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Band-mates won't dial it down...................
- Thread starter DWBass
- Start date
10 people on the stage, do you guys have a horn section?
I feel your pain. We have to deal with people coming and Jam with us and often enough they play the wrong notes. However, these guys don’t get paid to play, in fact they tip really well for their 15 mins of fame.
Does your drummer wear IEM or ear plugs? Maybe he shouldn’t. Must be his first gig.
Come and offload here if you can’t do it at the gig.
You could fill that space with a jazz quartet: sax no mike, cocktail kit for drums, acoustic piano, bass with a 100W practice amp.
The idea of using full arena-scale rock and roll gear there is absolutely ridiculous, and it will lose you the gig.
Drummer actually gigs a lot. He's in a few other band situations. His playing clearly shows his inexperience and every time I bring something up, he just nods his head and says yeah yeah but nothing ever changes. They must be used to him slamming on his snare. He does not wear IEM's (none of us do). I'm the only one who wears ear plugs. I'm not about to lose my hearing!
Does your drummer wear IEM or ear plugs? Maybe he shouldn’t. Must be his first gig.
My approach to a$$hole$ who insist on playing that way is to wear my bright red hearing protection muffs. If you don't like the way it looks, you can learn how to play your instrument. My hearing is more valuable than your approval.
Ouch!
When our drummer went on vacation overseas and we were picking his temp, we played with a few guys my keyboard player would sneaked in a request for a request for “into the air tonight” and we wait til the famous fills. We picked the guy who appropriately filled at the proper volume and still produced great tone. Almost all got so excited and just bang on it like he’s on the arena with Phill,
I hope your drummer is just being a, ignorant jerk and not have hearing loss. It’s a great idea you have to protect yours.
So he’s too loud even when you wear plugs? What kind of plugs are you using?
We have disagreements on volume often. Our drummer and guitar player actually argue we’re too loud from time to time. The keyboardist and I wear ear plugs (mine are custom molded) and our BL likes it loud.
The reality is volume needs to be a collective agreement. After the last time the drummer laid into me for listening to the BL to turn up (and I couldn’t hear myself that well anyway) the BL basically told the whole band either deal with volume or move on.
Truth is when our drummer sound checks I need my plugs to protect my ears. My guess is many loud musicians have already damaged their hearing and are playing loud to compensate. They don’t know there is problem because they’re not aware they’ve lost their hearing to begin with.
I can understand your frustration but either you’re all on the same page or you not. Someone in the band needs to be trusted to make the right call. In our band the BL makes that call. But so does the audience. Are audience members covering their ears or complaining? What is the Soundguy doing? Do bar owners complain? This changes from venue to venue and good bands should change their volume according to the environment.
Actually sounds great out front. The stage is the issue. They're not getting the 'let the PA do the work' mantra. I've been playing since the mid 70's and this is the first band that has been so loud on stage that I have to wear ear plugs/attentuators. The sound is manageable when I have them in. I can go home and not have my ears ringing for 24hrs! I'm going to suggest IEM's because our contract was extended to December. I can't wait to get off this damn stage and do something else. In fact, I'm researching IEM systems now.
That stage is a cave. You said 10 people? Oh my. No wonder it is loud. It has to just be enveloping noise up there. Ampless stage with IEM would definitely help. I don't like IEM and don't want to use them, but if I was working that gig regularly, I'd probably break down and do it.
If you have a drummer like I'm working with IEM's only seem to make the problem worse.
He uses IEM's on stage
Without them in, his stage volume is where it needs to be.
With the IEM's, he literally beats the living snot out of his acoustic set.
Soundman spends a great deal of time at sound check sitting drum tone/volume and his IEM level.
By the middle of the first set his stage volume has doubled.
I've said things, it has done absolutely no good.
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So Anyway, I'd have to be done with them.
I've rehearsed with a couple of loud bands and the volume was just part of how they approached playing.
I bailed pretty quick.
I've rehearsed with a couple of loud bands and the volume was just part of how they approached playing.
I bailed pretty quick.
We used to have that drummer. It has been his end in every band.
The singer in his new band that he has been in for almost a year just recently posted on Facebook asking for ideas on where they could find some good baffles for their drummer.
Our new drummer, who is also our old drummer that had to quit for a while, overly worries about being too loud. I have to assure him he is not too loud and could actually dial it up a bit at times.
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Do you think he might want to locate to central/southern Illinois and play in a country/rock band???
Treat him like gold, it's hard to imagine a drummer that actually considers his stage volume and how it fits-in with the other instruments.
Being able to always maintain stage volume at modest levels is one of those "absolute must haves" for any band I'm in. I don't care how much of a virtuoso the guitarist is, or how much of a monster the drummer is, if they can't or won't maintain enough self discipline to moderate their stsge volume, then I'm out.
That's not me just being an old curmudgeon, either. It's about a standard of professionalism where the sound levels are appropriate for the audience to enjoy a quality listening experience, and also preventing band members and venue patrons from damaging their hearing.
That's not me just being an old curmudgeon, either. It's about a standard of professionalism where the sound levels are appropriate for the audience to enjoy a quality listening experience, and also preventing band members and venue patrons from damaging their hearing.
I can't remember most of the brands. Got them off Temu (LOL) but I did get a set off Amazon by a brand called Laudexua. They all work well enough to lower the volume and keep my ears from ringing after the gig.
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