There is arguably no drum fill in pop music thatās more iconic than Phil Collinsā epic break in his ubiquitous 1981 hit āIn the Air Tonightā. Behind the huge sound of Collinsā drums is a combination of quality gear, choice effects, and luck. It just might be the ultimate air-drumming song.
āIn the Air Tonightā marked Collinsā first solo single, having already established himself as a longtime member of Genesis. And with the song, Collins kicked off his solo career with a literal bang. Even Ozzy Osbourne, who fronted Black Sabbath and launched a successful solo career of his own, declared, āThat drum fill is the best ever ā it still sounds awesome.ā
While itās one thing to master air-drumming to āIn the Air Tonightā, itās another thing to conquer it behind the kit. Thanks to a recent instructional video from Reverb (see below), and a few pieces of recommended equipment (click on the links to check out the gear), you could master Collinsā massive sound in no time:
The Drum Kit
Taking on Phil Collins means taking on a lot of highly specific drums. Youāll need to clear some room in your rehearsal space for a Gretsch kit (āSquare Badgeā-era if youāre going for true vintage) and the key to the rolling fill of āIn the Air Tonightā: lots of toms. Reverb recommends 10-inch, 12-inch, 13-inch, and two 16-inch toms, all with their resonant heads removed. Itās a beast of a kit, but the break is mostly toms of different sizes.
Next, youāll want a Ludwig Supraphonic Snare, with the head heavily dampened. You can still have fun jamming the fill even without the aforementioned modifications to the toms and snare. But if youāre going for authentic tone replication, these are Collinsā trademarks.
Prior to 1986, Collins played Paiste and Zildjian cymbals, according to Drummer World. He then switched to Sabian, and a plethora of shapes and sizes: medium crash 20ā³, extra thin crash 17ā³, hi-hats 15ā³ ā china 20ā³ ā medium-thin crash 16ā³, china 22ā³, raw bell dry ride 21ā³.
The Effects
The particularly striking sound of the āIn the Air Tonightā fill is the gated reverb effect used on the drum take. It was also recorded through a bit of studio trickery and luck, using the reverse talkback microphone in the studio. Typically used for the musician in the tracking room to communicate with those inside the recording booth, engineer Hugh Padgham was startled by the sound created by the talkbackās inherent compression, which allowed the musician to be heard at a proper volume no matter where there were talking from inside the tracking room.
When Collins tracked drums for onetime Genesis bandmate Peter Gabrielās āIntruderā, he played through the reverse talkback, which led Padgham to rewire the talkback to be properly recorded. For collector enthusiasts, the recording console in question is the Solid State Logic 4000 mixing board. Padgham and Collins would use the SSL 4000 and its reverse talkback feature to obtain the āIntruderā sound. Lastly, sending your clean drum signal through good gated reverb, like the MXR M300, would also help in conjuring the tone, an effect often employed by Collins while in Genesis and throughout his solo career. Gated room microphones, such a Neumann tube mic, were also used.
For more tips on replicating Phil Collinsā āIn the Air Tonightā drum fill, check out Reverbās video below, followed by Collinsā live performance of the song at Montreux in 2004.