Kyle Brian

Which cymbals do you prefer?

Sabian fo sho! AAX-Plosion crashes are great, also really dig anything HHX Evolution.

What cymbal setup is used on the Stone Temple Pilots cover?

Ride is 21”hhx groove ride. Hats are either 14” aax stage or studio. Crashes are likely a combination of 16” and 18” aax x-plosions and/or aax dark crashes. 8” and 10” aax splash 16” hhx china (obliterated lol) the stack is 14” b8 pro mini china on top of a 14” aax dark crash. 7” lp ice bell.

Why use smaller crashes and chinas?

Pretty much! Shorter decay, less washy. But big is cool too- I want to get a nice 19 or 20 inch crash shortly.

How was the roto tom sound on The Pot made without triggers?

Nope! Just taped the crap out of them to try and make some sort of sound similar to the original track

Which china cymbal replaced the broken one?

not directly from them hahaha but yes I have a new paragon 19” that’s amazing

How do you get the classic Avenged Sevenfold snare sound?

A combination of a cranked snare drum, o ring, and mixing!

Which drumsticks are used?

Pro-Mark! 747 nylon tip mostly but 5A when I'm feeling fancy - Always hickory.

Which drums would you buy?

I like Pearl and dw/pdp stuff a lot as far as far as drums go whatever your budget is as long as it’s maple at least no poplar shells.

Is a direct drive double pedal better than a chain drive?

In this video it’s the demon drives from Pearl - I’ve converted em to chain drive cause I missed playing chains lol. But yeah direct drives are definitely way smoother for really fast 160+bpm double pedal single stroke. Anything slower or more powerful or double strokes I definitely prefer chain though.

Can I take the wires off my snare?

You want the wires there, but if it sounds like a field drum then you have some work to put it on it with tuning and strainer adjustment.

Why is the hi-hat set so low and close to the snare?

Honestly though lots of open handed stuff as well as watching all the portnoy videos especially the train of thought one where his hi hat is like right on top of the snare and then doing the dolmayan thing putting the slave pedal on the outside of the hi hat and bringing the hi hat even closer in

How are the snare and toms tuned?

rob brown tuning for snare for sure. Crank the snare head and then batter to taste. My Toms are honestly suuuper loose. I end up stretching the heads a fair amount to keep the pitch low enough but still keep the tension rods in

How are the hi-hat and left kick pedals arranged on Mind Riot?

no, still.with my left foot but instead of it being kick pedal on the inside and hi hat on the outside, they're flipped.

Should the snare be retuned to suit each band you cover?

Absolutely! I love to play it cranked, but it doesn't always make sense sonically.

Do you lead with your left hand?

I’ve retrained to do a lot of stuff right hand lead as well but left hand lead is my natural start.

Why not play the song exactly like the record?

The purpose of the drums in the studio song are solely to serve the song. The purpose of the drums in this video has an added element of entertainment in both visual and audio aspects.

How do beginners get past the coordination walls on drums?

But certainly there are mental hurdles and coordination walls to break through. I've found that limb independence work always feels the same - the first time you learn a beat there is a certain mental strain that I associate with developing independence. It's a very focused thing - the more time you spend in that focus the more your skill will develop.

What tips help a beginning drummer?

Be ambidextrous :) If you're right handed you naturally lead off with your right hand (RLRLRLRL), practice everything backwards (LRLRLR). Also for most contemporary music - drums sound good when they're hit hard. Try to hit the cymbals softly, but snare toms and kicks like to get hit hard.

Is it better to play fast pedal parts in shoes or socks?

I almost always play with shoes but found that it fell into place a little easier with just socks on this one. Left foot didn’t matter too much cause that’s straight 16ths almost the whole time but the right foot had some changes that help from a little more finesse.

Does switching between open-handed and cross-handed playing slow you down?

Not at all - There’s certain things I do better open handed and certain things I do better cross so it depends on the part and other times it’s just wherever I land or even switch half way through. I’ve been doing it so long it’s completely second nature.

Should you learn drum covers from tabs or by ear?

I can read but no every drum tab online is wrong figuring out by ear is way more effective hahaha YouTube has a playback speed option too which is really good for slowing things down. Lots of tools available for hearing what’s going on

Does it matter which foot leads on double bass parts?

The only time I try to prioritize one foot leading is if I'm doing faster 16ths just to make sure everything lands in the right spot otherwise I keep both my hands and feet pretty ambidextrous on the kit.

How long does it take to learn a new song on drums?

Definitely song dependent but if I chart it out I can have it down by memory about 3 or 4 times through generally. The more familiar I am with the song of course the less active playing time it takes.

