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Thread: Nightmare room Saturday night

  1. #1

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    Default Nightmare room Saturday night

    Played a gig in a new room and, as I am responsible for sound, it was a nightmare for me. I knew the room would be a challenge after seeing it for the first time the week before. It's a big open room, with high ceilings in part of the room, concrete floors throughout, large windows on 3 sides including behind the band, and a partition down the middle of the room with more glass and stone on the columns. I should have known better, but I miced my drums and the guitar amps. The drums especially were overpowering, and I kept lowering them in the mix and eventually muted them and the instruments completely. I raised the volume at the main speakers which had been only at about one third up to half. The vocals were still too low in the mix and then we were getting feedback when I tried to bring them up.
    My friend is an excellent sound guy and drummer and is playing there this week. He came to our gig, and his advice was just put the vocals and maybe the kick in the PA and keep the stage volume LOW. I'd have to muffle the drums, maybe with e-rings. The drums were just SO loud even without the PA.
    Last week we used the same exact PA and I used the same drum kit and the sound was great. The room ( or lack of a room in that case) makes all the difference.

    Acoustic Kits:
    Ludwig Maple 3ply White Cortex 4 pc
    Rukus Mod Orange Club 4 pc
    DW Design 6 pc
    Tama Silverstar Limited Edition Mirage 5 pc
    Tama Superstar 5 pc
    Tama Rockstar 4 pc
    Gretsch Catalina Ash 4 pc

    Slingerland 7 pc

    Electronic Kits:
    Yamaha DTX532k
    Roland TD-27, Roland PD-85 (x4), PD-125, KD9, CY-8 (x2) VH-10, Lemon 15 and 18 cymbals
    Roland SPD-SX Sample Pad

    Snares:
    Tama SLP Black Brass
    Tama SLP G Maple
    Rukus Santos/Bubinga/Poplar/Wenge
    Rukus Avodire/Maple/Mahogany
    1972 Ludwig Supraphonic


    Hardware:
    Tama, DW, Yamaha and Sonor

    Cymbals:
    Zildjian A Series, A Custom and K Custom

    Microphones:
    Miktek, Audix and Shure

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Nightmare room Saturday night

    Good thread. Chalk this one up as a great learning experience for you as the sound guy and as the drummer. As you alluded to, every room is different . If you sub-mixed your drums as you usually do, you must of been pretty surprised to have to turn that mix completely off in order to regain control of the entire PA.

    Your buddy's spot on with his advice....vocals and the kick when playing in a hard surfaced room.

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Nightmare room Saturday night

    I played one of those rooms about 3 years ago. You don't forget it. I was playing so low that I was almost not playing, lol. It was extremely hard to hear as the sound was bouncing around everywhere. Truly a nightmare room with possibly the worst acoustics of any I had ever played. You just have to tolerate it and pray for the end to come sooner than later, lol.

  4. #4

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    Default Re: Nightmare room Saturday night

    I've posted several times about room acoustics. From clubs with all hard surfaces to clubs that had carpeting and drapes, and 1 other thing to remember, is that when you run a sound check, it's usually in the afternoon with not a lot of people in the venue.

    If a club holds 300 people and you run your sound check when there are maybe 25-30 people in there, when you go back to play and now there are in the area of 300 people in the club, your sound, especially the drums, will be different. Sometimes a little, sometimes it can be a lot. People soak up sound, more than some people would think.

    I hate stuff on my heads (in my videos you will never see anything on my heads, and just my popsicle stick on my snare). Back in the day almost all drummers carried duct tape.
    YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.

    YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.

    VAE VICTIS

    ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.

    I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.

    IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO

    WILL ROGERS

  5. #5

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    Default Re: Nightmare room Saturday night

    Yep, I been there too. Probably the worst was actually outside on a downtown street. They had us face across the street. The sound was bouncing back & forth between the buildings on both sides. No matter how hard I tried, it sounded like I was off by 1/2 beat. Finally I figured out it was the sound bouncing back that made it that way. Now, I know to always face DOWN the street.
    -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

  6. #6

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    Default Re: Nightmare room Saturday night

    We played a private gig in our National Guard Armory a few years ago -- this building is round and the walls are glass -- the acoustics are so bad, if you go down there today and step inside, you can still hear our last song.
    Gretsch USA & Zildjian
    (What Else Would I Ever Need ?)


  7. #7

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    Default Re: Nightmare room Saturday night

    Quote Originally Posted by Ricardo View Post
    We played a private gig in our National Guard Armory a few years ago -- this building is round and the walls are glass -- the acoustics are so bad, if you go down there today and step inside, you can still hear our last song.
    Haahahahaha....now that's funny.
    Signature here

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