The very best sound: Direct to Disc

Keltner plays Paiste cymbals, Tutt A. Zildjians; the two brands sound very different. I played A. Zildjians in my younger years, switching to Paiste 602's in the mid-70's. Keltner is a master at drum tuning, his drums usually sounding great (though live I found his DW's to be too "ringy", LOTS of sustain). Tutt I never heard live, and his drumming with Elvis not to my taste (he's fine in the Roy Orbison tribute show).

Keltner has done far more recording than Tutt, and is a true musical artist, not "just" a drummer. Ry Cooder arranges his recordings around Keltner's availability. And then there was Leon Russell, who didn't care for his drumming. He asked Elton John to dismiss him from the recording sessions for their album together.

@tomic601, Tom and I really hit it off. I would always gravitate to his workbench when I went into Brooks Berdan, Ltd., where I would watch him find the problem in (often) Jadis amps. He is one of only two guys I would let near a Music Reference amp (the other being clio09). Both of mine (RM-10 Mk.2 & RM-200 MK.2) are unmolested, factory stock. The mods guys would perform on his amps drove Modjeski mad!

About Keltner and Tutt’s drums: in the 70’s (when the Sheffield albums were made) Keltner was playing double-headed (heads on both top and bottom of each drum) Pearl drums, Tutt single-headed (top/batter head only) Ludwigs. So their drum sound could not have been more different. Plus, they used different size sticks, and had different "touches".

Keltner came to Rock/Pop from Jazz, having been born in Tulsa and moving to Pasadena at a young age. His favorite drummer (one of mine too) is Roger Hawkins (The Swampers---the Muscle Shoals studio band, Traffic). To hear the father of Rock ’n’ Roll drumming, listen to Earl Palmer (Little Richard, The Wrecking Crew). I, along with lots of other drummers, used to go see him play live at Chadney’s Steak House in Burbank (which closed in the late-90’s), across the street from the NBC studio where The Tonight Show is taped.

Oh, and perhaps most important of all: Keltner favours metal-shelled snare drums (particularly brass), Tutt wood. Brass is brighter and wetter (more high-frequency ring), wood darker and drier (less ring). Of course, that is effected by the tensioning/tuning of the batter and resonant heads, the tensioning of the snare wires, and the amount of damping applied to the top/batter head, via absorptive pads (as Ringo preferred) or Moon Gel. John Bonham played his Ludwigs wide open (no damping), except for his bass (kick) drum.

To hear the difference between metal and wood-shelled snare drums, compare the snare sound on "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down" to the other tracks on The Band's brown album. To play the press roll on the former, Levon required the sensitivity and "wetness" of his old metal-shell Ludwig Supraphonic (those made prior to 1963 brass, '63 and later aluminum alloy). The wood-shell snare drum that was part of his stage set was too dry/dead to make for a good pr. That drum originally came with gut snare wires (as opposed to more modern metal), which, considering it's sound, it may have still been fitted with. VERY dry.