Official Virgil Donati thread

[Pocketplayer]

Some times Virg needs a break from all the downbeats
and has to relax...

[Morgenthaler]

Latest IceFish single

[Morgenthaler]

[Pocketplayer]

That song CRANKS! LOVE the graphic image whatever that is called
as in why can't all photos look like this??? What is that called?
Enjoyed Icefish as well...

Virg's snare lacks his POP...more a crack...miss the pop n crack

[Morgenthaler]

An absolute rarety! I might have to take this down, I don't know yet, so get it while you can

(audio only!) An monstrous display of chops from all players. A 2-hour onslaught. Brace yourselves

[Kurtis]

[Pocketplayer]

Dude is power waiting to explode! Snare drum is a POP ATTACK!
Easily the most athletic 60 yo around! Very different experience
here with VD. Very emotional/vulnerable. Something inspired this...
Artful expression.

[Rodge]

Damn, killer stuff right here !!!

Hey Jeppe, what's your favorite Virgil's sound ? I mean your favorite drum sound from him ? Premier ? Pearl ? DW ? Remo ?

Latest IceFish single

[Morgenthaler]

Damn, killer stuff right here !!!

Hey Jeppe, what's your favorite Virgil's sound ? I mean your favorite drum sound from him ? Premier ? Pearl ? DW ? Remo ?

Good question Rodge. There's definitely no straightforward answer to it. Also, different models sound very differently. Signias vs Genistas,
Masters Maple vs Mahogany etc.

I liked the gated Remo snare on Power Drumming (instructional video) and with Southern Sons

I also liked the Premier Signias, not so much the Genistas, with the important exceptions of Derek Sherinian's Planet X and OTV: Serious Young Insects,
though a big part of that was a handful of different Brady snares on top.

On Stretch, Virgil used a brass 14x6 Premier snare that really had a crack and a snap to save the world, likely a model very similar to this one:

With Pearl, I think he has been subject to a few bad mixes on albums, but live I always thought it sounded great.
I don't care for all the triggered Ring of Fire nonsense, nor the inexplicably bad mix on Planet X Quantum

The snare in this part of the Planet X rehearsal video is nice warm and punchy:

I like the sound of one of his old Aussie Pearl kits, the white one seen here:

And here:

I liked the slightly more boomy production on Soul Sirkus:

I love his DW snare here:

And in general I think, with his skillset as a video/audio producer growing demonstrably these past 5-7 years, he's able to produce
some great sounds out of his own studio, no matter which kit he's playing:

In short, I think Virgil sounds like Virgil on most drums. Even clips of him playing Yamaha, Sonor etc - heck, even on a towel...

[Paul Marangoni]

He gets those DWs to sound great. Chad Wackerman gets a good sound on them too, but Virgil is easily the best example for DW. They usually sound lifeless in anyone else's hands.