Toontrack – Hitmaker SDX (SOUNDBANK)

 If the iconic tom streak in the middle of Phil Collins’ 1981 hit “In The Air Tonight” doesn’t give you goosebumps every time you hear it, then please check your pulse. While Collins certainly did wonders with sticks, the sound of this haunting drum recording—with its understated electronic elements, memorable tom sound, and massive snare drum with gated reverb—was largely Hugh Padham’s own. Indeed, through production and engineering credits that include a stellar roster of musical greats of the 1980s and 1990s, he created an approach to recording and mixing drums that influenced a generation of hits and can be heard even to this day.

Now that Toontrack and Hugh Padham are collaborating on the latest SDX for Superior Drummer 3, simply called Hitmaker, you can apply the same approach and the same epic sounds to your own recordings. Combining a collection of period-accurate acoustic drum kits, a good crop of classic drum machines, the undeniably great equipment and recording space of British Grove Studios (based in London and owned by Mark Knopfler), and Padham’s recording and engineering expertise, the Hitmaker SDX is a mouth-watering prospect. So, is it a hit?

Midi grooves and update for this library