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Thread: Dealing with horrible acoustics?

  1. #1

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    Default Dealing with horrible acoustics?

    My band played its first full gig at a local bar on Saturday. Sitting behind the drums, the sound from the other instruments was muddled and I could not hear the vocals at all. Consequently, it was very difficult to know where we were in the songs & I just had to hope everyone followed my beat. Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with this in the future? Are most venues like this?

  2. #2

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    Every venue is different. The more you play, the better you'll adapt. A good monitor setup is the key to vocals. Unless you mic all the instruments and run everything through a PA, the instruments are at the mercy of the room acoustics. My band uses a very simple & inexpensive PA system. We only run vocals through it....everything else is straight out of the Amps. I can hardly EVER hear everyone on stage, but I've learned to deal with it.

    For most bar gigs, we try to set the amps up behind us. We put them on amp stands and try to focus them slightly in toward the center. We also try to set up in as close to a semi-circle as we can. We ALWAYS set the bass player on my left, right beside my hi-hat. Also, I ALWAYS make sure I can hear the bass. As long as the bass player and I can hear each other, We can make it work. The rest of the band can follow us, but we are a lot tighter as a band if we can hear each other. People make mistakes (especially in my band) and if we can hear each other, we can cover them up so 99% of the crowd never even knows.
    -Brian

    "Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"

    Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!

    "I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham

  3. #3

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    Acoustics, the bane of drummers.

    A hard surface, a soft surface, and things in between. All designed to make drummers nuts. High ceilings, low ceilings, outdoors, all affect the drums.

    Sound check, empty club. Nighttime comes, 300 people, they also soak up sound.

    Small bars, early days. 50-60 people, mostly men and a couple of ladies, (They are the only 1's that dance) winter time, doors closed, heat on, 40 guys with beer farts. Sit there watching my heads melt wishing I had a Hazmat suit.

    Gigs over, packing up, it's Jersey, so you go back inside to get some fresh air.

    I love drumming.

  4. #4

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    Every room is going to be different. Sound check helpful, but, as night goes on and more people in the room it will change slightly. Get yourself set up with the best possible monitor situation that works for you.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by rickthedrummer View Post
    Acoustics, the bane of drummers.

    A hard surface, a soft surface, and things in between. All designed to make drummers nuts. High ceilings, low ceilings, outdoors, all affect the drums.

    Sound check, empty club. Nighttime comes, 300 people, they also soak up sound.

    Small bars, early days. 50-60 people, mostly men and a couple of ladies, (They are the only 1's that dance) winter time, doors closed, heat on, 40 guys with beer farts. Sit there watching my heads melt wishing I had a Hazmat suit.

    Gigs over, packing up, it's Jersey, so you go back inside to get some fresh air.

    I love drumming.
    So you wanna be a rock star eh kid?

  6. #6

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    We're playing tonight at a different bar, which I hear has better monitors. I am going to make sure to get some sound pointed my way this time.

  7. #7

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    A good idea.. one that will start another debate which is already open...

    Buy a set of IEM.. I'll never go back to box speakers.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by spazapproved View Post

    buy a set of iem.. I'll never go back to box speakers.
    +1

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by N2Bluz View Post
    Every venue is different. The more you play, the better you'll adapt.
    This is quite true. You never know where you'll get to set up sometimes. Learn to be flexible. I got stuck playing behind this pool table more than once but the "crowd" had a good time.





    ...or sometimes I had my back up against the side of a shed.



    or stuck in the corner next to a stone wall...


  10. #10

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    Most of the rooms that we play these days are such that we are able to mic everything and hear ourselves regardless of the acoustics, this was not always so.

    More than once I remember getting stuffed in a corner with a glass wall on each side, even with good monitors the round was horrendous. My all time worst was setting up my drums inside of a huge fireplace.

    This weekend we are booked in a really nice venue, but they are notorious for complaining about bands being too loud no matter how low the volume is. We only going to run the vocals, synth and kick drum through the PA. I expect that this will be a challenging room.

    Sometimes you just have to do the best that you can and deal with it.
    -Mike


    "We don't stop playing because we grow old.
    We grow old because we stop playing."

    "I wish that my playing reminded people of Steve Gadd. But they seem to confuse me with his little known cousin... E."

    "Snare drums happen."

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by drummer5359 View Post
    Most of the rooms that we play these days are such that we are able to mic everything and hear ourselves regardless of the acoustics,.
    That's interesting. We mic everything in every room. Even doing so, sometimes the acoustics are such that I find that it's difficult to hear everything that you want to hear. Having everything mic'd and going through FOH, for us, is not always a matter of volume as it is mix control and sounding great without having to blast the people out front out of the room.

  12. #12

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    Played for years in bands that never miked anything except the vocals. If someone said it was too loud, those playing electrified instruments simply turned around to their amps and dialed them back a little. I'm not seeing what the problem is. Maybe should try pulling some plugs and just listening to one another.

    all the best...

