Sound guy wanted my drums taped up

[fatgoorilla]

Do not use tape on your heads at all.Use one or more moon gels or a dead ringer.Any sound guy worth his weight in salt would be able to gate the overtones from your drums.
A sound man said that to me once.I told him to work on it.I like the way they sound.And honestly,it wasn't a seriouse issue.He got it done.Unless it's a really bad overtone he should be able to work with you.

[xsabers]

Do not use tape on your heads at all.Use one or more moon gels or a dead ringer.Any sound guy worth his weight in salt would be able to gate the overtones from your drums.
A sound man said that to me once.I told him to work on it.I like the way they sound.And honestly,it wasn't a seriouse issue.He got it done.Unless it's a really bad overtone he should be able to work with you.

This is not the way it works in the real world though. Hard headed or inflexible drummers work less than those who willing to be accommodating. Gaffers tape is a legitimate tool used by professional drummers and sound men everywhere.

[SpazApproved]

This is not the way it works in the real world though. Hard headed or inflexible drummers work less than those who willing to be accommodating. Gaffers tape is a legitimate tool used by professional drummers and sound men everywhere.

agreed.

The last thing you want to do is piss off your sound guy or make him think you're a **** who won't budge... then he'll just do a crap job for you and not care

[NPYYZ]

This is the only tape I ever used on my kit when I played out. A good sound engineer should be able to make a properly tuned kit sound amazing with no tape or muffling at all.

[marko138]

This is not the way it works in the real world though. Hard headed or inflexible drummers work less than those who willing to be accommodating. Gaffers tape is a legitimate tool used by professional drummers and sound men everywhere.

Well said. That's not life if you're living in a gigging reality.

[weezy]

Well, this should be interesting. I'm going to have my first drumming experience with an actual sound guy next Wednesday. I'm planning on switching out the clear pinstripes on my toms for coated EC2s prior to the gig. Wouldn't that be something if I had to slap some moon gel on them. Not that it would bother me. As long as the FOH sound and monitor mix are good, I could care less.

[SunDog]

Well, this should be interesting. I'm going to have my first drumming experience with an actual sound guy next Wednesday. I'm planning on switching out the clear pinstripes on my toms for coated EC2s prior to the gig. Wouldn't that be something if I had to slap some moon gel on them. Not that it would bother me. As long as the FOH sound and monitor mix are good, I could care less.

Don't do that. You rehearsed this way for how long? Then your just going to change your setup at the eleventh hour. Keep everything as close to how you've rehearsed it as you possibly can. Guitar volume, where everyone sets up in relation to each other, everything. You practice for months one way then get onstage and suddenly the guitarist thinks he's allowed to turn up to ten or set up on the other side of you or bring a different amp. Your sound is your sound, you don't change it at the last second. If you don't sound good at the show, then practice different, because chances are you don't sound good there either. Listen to the sound guy, he is trying to make you sound as good as he can. If your drums vibrate or buzz, or hum incessantly or ring in a bad way, there is no magic "gate" to make these things go away. A gate is a volume threshold. It opens up at the volume you set, when it does whatevere noise that's being made goes through. When the volume subsides the gate closes. It essentially works like an on/off switch. It is NOT a frequency filter. The only way to get bad freqs, buzzes, ringing, etc. to go away is with eq'ing or killing the volume. Both of these will also kill the good frequencies. Keep moongels or o-rings or tape with felts under it, for just in case (use only what you need). Your working with a timetable, so tuning away a problem isn't always viable. Fix it fast and concentrate on you performance.

