Virtual Drummer: Brute

In the early 1990s, a guitar-heavy new musical category set out to conquer the hearts and ears of the audience. A new generation of artists would unleash distorted guitars, angry drums, and bucketloads of attitude onto an audience that was suddenly keen to rock out again.

Influenced by classic rock of the 1960s and ‘70s, and in opposition to the synthetic aesthetics of the prior decade, bands like Rage Against The Machine, Nirvana, Soundgarden, or Alice in Chains popularized the next incarnation of Rock music. It's playbook is still today the go-to for guitar-heavy hard rocking styles.

What makes BRUTE special? First and foremost it has been designed, recorded and processed to do one thing really well: Compete with layered walls of distorted guitars while maintaining character and detail. This was a tricky challenge… The solution was to record with three different sets of microphones that emphasize different aspects of the drum sound.

Each of the three microphone sets has a specific sonic purpose:

1. Click/Smack

• The vintage Sennheiser MD21 from the 1960s emphasizes the attack
  transients. The source signal was processed with a Manley Voxbox.

2. Grit/Dirt

• Vintage tube and ribbon overhead mics. This is where the character is
  captured. All the organic noise and resonances that give a warm, coarse and
  natural quality.

3. Clean/Nice

• Modern high-spec Schoeps microphones that capture the sound ‘as is’. With
  as little colorization and distortion as possible. For an expensive and glossy
  character.

Using the Smack and Grit controls, you can adjust and blend these different characteristics
seamlessly to find the perfect mix:

• Smack: Turns up the clicky microphone to make the sound cut through the mix.
• Grit: Blends between 2) and 3): Basically adjusting how clean or dirty your signal
  sounds.

The five drum kits in BRUTE have been composed with specific styles in mind.

1. DARK

• The Stoner: Fat, wide, lower tuning. Slow-roll with this!

2. DIRTY

• The Punk: short and punchy for aggressive double-time fun.

3. TIGHT

• The Crossover: More expression and detail, using e.g. a high-tuned piccolo
  snare.

4. NOBLE

• The Radio Rocker: Full-bodied, refined and punchy, for alternative anthems.

5. PRIME

• The Mainstreamer: Superb and well balanced for sold-out stadiums and rock
  royalty.