Experienced using a plexi drum shield live?

naja · #1 09-06-2006, 06:14 AM

Has anyone here used one of these live? My drummer is looking to get one, and we're both wondering how much they actually cut down the stage volume. He is looking at one with a top on it, which I would imagine would provide more of a volume cut than one without.

My concern is it cutting his volume too much, and us having to mic him. He uses a DW kit, which sounds great, just too loud. I'm trying to talk him into learning to play softer, but not having much luck. I think he's deadset on getting the sheild and about 2k of mics for it. We only play small churches that hold about 500 - 600 people, so I think he would be better off not using the mics if at all posible since these churches don't have the greatest of PAs.

Dave

SteveC · #2 09-06-2006, 07:19 AM

They do work well, but you would probably need to mic the kit. It sounds to me like your drummer needs to learn to play softer - not unusual - adn save a lot of money. Spend it on HotRods or other sticks. Experiment until he finds someting that works. I have played with a couple drummers who understand this concept. It's nice.

NickyBass · #3 09-06-2006, 07:45 AM

We had to use one for one particular club. They provided it. On our set break, me and the guitar player positioned the smoke machine so it would fill up in the shield. We let the lighting guy in on it, and told him to turn it up full blast. As for noise reduction, I would suggest playing softer, but it's his money. If he can afford it, and wants to drag around all that extra gear, set it up, tear it down, check the mics, level the mix, etc, etc, then it would probably sound pretty good. If it was me, I'd just play softer. There has to be another alternative. How about some kind of muffle on the heads, or something simpler like that?

SuperDuck · #4 09-06-2006, 08:03 AM

Shoot - it takes long enough for drummers to set up as it is. Now double that amount of time and add a sound check for each mike.

"Okay, now snare" whack... whack... whack... "Okay, hold on, hold on. Try again. whack... whack... whack... feedback... whack...

Repeat for 20 min. to a half hour.

**Marcus Willett** · #5 09-06-2006, 08:28 AM

Just about every show in town here uses one. It sucks for me because there's no substitute (IMO) for hearing the drums acoustically, but the sound men love it and it seems to work from a FOH perspective. As long as you have a decent monitor setup (yeah, you'll need to mic everything), it's not a big deal and you get used to it.

From a drummer perspective, it's better to be able to play the way that feels best (if that's playing hard) and control the volume that way. Very few drummers have the kinda control needed to play intense but quiet. Steve Gadd comes to mind, but I'm assuming he's not on the gig.

naja · #6 09-06-2006, 09:15 AM

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll pass it along to him and hopefully be able to talk him into playing softer. I know he's used hotrods in the past, not sure why he isn't now. To me it's one those deals where you just have to adjust your comfort level for the sake of the band and overall sound. The drummer in the other band I play with has a 4 piece kit and can setup in 15 minutes. He can play softer as well. This guy has a 7 or 8 piece kit that sounds huge. It takes around 45 mintues just to set it up! I love his playing style too, but I don't want to have to show up 4 hours early just to get his levels set.

Dave

markjazzbassist · #7 09-06-2006, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcus Willett

Just about every show in town here uses one. It sucks for me because there's no substitute (IMO) for hearing the drums acoustically, but the sound men love it and it seems to work from a FOH perspective. As long as you have a decent monitor setup (yeah, you'll need to mic everything), it's not a big deal and you get used to it.

From a drummer perspective, it's better to be able to play the way that feels best (if that's playing hard) and control the volume that way. Very few drummers have the kinda control needed to play intense but quiet. Steve Gadd comes to mind, but I'm assuming he's not on the gig.

+1

couldn't have said it better. we use one at my church. band and drummer hate it, sound guys love it.