￥“I’ve always thought of my drums as an orchestra. I like to create a melody with my drums when I play. I like to make them sing.”

 

Tony Allen needs no introduction. He revolutionised the musical landscape of an entire continent influencing the course of Western pop music. Born in Lagos in 1940 Tony never took up traditional African percussion. Listening to the recordings of the great American bebop drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach, he invented a technique that he gradually refined by honing his command of the cymbals, in particular the hi-hat, little used by African drummers – and the tom-toms.

 

The kit used was Tony’s Pearl Masters Premium Studio kit. This is Tony’s main kit that he has been using for years. It comes with a 22″ kick drum, 12″ and 13″ rack toms and a 16″ floor tom.

 

We used two snare drums, a Pearl Masters Premium (14″ x 7″) and a Tony Allen custom snare (14″ x 5″). The cymbals we user were an HHX stage 16″ crash, an HHX 20″ stage ride and some Zildjian New Beat 14″ hi-hats. This all makes up Tony’s main recording kit. Of course it wont sound much like Tony’s kit without him playing it.

 

Pearl is a Japanese company that began in 1946 with the focus on drum kits beginning in 1950. Today Pearl’s Taiwanese factories deliver all the kits worldwide. Their construction technique is known as Superior Shell Technology. Each ply is placed into a cylinder, and pressure is applied from both sides.While in the press, the shell is heated to bring the glue to a boil, which forces it through the wood grain and fuses the shells very tightly. The individual plies are scarf jointed, and all the seams are offset, resulting in a “seamless” drum which creates a drum shell of incredible strength. This kit is a Pearl Masters Premium made of Birch.

 

The One Shot Sample pack is our cheapest pack and a great pack for those who either just need one sample from each articulation (drum machine users) and no patches or for customers who want to check out the sound of this kit before purchasing any of the more expensive packs.