Photo above: Thomas Lowrey, Studio 1, Sunset Sound
On May 3, 2017 the Los Rios Rock School’s “Classic Album — Van Halen” group (kids from age 13-18), were invited to Sunset Sound, in Hollywood, California. There, Producer Warren Huart and his program, “Produce Like a Pro” (as seen on YouTube), was going to have our group recreate and re-record the debut 1978 Van Halen album in it’s entirety, exactly where it was created 40 years earlier! Warren had told us ahead of time that he had the original file from the folks at Sunset Sound, and the Van Halen recording sessions.
Photo above: thomasondrums with bass shredder, Ryan Poppenhagen prior to recording the VH recreation
Warren was going to use the same room (Studio 1) set-up, same mics and mic placement, same soundboard, and record the session live, with no over dubs. This session was also being filmed live for the program “Produce Like a Pro.”
Photo above: The original soundboard used by VH in Studio 1, Sunset Sound
Months before this event, the Los Rios Rock School held auditions for parts in their “Classic Album – Van Halen” show. At the audition, I played “I’m the One.” Following the auditions, I learned that I had been selected to play drums for this entire show. We rehearsed for over 3 months prior to playing this album live for the first time, at the Yost Theater, in Santa Ana, California on February 11, 2017. I was 13 years old, in the 8th grade. The show can be seen on YouTube: “Thomas Lowrey Drums Iso Cam.”
Photos above and below: The Los Rios Rock School “Classic Album – Van Halen” staff. All musicians were between 13 – 18 at the time of the recording.
Following that show, we learned that Warren Huart had invited us to Sunset Sound for this project. Prior to going to Sunset Sound, I did some research online, and was thrilled to read the names of so many world famous acts that had recorded in Studio 1: Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Oingo Boingo, Van Halen, and so many more. I walked into the studio at 9:30am, on May 3, 2017, less than 2 weeks after turning 14, and still in the 8th grade.
Photo above: Sunset Sound, Studio 1 – Geoff Neal and Warren Huart during the LRRS Van Halen recreation
The first thing I did was to walk around and take a look at this living museum of music history. It was awesome! The walls are lined with Gold and Platinum albums that were created there. I saw all the of Van Halen Platinum albums on the wall in the lobby, and it really was amazing to see! I met Warren Huart and Geoff Neal, the audio team for our project inside of Studio 1. Warren was a nice guy from England, that treated me so nicely all day.
Photo above: Thomas Lowrey & Warren Huart
Geoff made me feel comfortable right away. He told me that it would be a cool change for him to record some classic rock, as he had not done that in a while! I loaded- in my kit to Studio 1, in the exact spot that Alex Van Halen had his drums set up back when they made the album. When Geoff Neal came back in to mic up my kit, he said, “I haven’t had to mic up a kit this big since Slipknot!”
Photo above: thomasondrums with my kit in the exact spot that Alex Van Halen had his drums set up in Studio 1, at Sunset Sound in 1978!
I was getting more excited by the minute! Whenever I thought of the history of Studio 1, that Alex Van Halen had his kit exactly where mine was, it was mind blowing! I think any drummer would feel the same way.
Photo above: thomasondrums ready to go! Warren Huart asked me to add a snare dampener and I taped the hell out of my 16″ floor tom to help tone it way down.
Alex Van Halen had used a Ludwig double bass kit back in the day. I used my Pearl, Decade Maple kit (22″ kick, 8″, 10″, 12″, 14″ 16″ toms), I used Zildjian K cymbals, and various Zildjian accent cymbals (11 cymbals total), dw 5000 double pedal and hat pedal. When the kit was mic’d up, Warren and Geoff started to sound check. Warren noticed that I was playing my Pearl, 13″ Joey Jordison model snare. He wanted to use a 14″ snare. Lesson learned: Bring multiple snares to the studio! Since I did not bring my 14″ snare, they asked me to loosen the snares and add a ring dampener to the snare to dull the sound way down. Seeing my kit all mic’d the way they had it was awesome!
Photo above: the thomasondrums VH kit, was my Pearl Decade Maple kit with Zildjians all around. Some of the boom mics were the exact same mics used on Alex Van Halen’s kit in 1978! That was awesome!!
The remainder of the room was set up exactly as Van Halen had it. Looking out from my kit to my left was lead guitar, lead vocals straight ahead, and to my right, bass guitar. We recorded the album set list in order, as it is on the record. We played and recorded 3 full takes/songs for each of the 11 tracks on the album. And about 14 “Eruption’s.” Playing 33 songs and 14 intros in one day was a pleasure! We finished the recording around 2:00am on May 4, 2017. The entire album in ONE DAY, with vocals, back-up vocals and even the car horns blasting for the intro to “Runnin’ with the Devil.” After the recording was done, Warren asked me to stay longer, as he wanted to film an up close look at how they mic’d up my kit for the program video. I sat in the control room and watched them film that scene. Please check out YouTube “Warren Huart Produce Like a Pro” to see the first video released – and more to come – from this awesome event! My thanks to “Produce Like a Pro” Warren Huart, Geoff Neal, Van Halen, Sunset Sound, and Los Rios Rock School for this dream experience! – Thomas
