Toontrack Area 33 SDX is a new expansion for Superior Drummer 3 produced by some of the original Drumkit From Hell team – Meshuggah guitarist Fredrik Thordendal and producer/mixer/engineer Daniel Bergstrand.
Marking the sixth and final release of this year’s Metal Month campaign, Area 33 is a monster of a metal-related SDX weighing in at an immense 180+ GB. It was recorded at Fredrik Thordendal’s personal studio 33 in Stockholm, Sweden. This studio, which Thordendal and Bergstrand built from the ground up, was designed with the goal of creating the epitome of a drum room: spacious and reverberant but at the same time profoundly precise, direct and controlled.
With its seven contrasting and complementing kits, extensive pool of additional drums and virtual forest of cymbals, the Area 33 SDX presents a massively broad palette of raw and unadulterated drums that you can hone, shape and mold using the limitless framework of Superior Drummer 3. These are not your average, everyday kits – several of them boast up to eight toms, double bass drums and 15 cymbal slots.
In addition, this SDX was captured using what is beyond traditional in terms of microphones. Each kit was recorded using the classic close-mic technique but, in addition, with an extra set of microphones on each position. This means that each drum and cymbal is represented by both a mono as well as a stereo pair of microphones, allowing you to sculpt tones beyond what you thought possible. Finally, to capture the essence of the room and to give you even more options, 11 ambience microphones (of which seven are in stereo) were recorded.
The result is a collection that delivers endless possibilities of shaping drum mixes beyond what you thought possible.
Pricing & Availability
The Area 33 SDX is priced €165 and requires Toontrack’s Superior Drummer 3 drum production software.