[weezy]

Don't do that. You rehearsed this way for how long? Then your just going to change your setup at the eleventh hour. Keep everything as close to how you've rehearsed it as you possibly can. Guitar volume, where everyone sets up in relation to each other, everything. You practice for months one way then get onstage and suddenly the guitarist thinks he's allowed to turn up to ten or set up on the other side of you or bring a different amp. Your sound is your sound, you don't change it at the last second. If you don't sound good at the show, then practice different, because chances are you don't sound good there either. Listen to the sound guy, he is trying to make you sound as good as he can. If your drums vibrate or buzz, or hum incessantly or ring in a bad way, there is no magic "gate" to make these things go away. A gate is a volume threshold. It opens up at the volume you set, when it does whatevere noise that's being made goes through. When the volume subsides the gate closes. It essentially works like an on/off switch. It is NOT a frequency filter. The only way to get bad freqs, buzzes, ringing, etc. to go away is with eq'ing or killing the volume. Both of these will also kill the good frequencies. Keep moongels or o-rings or tape with felts under it, for just in case (use only what you need). Your working with a timetable, so tuning away a problem isn't always viable. Fix it fast and concentrate on you performance.

This head swap was already planned. I've used EC2s on other kits in the past and prefer them to pinstripes. The kit is going to sound different from rehearsal one way or the other. I'll be playing my Saturn kit for the gig. When we rehearse, I play somebody else's Gretsch kit with coated Ambassadors. There's always moon gel in my stick bag and I'm perfectly willing to work with the sound guy to get him what he needs to make me sound good. My point was that I don't care if I have to further muffle a pre-muffled head if that's what needs to be done. Should be interesting, their spec sheet says that drum fill is a 2x15 with a horn.

[NPYYZ]

This is not the way it works in the real world though. Hard headed or inflexible drummers work less than those who willing to be accommodating. Gaffers tape is a legitimate tool used by professional drummers and sound men everywhere.

I disagree. If a sound engineer needs to tape up a properly tuned kit to get a good sound he's a crap engineer with crap equipment. I was gigging in the 80's and never had to muffle my kit at all. With today's gear you should not have to either.

[SunDog]

I disagree. If a sound engineer needs to tape up a properly tuned kit to get a good sound he's a crap engineer with crap equipment. I was gigging in the 80's and never had to muffle my kit at all. With today's gear you should not have to either.

Except that most drummers, despite what they think, don't know how to tune. There seems to be a lot of feel good philosophy regarding it. "Personal preference" and "if it sounds good to you" are things I hear a lot. That feel good stuff goes out the window when your trying to compete for high profile gigs. Suddenly what sounds good to the most people whips out its trump card. No equipment (modern has nothing to do with it) can make bad/poorly tuned drums sound great. All a sound guy can do is effect the piss out of them and bury the drums actual signal.

[xsabers]

I disagree. If a sound engineer needs to tape up a properly tuned kit to get a good sound he's a crap engineer with crap equipment. I was gigging in the 80's and never had to muffle my kit at all. With today's gear you should not have to either.

I tend to think that disregarding tools of the trade under all circumstances is not always prudent. A while back, I posted a pic of Gadd with muffling on his heads. Weckl endorses a small pad that acts like a noise gate of sorts. My conversations with my friend Scott, who mixes FOH for Aerosmith and monitors for Springsteen (specifically for Nils Lofgren and Max Weinberg), among many others tells me that there are many techniques to acheive a goal. Gaffers tape is but one, but it can be useful, IMO.

[drummer]

I tend to think that disregarding tools of the trade under all circumstances is not always prudent. A while back, I posted a pic of Gadd with muffling on his heads. Weckl endorses a small pad that acts like a noise gate of sorts. My conversations with my friend Scott, who mixes FOH for Aerosmith and monitors for Springsteen (specifically for Nils Lofgren and Max Weinberg), among many others tells me that there are many techniques to acheive a goal. Gaffers tape is but one, but it can be useful, IMO.

I agree.

[NPYYZ]

I guess if the kit is not tuned properly and sounds bad then tape is a solution. I never had to use any nor would I. That's all I'm saying.

[xsabers]

I guess if the kit is not tuned properly and sounds bad then tape is a solution. I never had to use any nor would I. That's all I'm saying.

That's great for you, but the implication that a kit has to be poorly tuned and that tape is simply a quick fix for incompetence by either the drummer or sound tech is a reach.

