# Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) Drum Setup — Joey Jordison's Gear Breakdown (2004)

> Complete breakdown of Joey Jordison's drum setup on Slipknot's Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses). Pearl Masterworks kit, Pearl Free-Floating steel snare, Paiste cymbals — Rick Rubin's production reveals the kit's true character on Slipknot's 3× Platinum #1 album.

**Type:** Album Drum Setup
**Drummer(s):** [Joey Jordison](/llms/drummers/joey-jordison.md)
**Band / Album:** Slipknot — *Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)* (2004)
**Genre:** Nu Metal / Alternative Metal

## Overview

Released on May 25, 2004, *Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)* marked a pivotal turn in Slipknot's career. After the deliberately abrasive chaos of *Iowa* (2001) — recorded with producer Ross Robinson in a state of psychological extremity — the band enlisted Rick Rubin for a production philosophy that prized clarity over noise. The result debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200, charted at #2 in the UK, and went on to be certified 3× Platinum in the United States. "Before I Forget" won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2006.

At the center of this transformation was Joey Jordison, whose drum performances on Vol. 3 reveal a player operating in a fundamentally different context from Iowa. Where Ross Robinson's raw capture buried the kit in a wall of noise, Rick Rubin's approach at Henson Recording Studios stripped away the surface aggression and exposed the underlying musicality — the swing within the blast beats, the precision behind the fills, the dynamics that Iowa's extreme recording environment had compressed into a single crushing mass.

Jordison expanded his kit configuration for the Vol. 3 sessions, moving to a five-piece tom setup to serve the album's wider dynamic range. The Pearl Free-Floating steel snare — a technically distinct instrument from his Iowa-era signature model — gave the snare a more open, sustained crack that sits in Rubin's mix differently from the triggered-and-tight Iowa sound.

This article breaks down the specific gear Joey Jordison used to record *Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)* and examines how Rubin's production philosophy revealed dimensions of his playing that Iowa's extreme recording environment had obscured.

## Gear Breakdown

- **Drums:** Pearl Pearl Masterworks Custom (Custom finish finish)
- **Snare:** Pearl Pearl Free-Floating Steel Snare, 14" x 6.5"
- **Cymbals:** Paiste — Paiste RUDE & 2002
- **Hardware / Pedals:** Pearl Demon Drive Double Pedal; Pearl Icon Rack System; Pearl H-2000 Hi-Hat Stand; Pearl D-2000 Throne; Promark Joey Jordison Signature TX515W
- **Heads:** Evans Genera HD (batter), Evans Hazy 300 (resonant)
- **Snare tuning:** Medium tension with moderate snare wire pressure — more open than Iowa tuning

### Pearl Masterworks: Expanded for the Subliminal Verses

Joey Jordison's Pearl Masterworks setup for *Vol. 3* built on the foundation of his Iowa configuration with a key expansion: a fifth rack tom at 16" added to the standard four-rack spread. This gave Jordison a fuller tonal range for the fills and dynamic passages that Rubin's production philosophy demanded. Where Iowa's six toms were often lost in the mix's wall of noise, the five-rack plus two-floor-tom spread on Vol. 3 is audible and orchestrated — each tom's contribution to a fill carries identifiable pitch and character.

The Pearl Masterworks' maple and African mahogany hybrid shells retained the attack and warmth that defined Jordison's sound across the Iowa era, but Rick Rubin's recording approach at Henson Studios allowed these shell characteristics to express themselves more fully. The mahogany content in particular — responsible for the lower-mid warmth that distinguishes the Masterworks from pure maple kits — is more audible on Vol. 3's recordings than on Iowa, where aggressive production choices compressed these tonal details into the overall sonic mass.

The double 22" x 18" bass drums remained the Slipknot standard, tuned for maximum low-end impact. Rubin's production treated the kick drums with more space in the mix than Iowa's approach, making the natural boom of the large shells more present in the final recording. The balance between triggered attack and acoustic resonance shifted toward the acoustic side under Rubin's guidance — a deliberate choice to expose the instrument rather than replace it.

