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Chris' Articles

Musings About Drum Sessions and Recording

Chris Brush Drums - Creative Custom Remote Session Drum TracksChris Brush is a Nashville-based session drummer bringing his experience to clients in the form of creative, custom, passionate, high-quality remote drum tracks

Outside the Box Session Craziness - Mini Kit

Creativity, Inspiration, TechniqueApril 22, 2013

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Outside the Box Session Craziness

Sometimes sessions come along that force me to think outside the box. A song on a session last week called for something driving like a drum kit but was soft and acoustic and leaned toward percussion. Full kit would have been too much and just perc would have been anemic.…

Signal Chain Hierarchy - Part 4: A to D Converters

RecordingApril 14, 2013

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Signal Chain Hierarchy – Part 4: A to D Converters

For the last three weeks, I have been sharing my opinions on the recording signal chain and where each piece ranks in terms of a hierarchy of importance. We talked about the source you record being the most important – you can’t record what you don’t have to begin with.…

Signal Chain Hierarchy - Part 2: The Microphone

RecordingMarch 31, 2013

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Signal Chain Hierarchy – Part 2: Drumkit Microphones

Last week in my series on the recording chain hierarchy, we talked about the source being paramount. If you don’t have a good sounding source, you won’t have a good sounding recording. Next in the hierarchy, in my opinion, is the microphone. The microphone is like the ear through which…

Signal Chain Hierarchy - Part 1: The Source Matters Most

RecordingMarch 22, 2013

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Drum Signal Chain Hierarchy – Part 1: The Source Matters Most

Often, I will get a question from younger players and engineers about the most important part of the recording signal chain. While everyone certainly has their valid opinions, this is my blog and today, we’ll be talking about mine. I feel there is a hierarchy of the recording signal chain…

Overhead Miking – Stereo Balancing of Cymbals, Drums and Room

RecordingFebruary 21, 2013

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Drum Overhead Miking – Stereo Balancing of Cymbals, Drums and Room

Ah, overhead miking. We have come to the last week in this series of mic experiments. In the past few weeks, we’ve explored different microphone sounds on the snare, kick, toms, and hi hat. Now, we sample some different ways to capture the whole kit – overheads.

Hi Hat Miking – Find a Sound You'll Actually Use in the Mix

RecordingFebruary 15, 2013

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Hi Hat Miking – Find a Sound You’ll Actually Use in the Mix

For most people, miking the hi hat is often, at best, an afterthought and, at worst, completely ignored. While it is true that a hi hat mic may be unnecessary, what with modern overhead miking combined with drummers that bash their hats, a crisp discrete channel of just hi hats…

Bass Drum Miking - Chris Brush Drums

RecordingJanuary 31, 2013

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Bass Drum Miking – Capturing the Kick

This week I figured I would take a similar look at bass drum miking. Used creatively, the right mic can really tailor a drum to the song at hand. Like last week, the point is not to show which microphone I think best for recording a bass drum. All the…

Snare Drum Miking - Chris Brush Drums

Recording, TechniqueJanuary 25, 2013

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Snare Drum Miking – A Comparison of Sounds

This entry is titled “Snare Drum Miking” but is not about how to mic a snare. That’s easy enough to do. Also, this entry isn’t about shooting out between mics to find out which is “best” for a snare drum. All mics both add something to and subtract something from…