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does/should my drummer need a microphone?...
- Thread starter MattS
- Start date
If nobody else is doing it, find out if he's any good at it. Give him a mic at your next gig and see if it works. If it does, then great! If it doesn't, then you don't have to give him a mic again.
The OP didnt indicate that nobody else could do it or that it was needed.
Drummer said I would love to do most of the live talking/fan interaction/promoting to fans when we play shows.
Most" of the live talking... from someone whos not out front? While the guys out front stand there doing ?
And then if the experiment doesnt work, (which I dont think it will) then theyre supposed to take the mic away?
Imo, better not to start.
I just watched the Rush documentary Beyond The Lighted Stage. In their early days around the time of the first album, with their first drummer John Rutsey, they let him do most if not all audience interaction announcements. And it worked. He was really good at it. Because he didn't sing, you would otherwise have never heard from him. And because they were a three-piece, they felt it was important he had a voice and did more than drum with his mouth shut. They also encouraged him to write lyrics, just like they wanted Neil to write lyrics, but Rutsey was evidently not so good at it, and Geddy and Alex had to do the lyrics duties on the first record.
I think if your drummer has something to offer in the MC/co-host/sense of humor/audience interaction department, it could be pretty cool and unique, and an opportunity for your audience to get to know him a little better, stuffed away back there under a pile of drums and cymbals.
I think if your drummer has something to offer in the MC/co-host/sense of humor/audience interaction department, it could be pretty cool and unique, and an opportunity for your audience to get to know him a little better, stuffed away back there under a pile of drums and cymbals.
I often ask for a mic on stage, even though I don't sing, to be able to interact with the crowd a bit. The only valid reason for not letting your drummer do it, is if it's bad for your overall performance. The reasons you listed seem rather weak to me, sorry.
I'd say let him try it once or twice. If you (or the guitarist) want to have your part of it, tell him you'd like to share duties.
I'd say let him try it once or twice. If you (or the guitarist) want to have your part of it, tell him you'd like to share duties.
Biggest feedback / stage bleed source you can imagine. If not switched off... and it WILL get forgotten to get switched off.
IMHO.
IMHO.
The real issue here is perhaps your drummer senses a problem with the bands stage presence related to crowd interaction. I would give it sereous consideration as a band.
Bands with "dead air" in between songs or bands where the "speaker" is monotone, boring and not reeling in the crowd will not be as well recieved as a band with a charismatic frontman, even if you are the superior band.
Bands with "dead air" in between songs or bands where the "speaker" is monotone, boring and not reeling in the crowd will not be as well recieved as a band with a charismatic frontman, even if you are the superior band.
The real issue here is perhaps you didn't read the beginning of this thread (yes, it was kinda long but my approach is thorough, logic-providing, and considerate of each member's feelings) another huge point to my stance is that WE HAVEN'T PLAYED A SHOW YET.
"we're all seasoned players but this band is kinda new and will be playing shows within the next month or two..."
We just started to look for/book shows which is kinda where this all arose from.
I really appreciate everyone's response and feedback so far. It seems that the majority of the responses are in agreement with where my concerns are and why. I was feeling kinda bad at first cuz my lengthy email seemed like a rant to my guitarists, but I feel a bit better cuz they knew where it was coming from. This stuff will be a discussion by the whole band at our next rehearsal.
Thanks again!!!
I sense a lot of drummer hate in this thread.
You haven't played a show yet and you're feeling reluctant to let the drummer have an equal voice to your own. Phooey on that. And, apparently, it's just because he's the drummer. You didn't say your reluctance comes from the fact that he's an idiot with a crap sense of humor. Obviously, it's not because you've already seen him interact with the crowd and you thought it was a turn-off. You haven't even played a show yet.
Instead you're making up hypothetical what-if rationalizations to justify your emotional reaction to not being the one-and-only (having your balls cut off, as you said). You already decided in your mind that the drummer is going to be positioned at the back and made hard to see and you're using that. You know, drummers can be set up on one side or the other (instead of the center of the back), usually facing (or angled) towards the center of the stage. Drummers can set their kit up with the toms and cymbals relatively low and flat so they aren't hidden behind them.
Stop being a drummerist! (like a racist only bigoted against drummers)
You haven't played a show yet and you're feeling reluctant to let the drummer have an equal voice to your own. Phooey on that. And, apparently, it's just because he's the drummer. You didn't say your reluctance comes from the fact that he's an idiot with a crap sense of humor. Obviously, it's not because you've already seen him interact with the crowd and you thought it was a turn-off. You haven't even played a show yet.
Instead you're making up hypothetical what-if rationalizations to justify your emotional reaction to not being the one-and-only (having your balls cut off, as you said). You already decided in your mind that the drummer is going to be positioned at the back and made hard to see and you're using that. You know, drummers can be set up on one side or the other (instead of the center of the back), usually facing (or angled) towards the center of the stage. Drummers can set their kit up with the toms and cymbals relatively low and flat so they aren't hidden behind them.
Stop being a drummerist! (like a racist only bigoted against drummers)
No drummer hate at all. My drummer is awesome and a good dude. We haven't played a show yet, so I'm down to have him try it out, BUT like I and others have stated before the things to consider are...
1- maybe see how the vocalist handles the first show first?
2- serious feedback/stage bleed source
3- not every place to play will have on/off switch mics, sure he can bring his own that's fine, BUT he doesn't own one yet. so until then, why risk it? moving that mic around with no switch will be a sound guy's nightmare.