The overall kit configuration for Vol. 3 reflects a player preparing for an album that needed to function at multiple dynamic levels: from the crushing double-bass aggression of "The Blister Exists" to the more restrained and melodic passages of "Vermilion Pt. 2" and "Circle."

### The Open Crack: Pearl Free-Floating Steel Snare

The snare choice for *Vol. 3* represented a departure from the Pearl Joey Jordison Signature model used on Iowa. Jordison used a Pearl Free-Floating snare in 14" x 6.5" steel for these sessions — an instrument with a fundamentally different acoustic character from his signature model.

Pearl's Free-Floating shell system suspends the drum shell between the top and bottom hoops without direct contact, allowing the steel shell to resonate freely without interference from the hardware mounting. The result is a more open, longer-sustaining crack than a conventionally mounted snare — and on Rick Rubin's Vol. 3 production, this openness is audible. The snare on tracks like "Duality" and "Before I Forget" has a rounder, more complex character than the tight, triggered snap of Iowa's snare sound.

The 14" diameter provided a fuller fundamental pitch than Joey's 13" Iowa signature snare — a broader sound appropriate to an album with more midtempo and melodic content. At 6.5" depth, the shell retained substantial body without adding the boominess of deeper drums.

Rubin's approach to the snare in the mix was to feature it as a musical element rather than a purely percussive weapon. The ghost notes and dynamics of Jordison's left hand — partly obscured on Iowa's recordings — are more audible on Vol. 3, made possible in part by the Free-Floating's more even response across stroke intensities.

### Paiste Refined: RUDE and 2002 Under Rick Rubin

Joey Jordison retained his Paiste RUDE and 2002 series cymbal setup for *Vol. 3*, but the different production environment changed how these instruments appear on the record. Under Rick Rubin's production at Henson Studios, the RUDE cymbals' raw, unlathed character comes through with more definition than on Iowa — the trash and shimmer of the Wild series is more audible as a distinct sonic element rather than merging into a general wash of noise.

The 2002 Power Ride plays a more prominent role on Vol. 3 than it did on Iowa, reflecting the album's broader range of tempos and the presence of sections where riding patterns are compositionally significant. Tracks like "The Nameless" and "Vermilion" feature ride cymbal work that Rick Rubin's production preserves as a melodic and textural element — something that Iowa's wall-of-noise approach rarely afforded.

The crash array (16" through 19") provides the same dynamic hierarchy as the Iowa setup, but the individual character of each cymbal is more audible on Vol. 3's recordings. Jordison's selective use of different crash sizes for different dramatic intensities — a technique already present on Iowa but less perceptible in that recording — is clearer on the Rubin production.

The dual China cymbals (20" and 22") continued to function as Slipknot's signature percussive punctuation. On "Pulse of the Maggots" and "The Blister Exists," the China accents cut through the arrangement with the same authority as on Iowa, but their tonal character is more defined in the mix.

## Key Facts

- Rick Rubin production replaced Ross Robinson — cleaner, more dynamic approach
- Recorded at Henson Recording Studios, Los Angeles
- Debuted #1 US Billboard 200, #2 UK — 3× Platinum US certification
- "Before I Forget" won Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance 2006
- Expanded five-piece tom configuration vs Iowa's setup
- Pearl Free-Floating steel snare — distinct from Iowa-era signature model
- Five rack toms (8" to 16") plus two floor toms — expanded from Iowa configuration
- Maple/mahogany hybrid shells — warmth more audible under Rubin's cleaner production
- Double 22" x 18" bass drums with more acoustic character in the mix
- Rubin's production philosophy shifted balance toward natural drum tone
- Estimated kit value: $6,500-9,000 (2004)
- Estimated snare value: $400-500 (2004)

**Source:** https://metalforge.io/articles/vol3-subliminal-verses-drum-setup

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*Last updated: 2026-06-25 · Source: [MetalForge.io](https://metalforge.io)*