The Grange Rock Drums

Spitfire samples rock history with three legendary drummers recorded at one legendary location. Creating a new benchmark in drum sampling, this is an anthology of playable kits and an exhaustive selection of searing loops all with sympathetic mixing options.

In what has to be the most historic set of recordings made for a sample library to date, Spitfire presents three legendary drummers recorded in one legendary location, Headley Grange. Anyone with a modicum of historical rock music knowledge knows that this former Victorian workhouse, a private ” some say haunted ” residence nestled in the heart of England' rural Hampshire, has played host to some of the most influential Sixties and Seventies recording artists that England has produced, with fellow Brits Bad Company, Fleetwood Mac, and Genesis all spending some productive time there.

This unassuming family home really made its mark on the rock music map with the timely arrival of the legendary Led Zeppelin, who made some remarkable recordings there when writing parts of their eponymous Led Zeppelin III and Led Zeppelin IV albums, as well as their Houses Of The Holy and Physical Graffiti fifth and sixth album follow-ups, between 1970 and 1975.

Indeed, it was here in 1971 that producer Andy Johns and drummer John Bonham conspired to create what has come to be regarded as the definitive rock drum sound for Led Zeppelin IV, When The Levee Breaks. Sampled (early on by British synthpop pioneers Depeche Mode and many more since) and long since imitated on a legion of rock recordings, Roger Taylor of Queen ” no stranger to distinguished drumming himself ” has described it thusly: œIt was the benchmark ” the sound that so many people strived for. It just sounded like thunder. We were like, ˜Wow!™

It has been 40 years since the house was used for such thunderous activity so it is with great honor that Spitfire Audio were invited in to make one last set of recordings. With such a historic burden resting on their shoulders Spitfire assembled the best cast and crew for such an endeavor.