4- generally crowds don't wanna guess who is talking. the mention of "having my balls cut off" in front of a crowd was just a simple joke about this point.
5- the band literally days before agreed "little or no banter between songs", so why have an extra mic just for the "banter" that we agreed we don't find necessary.
6- if he's playing his heart out, which our music is kinda intense/fast-paced, he's gonna get winded and talking while winded is super bogus cuz people won't be able to make out what he's saying and defeats the purpose entirely. Our drummer has no vocal training at all and already stated that he did/does not want to do any vocals in the songs cuz he gets too winded.
7- the reason the vocalist tends to do that stuff in between songs is cuz he/she has been trained to or has worked up the stamina to breathe correctly to be able to voice what he/she is saying/singing while performing. If the drummer wants to say the necessary stuff in between songs so the vocalist can catch his breath, then hell yeah I'm all for it, but refer to #1 and #6.
just the facts. Not a "drummerist". I'm not necessarily against my drummer having a mic, just that there are many facts as to why one doesn't see/hear that too often. The drummers who do have and make use of the mic live, have some sort of method/discipline/gear/proof/vocal training to do so, but our drummer has none of those so why risk a bad display if he hasn't initiated solutions to any of those things yet, especially before playing a show. nah mean? pretty simple, but i'm not worried cuz my band is full of good dudes and a resolution will be made shortly.
- Feb 27, 2005
- 3,218
- 125
- Disclosures
- Full disclosure, I'm a certified Fender technician working in a music store that carries Fender, Yamaha, and Ibanez products among others.
Why not give him a shot? Is he good at talking to people in general? Is there any evidence that he's going to suck, or can't learn to be good at it? Face it, unless you're Tool or something and keep the audience entertained in between tunes or have the discipline to just keep playing one song right after the other, there's going to be dead time. Gotta fill it somehow, and if none of the rest of the band is stepping up, why not let the drummer have a chance?
I agree with the banter thing, though. With very rare exception, my cover band only lets the singer talk to the audience. On my worship team, only the worship leader talks to the congregation. It's just better that way. Witty banter is hard to keep up without arranging it in advance, and audiences can tell when a band is so practiced it's a routine, and gets turned off IME.
Also, if your drummer can't tell if he's bombing as a front guy, and you can't tell him for whatever reason, you're going to have much bigger problems down the road than who talks to the audience. If I were in your shoes, I'd give him a couple shows to do it and if he couldn't, I'd politely but firmly take away the mike.
EDIT: The drummer in said cover band has a mike, and pushes it out of his way when he's not singing. We don't ask soundguys to mute him because he'll wait until the last moment to grab the mike to sing. It's a source of bleed, but even in larger venues, there are way more serious problems compromising our live mix than the drummers mike hanging in midair or pointing at the back of the stage. It makes an almost inaudible difference as long as there's no feedback, IME.
I agree with the banter thing, though. With very rare exception, my cover band only lets the singer talk to the audience. On my worship team, only the worship leader talks to the congregation. It's just better that way. Witty banter is hard to keep up without arranging it in advance, and audiences can tell when a band is so practiced it's a routine, and gets turned off IME.
Also, if your drummer can't tell if he's bombing as a front guy, and you can't tell him for whatever reason, you're going to have much bigger problems down the road than who talks to the audience. If I were in your shoes, I'd give him a couple shows to do it and if he couldn't, I'd politely but firmly take away the mike.
EDIT: The drummer in said cover band has a mike, and pushes it out of his way when he's not singing. We don't ask soundguys to mute him because he'll wait until the last moment to grab the mike to sing. It's a source of bleed, but even in larger venues, there are way more serious problems compromising our live mix than the drummers mike hanging in midair or pointing at the back of the stage. It makes an almost inaudible difference as long as there's no feedback, IME.
Why the presumption that the vocalist will be better? Rationalize all the "he's had training" you want - it's still a presumption.
I don't have a major problem with asking him to get a mic with an on/off switch. From a later comment of yours, I do have to ask, "what? You expect him to have already bought a mic for this when he doesn't even know if he'll be allowed to use it?!?!"
See last response. I'm pretty sure you can get a Shure SM57 (or maybe an SM58) with an on/off switch. You shouldn't have a problem with a soundman anywhere if you ask to use one of those instead of the soundman's provided mic.
Presumption about being able to see him. I don't think people have trouble seeing me at all when I'm drumming with my cover band - even though I normally set up directly behind where our frontperson stands.
Even if you have a strictly NO banter policy, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be prepared to do a little shuck-and-jive if needed. If the drummer buys a mic for himself and never has an opportunity to use it, who are you to tell him he can't spend his money that way?
If the drummer is "allowed" to talk and he does a bad job it, for whatever reason - whether he's winded and trying to talk out of breath, or if he just does a bad job of it - THEN deal with it. You need to be prepared to deal with it when a band member causes a problem as part of your show whether it's bad banter or playing a wrong chord in a song or singing off-key.
Again, presumption. Refer to my responses. I used to play drums in an 80s metal hair band. There were definitely songs that were somewhat physically challenging. But, certainly not all of them. And even the most physically challenging songs would not leave a drummer too winded to talk unless the drummer is just ridiculously out of shape. I mean, if he can't talk normally after playing a song, how do you expect him to get through a whole gig's worth of PLAYING, whether he talks or not?
