The Official 'I-Hate=Drum-Rooms-That-Are-Way-Up-Above-the-Stage' club.

OPBASSMAN1994 · #1 11-27-2010, 09:59 AM

So we performed recently in one of our favorite concert spots. Great sound. Great sound/light guys. Everything was great. Except for one new addition that they had made: the drum room. It sits high atop Mount Olympus, way to the right of the stage, and because of it, the stage feels empty, we had I think 12 instances of spontaneous tempo change, and we had to talk into mics to even have the drummer hear us in practice on-location. It was great for sound/recording, but it was a pain in the butt and a true curse for a band that plays complicated, spontaneous jam stuff that requires on-stage communication anyway. There was no way to give 'the look' when we got way out of tempo or started to rush or lag something. No way to say "remember the change in the next measure" or "keep it soft". Our drummer is insane. Good, but manic and intense when he plays. We really need good communication to keep together, and the drum room totally screwed that up. Anybody else had an experience like this?

OPBASSMAN1994 · #2 11-27-2010, 10:39 AM

anybody?

Winnb · #3 11-27-2010, 10:46 AM

I've never played a gig where the drummer was too far away. Usually they're too close. On many occasions I have wished they were farther away. :-)

OPBASSMAN1994 · #4 11-27-2010, 10:56 AM

Well, it wasn't necessarily distance, but height above the stage. Inaccessible to anyone without the aid of microphones.

T-Bird · #5 11-27-2010, 11:21 AM

Hi.

Well...

Back in the mid 90's I ran stage sound for an relatively unknown then, very famous worldwide now, Finnish band. We had some risers left from the previous weeks corporate event, so this drummer wanted a riser. He wanted a RISER. The band protested a bit and us in the crews protested as well. The drummer got his way though, and IIRC he did help putting it up and obviously put his drums together. The floor of the riser was at 2m, IIRC again (it's been a while

), so he was above everyones head so to speak.

First problem: The stage DID NOT feel empty, even though it was a big one.

Second problem: For some odd reason, he couldn't hear his monitor

, so we had to build yet another riser for that.

Third problem: all the moving heads and fixed PAR's were programed and aligned for the "standard" 50cm riser, so more work for the light crew.

Fourth problem: Even though the theatre stage was pretty high, his cymbals were almost level with the trusses, and to be honest, it didn't look too good from the floor.

The band was as good as always, but there wasn't too much on-stage communication, ever actually, they had it rehearsed well.

Regards
Sam

OPBASSMAN1994 · #6 11-27-2010, 11:49 AM

The drum room was not ON stage, though. That was the issue. It hung out over an added on side stage to stage left of the actual stage. He wasn't there at all. His drum room was up and off the whole thing.

Oh, and what famous finnish band was it? I can only think of one: Europe

newwavefrank · #7 11-27-2010, 11:59 AM

I hope you had a mic or two onstage that only fed the drummers monitors...

T-Bird · #8 11-27-2010, 12:08 PM

Hi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OPBASSMAN1994

The drum room was not ON stage, though. That was the issue. It hung out over an added on side stage to stage left of the actual stage. He wasn't there at all. His drum room was up and off the whole thing.

Oh, and what famous finnish band was it? I can only think of one: Europe

Ok, now that would've make things strange.

Europe, hell no, and they're NOT Finnish BTW. Thank god for that

.

It was His Infernal Majesty, later just H.I.M.

Regards
Sam

OPBASSMAN1994 · #9 11-27-2010, 12:21 PM

The guys that started the whole "heartagram" thing?
Oh, and to NEWWAVEFRANK, no we did not, and it would have looked weird to speak into a mic that no one heard anyway. And he didn't use monitors, he had phones that picked up the sound system's audio.

T-Bird · #10 11-27-2010, 12:31 PM

Hi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OPBASSMAN1994

The guys that started the whole "heartagram" thing?

Yep, them.

Regards
Sam

walterw · #11 11-28-2010, 09:58 PM

i've never even heard of a live venue with a separate drum room! i imagine that would be good for MTV-style "acts" where you had a star on stage and all the musicians were hidden away, but for a real band?

i'm surprised you didn't just set up the drummer on stage as normal with the rest of you.

OPBASSMAN1994 · #12 11-29-2010, 08:28 AM

Sound quality wouldn't have been nearly as good. Stage is just small enough for the mics to pick up the drums....of course, we could just have pushed him further back, used a drum shield, and all that stuff.