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Post subject: Loud Drummer Remedies?
Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:13 am
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Hey everyone,

Recently my band and I have set up a small practice area in the middle of nowhere in hope to avoid disrupting any neighbours. Ironically, we are now the ones suffering from noise pollution, as the room is very small and the drums resonate throughout the confined space. We were trying to come up with a solution and my bassist suggested drum silencer pads. Perhaps this isn't the greatest forum to ask this question, but do any of you have any experience with drum silencers? Do they work?

If not, can you think of any other solutions?

Thanks


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:28 am
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Speaking as someone who was (and still is) a fairly quiet drummer before he became a fairly quiet guitarist - perhaps a different drummer is what you need.

Seriously though, practice pads just ain't the thing for playing with others; they are for solo practice of sticking, wrists and such.

See if you can get your drummer to use rods for group practice. Or at least some much lighter sticks. Vic Firth's Jazz 8Ds are a really nice balanced stick that will take things down a bit from the tree trunks he is probably using. He won't like that idea, but tell him a player of some 35 years experience suggested it and it really is OK. His wrists are not going to forget how to hold gigging sticks if he also plays with light ones sometimes.

Though a really good drummer should be able to play quietly with any kind of stick. I seem to remember that was on page one of the Buddy Rich Snare Drum Rudiments book. Now that ages me!

Cheers - C


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:45 am
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Ceri wrote:
Though a really good drummer should be able to play quietly with any kind of stick. I seem to remember that was on page one of the Buddy Rich Snare Drum Rudiments book. Now that ages me!

Cheers - C


Exactly right -- well put! When I was playing, our drummer was easily able to tone it down a few notches to fit the situation. We were a rock cover band, so in many cases, we played high school auditoriums and larger bars and clubs. But, not always. You can't have your drummer banging away at shred volume when you've been hired to play soft rock/jazz/standards in the corner of an "adult" lounge.

I used to think there was no such thing as "too loud" but when you hit the mid 50s, you think differently. I've seen bands in small rooms that are in fact just too loud and they lose the audience. A lot of times, based on my observations, it's because they're trying to be heard over the drummer. And if the only style the drummer knows is to hammer the snare with tree trunks, you're in trouble.


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 10:12 am
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Brother, I can tell you from experience that drummers don't HAVE to be loud if they don't want to be.
It's like varying your pick attack when playing guitar, aggressive you are louder and more gently you are quieter.

If asking him to calm down a bit doesn't work, try stuffing a pillow or two in the bass drum and draping towels over the other drum heads (if you want to get fancy, cut the towels to fit so it looks nicer). That will turn down his volume and let you get on with practice.

If that doesn't work . . . try whacking a baseball bat on the front of his noggin' or get a better drummer (one with some technique). 8)

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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 10:32 am
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yes drummers are a necessary evil & they're always a beat off but ya gotta love 'em, I have solved the loudness problem at practices when I purchased the Yamaha ele. drum kit, I don't play drums, at the time the cost was $999.99, the price has since come down a considerable amount
ele. drums work great for recording in a confined space also.
sparky


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 10:54 am
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Fill his drums with blankets. All of em not just the bass drum. Tape the highhat and cymbals too.
A band i used to play in had the best drummer i've ever heard bar none. He like yours was too loud, i ended up rehearsing with 2x 100watt stacks.
The one thing about powerfull drummers is that they drive a band, you may want to consider how much you limit him.


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 11:41 am
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Thank you all for your suggestions. We're just a bunch of college students playing once a week to relieve the tensions of school, so it isn't that great of a deal. However, trying to relieve stress by entering such a loud environment isn't exactly beneficial.

You are all very right. Although my drummer is skilled technically, he lacks the ability to vary his volume. Despite numerous attempts trying to get him to do so, he just can't play softly... I'll consider Ceri's suggestion concerning the lighter sticks. Also, for all those who recommended the use of blankets, we've shoved pillows within the bass drum, yet it's still incredibly loud :shock:

Anyways, thanks for your help.


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 12:02 pm
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Another serious suggestion.

