The 9 best studio session drummers in the world right now

9. Kenny Aronoff

The Rhythm Best in drums 2017 polls have received over 137,000 votes, and we're now ready to roll out the winners. The nominees were what we considered to be the drummers and gear that have excelled in 2017. Here, we present the best studio session drummers of 2017. First up we have Kenny Aronoff...

2017 highlight: While Kenny spends much of his time flying around America to play live shows with top acts such as John Fogerty, he still finds time to flex his considerable muscles both at his Uncommon home studio and studios across LA. This year alone Kenny’s recorded for Avril Lavigne, Pete Way of UFO and The NFL!

The MusicRadar Best in drums awards are brought to you in association with Allianz Musical Insurance - the UK's Number 1 Specialist Instrument Insurer (opens in new tab)

8. Jeremy Stacey

2017 highlight: While the King Crimson gig keeps Jeremy perfectly busy, you’ll still find him squirreled away in a studio somewhere with one of his vast collection of drum kits and bags of creativity, recording for top artists. A drumming highlight for 2017 has to be Jeremy’s contribution to Steven Wilson’s To The Bone record which, incidentally, also came second in this year’s Best drum album category (opens in new tab).

7. Geoff Holroyde

2017 highlight: Geoff has been rocking hard with Feeder for much of 2017, but in between he’s been plying his beats in the studio. A couple of highlights spring to mind: three tracks - Giants, New Day and Come On Love - recorded for Take That’s new album Wonderland; and When We Were Lovers, the uplifting opening track on Jack Savoretti’s fifth album Sleep No More.

6. Ralph Salmins

2017 highlight: Another drummer who splits his time between touring (with The Waterboys) and immersing himself fully in the studio world. Ralph’s 2017 schedule saw him darting between top studios like Air and Abbey Road, plus his own Bunker home studio, and sessions included a stint with the London Symphony Orchestra for Roy Orbison’s A Love So Beautiful and The Waterboys’ new one Out Of All This Blue.

5. Aaron Sterling

2017 highlight: Sterling’s 2017 credits make for mind-blowing reading. This year alone he’s added his discerning approach and tasteful beats to tracks by Lana Del Ray, Foreigner, Rascall Flatts, Niall Horan, John Mayer and Lady Antebellum. In the meantime he’s also helped create tracks for Boutique drum sample company That Sound.

4. Steve Gadd

2017 highlight: Steve spends more time on the road than he does in studios these days, but on the occasion where he does record drums it’s guaranteed gold. Our favourite Gadd takes this year were on the Steve Gadd/Chick Corea collaboration album Chinese Butterfly which is due for release at the start of January 2018.

3. Vinnie Colaiuta

2017 highlight: This year Vinnie lent his considerable studio experience to new music from bass legend Nathan East, ex-The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and Tomy Malm. Elsewhere you might have caught Vinnie on the road with the awesome Herbie Hancock.

2. Karl Brazil

2017 highlight: What hasn’t Karl done this year? Aside from playing live with both Robbie Williams and James Blunt, Karl has spent plenty of time in studios too. In fact, in the last 12 months alone he has appeared on four number one albums and six top ten albums! No wonder the vote count was so close between Karl and the guy in the top spot…

Winner: Ash Soan

2017 highlight: It’s no surprise that Ash has taken the studio session crown for a second year running. Whether he’s recording at Rak or nailing takes at his Windmill home studio, Ash remains the first-call for top producers. What’s more, he’s not afraid to share his drum sound secrets with his ever-growing Instagram fanbase.