[SunDog]

I disagree. If a sound engineer needs to tape up a properly tuned kit to get a good sound he's a crap engineer with crap equipment. I was gigging in the 80's and never had to muffle my kit at all. With today's gear you should not have to either.

Again you are comparing apples to "properly tuned drums", and I think most drums are apples. Running sound in a busy rock club, that sound guy runs four to five bands a night, five nights a week. How many of those sets are "properly tuned". My guess is 10%. Add to that, most of the kits are these "mid level" Taiwan kits and suddenly "any good sound guy" has got his work cut out for him. I don't put tape or moon gel on my kit either, but I do keep a set of zero rings with my spare heads.

[Northern Redneck]

I guess if the kit is not tuned properly and sounds bad then tape is a solution. I never had to use any nor would I. That's all I'm saying.

And he just might be a crap soundman, but what are you gonna do? Stand there and argue all night, or be a professional and do what it takes to get the gig done with the least amount of hassle?

[Sticks4drums]

Add to that, most of the kits are these "mid level" Taiwan kits and suddenly "any good sound guy" has got his work cut out for him.

Not sure what this has to do with anything.

[Northern Redneck]

Not sure what this has to do with anything.

Thats what I was wondering, Ive heard Pearl Forums sound great and DWs that sound like absolute crap.

[Sticks4drums]

Thats what I was wondering, Ive heard Pearl Forums sound great and DWs that sound like absolute crap.

Considering that most of the drums today come from that part of the world. Even many top end kits! It is all about heads and tuning people.

[weezy]

Considering that most of the drums today come from that part of the world. Even many top end kits! It is all about heads and tuning people.

True. Mapex doesn't make anything in the US, Japan, or Western Europe, but it doesn't mean that they don't make good stuff.

[SunDog]

Not sure what this has to do with anything.

Of course every Catalina or Pro M and Vision out there sound every bit as good as a MCA, PHX,Collectors,Craviotto. It's all heads and tuning right? Guys that buy those expensive kits are just fooling themselves. Or so I've heard.

[crispycritters]

Of course every Catalina or Pro M and Vision out there sound every bit as good as a MCA, PHX,Collectors,Craviotto. It's all heads and tuning right? Guys that buy those expensive kits are just fooling themselves. Or so I've heard.

To me that is true - the way I tune em - they all suck.

[Northern Redneck]

Guys that buy those expensive kits are just fooling themselves. Or so I've heard.

If they dont know how to tune them they are.

[Sticks4drums]

Of course every Catalina or Pro M and Vision out there sound every bit as good as a MCA, PHX,Collectors,Craviotto. It's all heads and tuning right? Guys that buy those expensive kits are just fooling themselves. Or so I've heard.

It is a plywood cylinder. If we get down to it, plywood isn't much of a real wood resonator. Just ask My buddy at GURU. He will tell you. Your drums are Keller shells with 1000 pounds of lugs strapped on for better resonance!

Good edges, good heads, good tuning, especially in a live environment = good sound. There are lots of pros running around with mid level kits, and nobody can tell the difference.

Heck my favourite drummer in the world plays those magical DW's and most people I have heard from, think they sound average at best. He didn't make me want to buy them.

[SunDog]

It is a plywood cylinder. If we get down to it, plywood isn't much of a real wood resonator. Just ask My buddy at GURU. He will tell you. Your drums are Keller shells with 1000 pounds of lugs strapped on for better resonance!

Good edges, good heads, good tuning, especially in a live environment = good sound. There are lots of pros running around with mid level kits, and nobody can tell the difference.

Heck my favourite drummer in the world plays those magical DW's and most people I have heard from, think they sound average at best. He didn't make me want to buy them.

Oh balls! Good edges, good heads, good tuning that's all it is? Then why does your "buddy" at Guru make such a big deal out of what wood he uses. Why does he take so much time meticulously crafting those shells. I have great edges, i have great heads my drums are tuned well. Fact is great drums sound better than good drums sound better than bad drums. You want to mince words though. "Bad drums tuned well sound better than good drums with crap heads that are tuned poorly and played by an amateur". I have no argument for that.