How do you build speed on tom fills?

speed comes naturally don't worry about - focus on the other stuff and the speed comes

What's the secret to your kick drum sound?

EMAD heavyweight - wood beater - d6 outkick - 57 in kick - subkick also. I like 8k in my kick eq a lot.

How do you record along to the song?

I imported the A7X tune into Cubase and then recorded my drums along the track so I didn't have to try and sync it later.

How were the DI guitar tracks captured and reamped?

I'm just going DI straight into the focusrite honestly. I used an amp sim to create the direction of the sound I was going for (probably thu-slate, maybe amped ml800 or roots?) then just ran the DI without the amp sim through the output to a reamp box then to the amp. I kind of adjusted the output on the interface and the input on the amp to get the sound I wanted. Just trial and error really

How do you get a drum mix loud on YouTube without clipping?

Oh man just mixing for sure I’ve got my kit pretty dialed. Nothing crazy as far as processing chain but typical for everything is NLS -> 76 -> SSL strip(just eq mainly) -> saturation if I need it -> l2 Then all drums bussed to a pre drum group with a Fairchild style compressor hitting it all and parallel compression 76 slammed pretty decently loud.

Are triggers or sample replacement used on the drums?

Pushing 10 years of mixing my kit so I'm able to get it pretty dialed now hahaha. No triggers or sample replacement or anything. Just lots of patience

Why does the outdoor cover pick up no background noise?

it was my first time using the behringer rack and I hadn't installed the drivers on my laptop and there was no internet up there so I wasn't able to use phantom power on my overheads....this is all close mics. I had to take and make fake overheads from the tom mics. It was a whole process. But yeah - it's all very direct sounding as a result

How do you get the drums to sound so tight?

Drum tuning is king and ya gotta hit the poop out of the drums. Mic placement next and then some stuff in the box. General eq- scooping boxes out of toms and kick, shelving highs everywhere and pulling harsh 7k out of cymbals Compression is cool too - snare and kick are hitting like 8db reduction

How was the outdoor drum cover recorded and powered?

I used a Behringer XR18 as an interface into my laptop ran on an extension cord to an inverter to my car!!!

Is the Metallica One cover a single take or quantized?

it’s not not edited but it is all a single take with no quantization lol lots of eq and compression to get that sound especially on the kick but that sound at 5:01 specifically is just a really loud kick all by itself

Was reverb added to the snare on the Unholy Confessions cover?

I use reverb all the time lol but yeah definitely juiced it up for this one and made sure it was real ringy to begin with. Still not as piercing as the record - I couldn’t bring myself to push it anymore

Is the hi-hat sound on the Longview cover just mixing?

yeah I mean they don’t sound good in the room. They’re pretty noisy it’s all high end basically on em for the mix to get it real sizzly

What makes the snare sound so big on The Ocean cover?

I pumped the room mics super loud in this one and it just makes everything so beefy.

How long did it take to record a whole album of drum covers?

it didn't get all done in a day for sure these first 5 were a single day and then the last 6 took two days

Were all the instruments on this original track recorded by one person?

Yeah! Whole thing is me - my album is on my channel. Only part I didn't do was mastering.

Is a double bass pedal needed for Led Zeppelin's The Ocean?

Not that I can recall! I can see myself using just single pedal for the doubles at :38 throughout that section and I'm typically pretty good at trying to stick to single pedal with Bonham. Sometimes I'll switch to just the left foot but I won't cheat with Zeppelin unless I'm just being lazy.

What is the roll in the Sinner's Swing intro groove?

Since it's in swing the roll are in 3s as opposed to 2s (or 4s?) So my hands are going RLRRL to the beat of "a 2 + a 3" then the hi hat on the A of 3

What is the hi-hat groove in the Hot N Cold chorus?

Kick and right hand on the x-hat every down beat. Then left hand doing +2+ +4+ (hat snare hat, hat snare hat) Left foot and right foot are going up and down at the same time

What is the tom roll at 2:06 in the Nightmare cover?

Two 32nd notes followed by two 16th notes - affectionately known as a herta.

Why aren't the cover recordings released on Spotify?

No plans for that currently, it's kind of a pain to get covers on Spotify as far as the process (not to mention it costs money)

How were the songs for the 100 covers series chosen?

Sessions made and everything - I just went down the list of drum covers on YouTube by most viewed and just calling it a day

How do you post a cover that YouTube blocks for copyright?

It's tricky, I believe I filed fair use dispute and sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.

Do drum cover videos earn ad revenue on YouTube?

You get demonetized. I do not make any ad revenue on my cover videos.

Is YouTube a full-time job?

part time that drives my full time job of session work!