Mr. Dive indeed is a big Cars fan, and is a super-sleuth when it comes to tracking anything music-wise things down--it didn't take him long to unearth the following for those of us interested in Robinson's cymbal sound...It is by far the best lead I've seen on the topic but I still can't quite figure why they sound so unique-- perhaps mixing, perhaps technique...
http://dailyeventsbookpagethree.blogspo ... -1982.html
"As for David Robinson, he has two matching Slingerland sets, "one's chrome and one's red." He also uses timbales, a Ludwig snare drum, Sonor foot pedals, Ludwig cymbal stands, Zildjian cymbals -14" high hats, 14" thin crash, 16" medium crash, 18" medium crash, 22" ride and one which varies from year to year, though it's generally a 16" swish. His drum heads are all Remo Ambassador all-white rough coats, except for the timbales, which take Remo Diplomats. Robinson also uses two drum machines, the Roland TR-808 and "one which is the cheapest you can buy." He also has two Syndrum boards. "One is the newest model, and the other is one of the first ones, which has been modified to do different things," Robinson also has a switching system set-up in his drum kit that activates the syndrums without his having to turn around. It was designed by Robinson, his drum roadie Hegg, and other members of the Cars crew,
If all that equipment isn't enough for you, there's the new studio. "It was another studio before this," Ocasek explained, "but it was only the one room upstairs. We ripped all the walls out, rewired it, built a room on the back and did all this down here." The studio now boasts a control room, main studio, drum room, guitar/reverb room (dubbed the "loud" room because, as Robinson put it, "it sounds like a little gymnasium") and a lounge. All are wired so you can plug directly into the board, and there's even a set-up for closed-circuit TV, so those in the downstairs rooms can see those upstairs, and vice versa."