To Sylvia Massy, there’s nothing that says you can’t run sound through a garden hose, reengineer an old rotary phone into a mic, or use the pickups on a guitar as a secondary room mic for drums. Everything she does carries a playful twist, adding a unique layer of character that makes every sound unmistakably hers. That fearless curiosity has made her one of the most distinctive engineers in modern recording, earning recognition across genres and credits with artists ranging from Tool and System of a Down to Johnny Cash and Jason Isbell. For this project, she brought that same boundless creativity to Southern France – and one of its most legendary studios – to create her ultimate expansion for Superior Drummer 3. Expect the unexpected.

Tucked away at the end of a village road in the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence countryside, the once 19th-century silk-spinning mill houses one of Europe’s most iconic studios, La Fabrique. Inside, squeaky doors open into labyrinth-like hallways and every room you walk into is lined with an eclectic mix of furniture and gear spanning vintage to modern.

The studio features four unique ambiences, each carefully paired with handpicked kits. In the massive 100-square-meter Dark Room, with its 10-meter-high ceiling, an eight-tom set with octobans was recorded. Surrounded by centuries-old stone walls, this space delivers a powerful, hard-hitting smack – perfect for loud rock and metal. In the more intimately set Library, two distinctive vintage 1960s oddities with eccentric, space-age-looking shells were captured – both sounding as bold as they look. Across the courtyard, the Arcades – measuring 33 by 10 meters with a six-meter ceiling – offers another expansive, reverberant environment. Here, a wooden ceiling and heavy curtains diffuse reflections off the stone walls, creating an ambience that contrasts beautifully with the Dark Room. Finally, in the Mill, two 2000s-era kits were sampled. The tone in this room, built entirely from 12th-century stone, has a natural, hall-like reverb unlike anything else.

In addition to the drums, this SDX comes with a basic collection of MIDI as well as close to 70 mix-ready presets. These presets utilize different mic blends, routing and saturation – some even layering Sylvia’s own one-shot samples for extra augmentation, smack and attack.

It’s been said that Sylvia once threw a guitar and amplifier off a cliff to capture the fall, feedback and noise it made on the way down. During the recording of this SDX, no drums were harmed, but – rest assured – with Sylvia at the helm, ordinary isn’t on the setlist. This is one you need to not only hear, but experience. If you’re ready to unhinge your creativity, welcome in to Sylvia’s world.