On the one hand you absolutely should not have to protect yourselves from an overloud drummer. He needs to improve his technique fast.

At the same time, the noise in that little room is not going to be good for you no matter what you do. You have to protect your hearing during rehearsal.

I strongly, strongly recommend some musician's ear plugs for practicing, even after the drummer has learnt some stick control. There's many options at a vast range of prices, right up to custom made ones for your individual earholes.

I haven't tried that last, but I've run through most of the rest. These days I often use ones like those for musicians in the middle picture of this page:

http://www.earplugshop.com/?gclid=CPigy ... 1Qodh17TrQ

Excuse the UK prices on that page: those work out around $22-ish. Now here's a little tip: I have noticed that those earplugs are absolutely identical, right down to the details of the packaging, to ones sold in airports and such places for use on planes. The difference is that at the airport they cost about $5. Talk about musicians' premium!

Also very useful when you are in the audience at a show with lousy acoustics - they tame the unwanted reverb nicely.

Mind you, take another look at that page. I'd like to see all of us here with a pair of those tassel earplugs! Now they're stylish!

Cheers - C


Last edited by Ceri on Wed Nov 12, 2008 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 12:04 pm
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nikininja wrote:
Tape the highhat and cymbals too.


Hi, Niki.

Godda say, come near my cymbals with gaffer tape - well, watch out for your speaker cones, that's all...

:wink: - C


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:02 pm
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a mesa triple rectifier ought to do it ,i do not know your $ situation but there are some decent drum iso booths in the 2-3 g range either way ive found sound quality isnt cheap


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:04 pm
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I'd only tape the speakers back up after you'd finished slashing em.

The only other solution i can think is to get the loudest amp you can find and surround the drummer with stupidly loud amps. Give him an hour of volume torture then explain to him its what he does to you all the time.

That said if you use open back cabs you may find it better to point it at him then stand behind it whilst at moderate volume. Your sound will calm his sound somewhat that way.


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:08 pm
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gratz wrote:
a mesa triple rectifier ought to do it ,i do not know your $ situation but there are some decent drum iso booths in the 2-3 g range either way ive found sound quality isnt cheap



Good Idea !!! Make him play in the next room down the hallway.


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:15 pm
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nikininja wrote:
I'd only tape the speakers back up after you'd finished slashing em.


And thus was the fuzz box dreamed up... :D

Incidentally, has this drummer ever had lessons? I had a very fine teacher: he'd not have stood for wild bashing for very long...

Cheers - C


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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:20 pm
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Ceri wrote:
Speaking as someone who was (and still is) a fairly quiet drummer before he became a fairly quiet guitarist - perhaps a different drummer is what you need.

Seriously though, practice pads just ain't the thing for playing with others; they are for solo practice of sticking, wrists and such.

See if you can get your drummer to use rods for group practice. Or at least some much lighter sticks. Vic Firth's Jazz 8Ds are a really nice balanced stick that will take things down a bit from the tree trunks he is probably using. He won't like that idea, but tell him a player of some 35 years experience suggested it and it really is OK. His wrists are not going to forget how to hold gigging sticks if he also plays with light ones sometimes.

Though a really good drummer should be able to play quietly with any kind of stick. I seem to remember that was on page one of the Buddy Rich Snare Drum Rudiments book. Now that ages me!

Cheers - C


You remember Buddy Rich??????????? You ARE old. Next you'll be talking about Gene Krupa!

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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:34 pm
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Syeklops wrote:
You remember Buddy Rich??????????? You ARE old. Next you'll be talking about Gene Krupa!


Remember him? Man, I saw him live a good eight times, two or three of those sitting not six feet in front of the band stand. That's how I know what it's like to be tied to the tracks with an express train screaming towards you: now that's real musical excitement.

Saw Louis Bellson, too, but never Krupa: I'm old - but not that old!

And I've not only seen Billy Cobham live, I've also sat next to him at a little table through two shows of Dave Weckl's band. And I've seen Steve Smith a few times - hey, where's the drummers' Forum on this website?

Let's talk paradiddles!

:roll: - C


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