The 1980s were a turning point for drum sounds. From the rise of drum machines to the explosive power of digital reverbs, the decade introduced textures and production techniques that would define pop, rock, and beyond for years to come.
In part two of our '80s episode of Drums Through the Decades, Jessica and Noam dig into two iconic recordings that show just how dramatically the drum world evolved during this era: The Police’s "Every Breath You Take" and Guns N’ Roses’ "Paradise City."
By the mid-’80s, recording technology was evolving fast. With studios now chaining together multiple tape machines, engineers could push sessions to a whopping 48 tracks, opening the door to a new mentality: record everything separately, process everything individually.
On "Every Breath You Take," Stewart Copeland’s parts were built piece by piece—a programmed Oberheim DMX kick drum, a snare recorded in a cavernous dining hall, and carefully overdubbed hi-hats and cymbals. The result blurred the line between machine and human performance.
To recreate this sound, Jessica and Noam took the same approach. They started with a sampled DMX kick, then tracked the snare and toms with heavy room mic compression and just a touch of digital reverb to mimic that massive natural space. Finally, they overdubbed hi-hats and cymbals, EQ’ing them so they cut through like in the original. The end product captures the exact uncanny precision that defined mid-’80s pop production.
If The Police were about restraint, Guns N’ Roses represented pure excess. On Appetite for Destruction, producer Mike Clink and drummer Steven Adler went for a stadium-ready sound, using digital reverbs to make the snare feel like it was echoing endlessly through a packed arena.
From the precision of The Police to the bombast of Guns N’ Roses, the 1980s set the template for modern drum production. Jessica and Noam’s recreations show how these techniques still resonate today—and hint at what was coming next in the ’90s with bands like The Pixies and Dinosaur Jr.
Watch the full video above to see how Noam and Jessica create both songs in the studio step by step, and download the free sample pack by clicking the listing card above.