤟
Props to David Ivory and Jon Smeltz, the Roots’ engineers. But, the drums on the original recordings have nothing to do with the small kit ?uestlove now offers. If you look at his current live kit or pictures of them in the studio back then you see that he plays a larger, more standard sized kit.
Quest started on the scene with a 26" bass drum and a piccolo (3.5-4" depth by 14") snare. The little drums are more for working/busking in big cities like NYC.
These videos really do show up Andertons' "Sounds Like" series. They don't even try and get remotely close... The Neil Peart video was just a big drumkit. Everyone complained in the comments.
Questlove almost never plays rimshots? It sounds to me like he does. And like someone else said, on all these classic tracks he played a standard sized kit with a cranked, often ringy snare. A big part of the sound is the retro recording, with fewer mics and valve style processing (mic/pres and compressors).
Request: Try to replicate Simon Phillips' drum sound! From Toto over Protocol to The Who, Judas Priest, Derek Sherinian & Michael Schenker… The Man is an absolute legend! (But getting a drum set like his signature kit could be quite a challenge…)
I will proudly and confidently say if anybody knows Questlove sound other than Questlove it's me and it is obvious these guys were on point with recreating the sound and using the correct mics and recording technique! From Philly and was introduced to The Roots in 1993 and trust me it was not cool to be a fan of Questlove for many years even after their fourth album came out! Those who know what's up realized that Questlove was phenomenal and had one of the best drum sound ever at that point but almost no one was naming him their favorite drummer and you would almost get laughed at if you brought his name up 😂 luckily that rightfully changed and the guy has a drum set named after him.
I remember hearing Things Fall Apart when it came out and being really surprised that it was a drum kit and not a drum machine. I think over the years his desire to improve as a musician has been hampered by his other obligations; DJing, producing, and loads of TV, but he is kind of the Godfather of the modern hip-hop, breakbeat style drummer. Other players like Chris Dave and Anderson Paak have taken it much further, but before Questlove hip-hop rarely had a live drummer. Obviously, he is drawing a lot from Clyde Stubblefield and James Gadson, but with a very modern twist and very different production. I think his strengths are his minimalism, his arrangement of the grooves, his unbelievable consistency, his willingness to play for the song, and his amazing tone. Not all drummers are flashy but if you love The Roots' music you will know what he brings. If not, it might seem like he's not doing much.