  13. #13

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    The acoustics in the venue we played last night were fantastic. They had six huge monitors facing the band, a great sound system for the room, and a great sound technician who made the balance work both on stage & in the audience. What a difference those factors made in tightening our playing.

  14. #14

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    One of the reasons I love coming to this board and reading posts is to see how different it is playing in some clubs now. Tiny stages, or no stage at all. Setting up beside a pool table? Crazy stuff.

    To the original post, if your band has a sound system get yourself a good monitor and have the sound engineer add what you want to hear , or if you don't have a sound engineer do it yourself. If that is not an option if your band uses a mixing board you could run a set of headphones/earbuds and put whatever you need to hear in the mix.

    When I was playing clubs I had a 15" sub , 10" for mids and a small tweeter for highs for my kit and bass on one side, on the other I had a floor monitor for vocals guitar and keys. - Acoustic Drums

    I used over the ear studio monitor head phones when I was playing an E-kit.

    If you go the Headphone/earbud route, get a pre amp so you can have your own control of the volume.

  15. #15

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    If I only played venues with 'good' acoustics or that were truly band-friendly, I'd rarely gig.

    Tex

  16. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by NPYYZ View Post
    One of the reasons I love coming to this board and reading posts is to see how different it is playing in some clubs now. Tiny stages, or no stage at all. Setting up beside a pool table? Crazy stuff.
    lol! How about facing 15 feet from the edge of the bar next to the cash register and having the bartender say, "You guys need to turn down!"

    Last edited by late8; 05-25-2016 at 05:55 PM.

  17. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by late8 View Post
    lol! How about facing 15 feet from the edge of the bar next to the cash registrar and having the bartender say, "You guys need to turn down!"

    We need a 'like' button for these type of posts. It always puzzles me when small venues hire full bands and then complain about the volume. It's like hiring a bartender to work a private party and then asking them why they are serving alcoholic beverages.

  18. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by Texdrumr View Post
    We need a 'like' button for these type of posts. It always puzzles me when small venues hire full bands and then complain about the volume. It's like hiring a bartender to work a private party and then asking them why they are serving alcoholic beverages.
    Like!

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by late8 View Post
    lol! How about facing 15 feet from the edge of the bar next to the cash register and having the bartender say, "You guys need to turn down!"

    I wouldn't even have been able to fit my kit in there. We just didn't do gigs like that. I think the smallest club we played was a 300 seater. It was a different time for sure.



    Last edited by NPYYZ; 05-29-2016 at 06:21 AM.

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by NPYYZ View Post
    I wouldn't even have been able to fit my kit in there. We just didn't do gigs like that. I think the smallest club we played was a 300 seater. It was a different time for sure.
    Cool pics NPYYZ. You must live in near a city? Urban area? The closest "city" in my neck of the woods is an hours drive north to Sacramento. I live in a rural area and we don't have "seaters" just bales of hay and tailgates on large pick'em up trucks!


  21. #21

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    Bales of hay? That's awesome. I've played a bar with dirt streets in front and horses tied up out front....unfortunately not while we were playing however. It was too cold outside. We play there again in late July, so hopefully someone will ride their horse to the bar while we're playing. Group Photo opportunity!!!
    -Brian

    "Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"

    Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!

    "I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham

  22. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by Texdrumr View Post
    If I only played venues with 'good' acoustics or that were truly band-friendly, I'd rarely gig.

    Tex
    Same here. Last summer we played in an open barn with a questionable floor and bales of hay.
    SONOR 6 pc Special Edition 3007's red maple, old Pearl Brass 14x6 FF snare, Yamaha Tour Custom maple 8 pc., Tama 4 pc., honey amber B/B, Ludwig Supralite chrome 14x6.5 steel snare, Paiste, Saluda & Zildjian
    Loaned out Slingerland upgraded 4 pc 1963 black, wrapped maple + 14" Pearl birch FT
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  23. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by slinglander View Post
    Same here. Last summer we played in an open barn with a questionable floor and bales of hay.
    Amazing in this day and age, that the fire marshal would even allow that.

    all the best...

  24. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by N2Bluz View Post
    Bales of hay? That's awesome. I've played a bar with dirt streets in front and horses tied up out front....unfortunately not while we were playing however. It was too cold outside. We play there again in late July, so hopefully someone will ride their horse to the bar while we're playing. Group Photo opportunity!!!
    Dirt streets and horses tied up front? How about playing next to a corral with cows being washed down at a County Fair? Too rural for ya all? Hmmm...is that manure with a whiff of midway corndogs?




  25. #25

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    I played an old cathedral that had been restored and turned into a movie/play house last week. We had nothing going through the PA, yet it was so loud that I put a t-shirt over my snare, a table cloth over my kick, used Hot Rods instead of sticks, and only used my ride cymbal and it was still loud, lol
    Six Piece Mapex Saturn V, Five Piece DW Performance Series, NOS Slingerland Snares, Centent Ardor and Emperor Cymbals


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