Screens

[salsjag]

Plexiglass Screens
Evey once in awhile I see a clear plexiglass screen directly in front of the drummer. What purpose does this serve? Is this used to dampen the volume of the drummer?

[wulf]

You know those cages you they put round dangerous animals in the zoo... ?

Actually, you're spot on. The aim is to cut down the acoustic volume of the drums; if your quietest sound is a loud drummer, the overall volume can get painfully loud very quickly.

Wulf

[Razor]

Anyone "made" any of these?
Seems fairly simple...just wondering.

[wideload]

[wideload]

We use a plexi shield for the drummer. It cuts volume some, but the main benefit is keeping drums from saturating the vocal mics in front. Less bleed, more control, all those good things. If you have the drummer backed up to a wall, you'll still get alot of drum off the back, unless you have a shield there, maybe covered with foam to soak up the noise. Now about those 16 tens the bass player has...

Larry

[discoboo]

i hate shields because i feel cut off from the drummer. also they look stupid on stage.

[BertBert]

We use one in our church, where the congregation hasn't totally come to grips with contemporary music in a worship service yet. A visiting pastor one time remarked that things must be pretty bad if we have to put up bulletproof glass around the drummer.

I played a gig once where our drummer was set up behind a plexiglass "cage." He couldn't hear anything! He's a great drummer and musician though, so we got through the little show.