Grrr! Church Just Bought a Drum Shield

OK. I'm a bit more traditional/old fashioned about this stuff and if you'd call me out-of-touch with "todays churches", you'd most likely be right....but.....does it not seem that worrying about drum shields and IEM mixes and big FOH systems seem just a bit out of touch? Really...where is the joyful noise?...it seems so controlled and contrived to me....I don't get it.

I've been to church services where they had somebody on a synthesizer playing the same songs I heard on "Christian radio" playing in the car on the way there, (that the larger church body undoubtedly has a hand in funding and promoting), trying to "be cool", while the congregation mumbled along to the very simplified words being displayed on a giant screen.

In my churches I loved going to as a kid, there was no such thing. The organist played the intro to hymns written a couple/few hundred years ago and then brought the organ volume down a couple notches while we, the congregation, belted out the songs in King James, and people just broke out into their own parts, soprano/alto/tenor and bass with no direction....we just did it. And nothing needed to be simplified or "made cool" for us kids....it was already cool because it sounded great when we did that.


Does that happen anymore?....am I just old?....do people think Jesus needs to have a makeover and be made "hip" for people to get it? Do folks not enjoy singing? Do we really need plexiglass drumshields and PA systems rock bands would be envious of? Does anybody think the message may be getting lost in the noise?...or maybe the priorities may be getting a bit upsidedown? Is all this stuff really necessary in order to make a joyful noise? If you were alone with God in the middle of nowhere and He said "make a joyful noise unto me", would you tell Him", "no Lord, wait...I need more of me in my IEM, the drummer forgot his shield and I'm getting a little ring around 1 kilohertz?"

 

A shock collar would work better, IMO/IME.

 

Companies like Randall have a recording box...., speaker and mic inside .... Sound proofed ... Crank your plexi to ten ---- can't hear it unless in pa

 

In short--- choirs and bell choirs aren't in demand ---- we're part of the YouTube and MTV generation

 

Or for its day that organ, pipe or relatively inexpensive Hammond was as big of a capital investment as a PA system. IEMs and drum shields are today. Church's which could not afford them made do with sacred steel guitars, regular guitars, banjos and pianos. And then one day a drummer pointed to a passage in a book and asked why can't I also make a joyful noise. Some churches believe that they should use instruments of a past era and area, all things being equal, or that some should not be used because bar players also use them. Others believe that they should use what the world has to the best of their ability.

 

And get off my lawn!! Ya hooligans! Lol.

 

Actually, I'm originally from South Jersey, so really I was projecting

 

EDIT: will33 had it right, let's get back on topic, shall we?

I've been reading Church On The Move's Seeds blog and they had this post about drum cages: http://seeds.churchonthemove.com/blog/post/47

If you've got a big enough building (or a quiet enough drummer, or better yet, a combination of the two...), you can and probably should just forget about the cage.

 

Ya, self censored there. I don't need to be pulling this off track.....sorry.

 

Thanks for sharing, we don't have space for a shield on stage in the youth building so the next step I was going to try is different sticks. We've tried using Hot Rods for all our songs and while it helps with keeping volume down, it takes away the attack of the kit.. These seem good but also fragile?

I have also considered getting these:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/vater-whip

 

Technically correct---- remember they're pr more than suppression

 

I noticed their comments section. it almost endorsed the use of shields for the average sized church. The one that seats 100 to 300. I would guess the sound engineer, if he had it his way would vote for electronic drums but they are as visually unappealing as a glass booth. But maybe a better budgetary decision if sound is the primary concern

It was curious on the blog pictures the traps were in a booth but right next to him was a percussionist and I could just hear Sheila E. crash cymbal on overload after the shielding work.

 

I can attest to the fact that in a church with less than 300 people, a shield or electronic drums is pretty much a necessity. We use a cage at our church and sometimes the cymbals can still overpower the vocals if the drummer isn't careful.

 

Right but that church is pretty big on their PR and no one seems unhappy with the lack of a cage there.

 

You probably have a controlled drummer.

----

OVERALL...

I've been hired multiple times for this problem.

I've found for the 100-300 attendee church with traditional architecture and acoustic treatments...

A Shield technically brings in "more" sound as the drummer may hit harder with IEM... or boost the monitor if on wedges...

The "Quieter" comes into play when the audience physically sees the plexi as an attempt to field their complaint.

Commonly the complainers just don't like contemporary.