Radiohead and Karma Police and the Drums

Dan recently worked on Pierce the Veil’s latest release Karma Police, their cover of a modern classic. We have an article about that here.

We thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at the original Karma Police.

Radiohead has always managed to combine a penchant for noise and experimentation with a surprising pop sensibility. Thom Yorke and Co. make interesting and catchy weird records. When The Bends came out in 1995, it was being played in every control room that was setting up for a rock session. A great record, and to my mind a better offering than OK Computer, which followed in 1997.

OK Computer was amazing sonically. More experimental than The Bends, OK Computer was a prickly, challenging listen. The big single on it was Karma Police, and it’s one of the more restrained recordings on OK Computer. It’s “Beatle-esque,” with harmony vocals, a bass drum combo that sounds and feels like Paul and Ringo, and a piano part in the chorus that’s a sweet bite of Sexie Sadie off The White Album.

The vocal performance... this too is a Beatle thing. John Lennon often used to record vocals very close to the mic and sing very quietly. The same thing is happening on Karma Police — the chorus is practically whispered, and it’s not until the vamp out at the end that Mr Yorke opens up and sings with a bit more power.

Quick idea to steal: The vocal on the vamp out has reverb on it, and the ‘verb itself has some additional effects on it. Love this idea - don’t effect the vocal, keep it clean and effect the effect.

I found two demo versions of Karma Police... and of course I ran them through the Puff Puff mixPass and the El Juan!

This first cut sounds like vocals, a guitar, and drums working in a rehearsal space. The song has a different structure and lyrics and it sounds like a very early workout of the tune.

This version is Thom Yorke singing with an acoustic guitar, and the song is basically all there — he’s even figured out the ending vamp.

Enough demos, let’s talk about the drums on the original recording.

Three Overheads = HUGE

Producer/engineer Nigel Godrich worked with Radiohead on Karma Police, and he tended to mic them using a spaced pair of overheads with a third mic right in the middle of the kit as well. Three Overheads.

Here’s a picture of drummer Phil Selway during Ok Computer sessions. They recorded in a mansion in England (actress Jane Seymour’s house), with big rooms, high ceilings and lots of stone and glass. Very reflective spaces.

The kit is mic’d with a spaced pair of what look to be vintage AKG C-12s and a Neumann M-49 in the middle. There are also some close mics on the toms.

Throw some compression on it and there you are: insta huge. Of course, there will be phase issues galore, but oh man! Crush that center mic with a limiter and you’ll get a heck of a huge drum sound.

The overheads to the left and right provide a little bit of left-right movement, and the mic and center pins the whole thing down. And that is the sound of Karma Police 1997. A simple, clever set-up.

What are the sheets or drapes around the kit doing? Not a whole hell of a lot. Probably just getting some of the high-end shizz off of things, but mid to lows is going through them like a rhino through a petunia patch.

VERY IMPORTANT: notice how they took pieces off the kit. One crash cymbal. No ride cymbal. One rack tom. This is a SUPER TIP.

Remember, toms and all drums resonate, and cymbals are highly reflective — they’re big metal plates. Want to clean up a drum set for a good sound? Take all the extraneous stuff off of it. If it’s not getting hit during that session, it shouldn’t be on the drum set.

This mic setup is similar to late 1960s early 70s drum setups, like the "Glynn Johns setup."

Glynn Johns = super influential engineer/producer.

His setup = A mic on the kick, another mic sort of low to the floor tom, and then a third mic somewhat higher and over the snare, but, and this is a BIG BUT, those last two mics have to be equidistant from the snare to keep the snare in phase.

This is the basic sound of Led Zeppelin, the Stones, the Who, etc.

People like to experiment with the Glyn Johns setup but it is hard to get a modern sound from it. First of all, Glyn was typically recording with great players in great spaces, and everything is easier when you have someone like John Bonham on the drum and you’re in the great hall of a mansion. Also, there wasn’t the fastidiousness that modern audio recording seems to wallow in. There was a time when being slightly flat was ok. Ahhh... the good old days.

Often, the Glyn Johns setup has to be augmented with more mics, because the hi-hat and snare are out of balance, the rack tom sounds thin, etc. Eventually, this method becomes basically multi-micing the drum set.

If you try this and you’re using two different mics for the overheads, remember to measure from where the diaphragm is and not from where the grill cover is, so you’ll cheat that measurement a bit. The times I tried (and then subsequently abandoned the Glyn Johns setup) I used a piece of string to get the distances right. You can also use a mic cable. I’ve seen people use tape measures and I think that’s ridiculous. Dude, it’s a drum set with gaffer tape all over it: we’re hitting it with sticks. We’re not trying to calculate the radar return of a stealth fighter.

Back to the Radiohead track, this is a lovely, huge drum sound and the technique used to get it would translate to virtually any room—even a cruddy sounding space in a basement.

As always, we love hearing from you all, we love hearing your thoughts and ideas.