Love the sound she gets out of those drums. I'm not a musician so I have no idea what I'm talking about but I know what I like.
-mouser
She's a nice straight-forward drummer. Low on flash and high on good taste IMO.
The sound you're hearing is from a classic "old style" drum kit that's "close miked." In her case, they're made by Ludwig and have either 3-ply or classic maple shells. That gives them that organic and noticeably warmer more melodic sound than you'll hear from modern drum kits which now have shells made from fiberglass, other synthetics, or composites.
The newer materials make for drums that sound louder and are able project better. But they have a 'harder' sound that you either like or you don't. (I don't.)
The Stripes also have a preference for Sennheiser microphones (the e900 series plus the KM184) which contribute significantly to their sound. Sennheiser isn't the most common brand for miking drums although it is an excellent choice.
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re: Kim Deal
I can agree with her up to a point (being a "real" bassist myself - whatever
that means
) but I think it really depends on the group, the sound you're going for, and the song.
My take on it is that the bass serves the music, not the other way around. And I don't particularly care for what my GF refers to as "lead bass" players. In a power trio (like The Who) you may well need an Entwhistle to fill in the sound a bit. But for a regularly staffed group, too much bass just muddies up the waters.
One bass player who really "gets it" is Ronnie Blair of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Pick up a copy of
Damn the Torpedoes and listen to the understated elegance of his bass lines in
Here Comes My Girl,
Don't Do Me Like That,
Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid), and
Refugee and... Ah screw it! Just listen to the whole thing. Great classic rock songs with flat-out brilliant guitar and bass work. IMHO it just doesn't get much better than that for the genre.
Another truly great bass player is multi-instrumentalist Tony Levin. Tony is that rare bass player who is comfortable in any venue and with any style of music. A complete all 'rounder that runs the gamut from traditional "walking bass" to bleeding edge experimental - and somehow manages to remain enjoyably listenable no matter what he does.
Check him out onstage with Peter Gabriel playing his iconic bassline to
Sledgehammer.
(Note: for the bass connoisseurs out there - he's using a
Musicman Sabre Fretless Bass with a sub-octave effect plus a ton of compression on the board. I mention this because the "Sledgehammer growl" is one of the most sought after bass sounds ever recorded.)
Oh yeah!
