“It wasn’t the mics or the compressors or the tape – it was the foot and his drum! That’s how you got that sound": Uptown Funk co-producer Jeff Bhasker on capturing ‘retro’ drum sounds

Superproducer Jeff Bhasker has been talking drums and how on Mark Ronson’s 2015 megahit, Uptown Funk, he managed to get an old skool sound on a track which still worked perfectly as modern pop.

He was interviewed for Mix With The Masters and the producer – who has worked with an array of A-list artists, from Kanye West to Harry Styles and Madonna – explained how it was important to get the drums right. 

He compared the process of taking a ‘dry’ drum sound and making it sparkle to that of one of the production legends. “It’s kind of like Phil Spector had that kind of effect. You’d go in the live room and it sounds like a live rehearsal and in there he’d have his reverb on it and everything and really make these magical sounds.”

“It’s a bit of a lost art,” he continued. “(These days) we deal so much in loops and this process is done beforehand. You can just take something or just the practice of sampling – there are loops, you just don’t have to clear and they’re just a little more generic and disposable.”

Jeff Bhasker recording drums with Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars | Sneak Peek - YouTube

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He also gave short shrift to micromanaging a modern drum sound. “Just the amount of work that goes into creating an ambience, having a certain amount of air and there are a various amount of mic-ing situations you can have on your drums. A lot of time, one mic, and a kick and a snare is the best sound.”

Bhasker also indicated that there were a couple more (very obvious) elements to making up the retro sound on the track.

“It really starts with the player. It really starts with the instruments – tuning the drums, having the drums aged or selected for a certain type of sound and the drummer is in the know about the sound he’s trying to (achieve). 

Bhasker recalls a session with the esteemed soul drummer James Gadson, who played with Bill Withers. “I saw him carry in his drum kit and set it up and he had a kick drum pedal and he tested it and it was like ‘that’s it – that’s the Use Me kick!’”

“It wasn’t the mics or the compressors or the tape – it was the foot and his drum! That’s how you got that sound. 

"It’s important to have a drummer who has in his mind an image of how these drums should sound once they’re recorded. It’s the difference between a drummer who knows how to project energy out into an audience and a drummer who can hold the energy back on a recording and unleash it gradually.”