Soft hitting drummer...AAAGH!!

[TinIndian]

Just mic him and see how it goes. Trust me. The other extreme is even harder on everyone. Let technology level the playing field. I would rather have to mic a drummer than have to wear earplugs due to a ridiculously loud drummer. (And, sadly, most of them are.)

A thousand times this!

 

[Anthony Buckeridge]

Thank you for sharing this clip including the brilliant saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith.

As you correctly state, it was a terrible film and does nothing whatever for Dick himself, or probably anybody else that was involved.

However, for me it brought back happy memories, shared at the console, beside the stage and jokes and laughter in the band room with Dick and members of John Hiseman’s Coliseum.

John was another great drummer I have been so humbly privileged to be involved with, a true gentleman of the music business, with my Promoter friend who organised and promoted so many tremendous U.K. concerts.

Dick could do a tenor sax solo for 10 minutes, then play a soprano sax for another five, then play the tenor and soprano simultaneously for another five minutes then another five minutes of tenor, then another five with both instruments again. All scintillatingly fast, complex, interesting, goose bump inducing, hair standing on end, edge of seat performing! Quite mind blowing,


As this is a Live Sound Forum, I recall Coliseum bought a huge, early Dynachord P.A. with lots of High Frequency hiss present in the quiet, when no when else was in the Concert Hall. Unusual for the era.

In regard to "Gonks Go Beat", I recall Bobby Graham reflecting that Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page (typical combination) were amongst the large number of musicians on the Film Score set, as there was a lot of incidental music.

Jimmy Page called it “wallpaper music”, not what he was about at all. Afterward Bob said to “little” Jim, “you looked like you were playing a storm up, how did you get on with it?” (knowing little Jim didn’t read at all, disliking that type of situation).

He replied “I turned my amp off Bob.” (Presumably knowing that if the fault was uncovered, which it probably wouldn’t be given the number of players and available tracks, it would probably be laid at the assistant engineer’s door). Completely true story. You couldn’t make this stuff up!



Colosseum 'Walking In The Park' from 'The Valentyne Suite' 1994 - YouTube

Another truly great drummer who did many sessions including the Theme from The South Bank Show, composed by Andrew!

Very subtle drumming, everything I was writing about earlier.

South Bank Show Intros - Improved Audio! - YouTube

Remembering Jon Hiseman - YouTube

 

[TinIndian]

I love this drummers heavy hand!!!

Thats a great track. A great groove being laid down by the bassist.
I love a bunch if that stuff from Daryls House.

 

[BrotherRay]

Fire the accordion player.

 

[Real Soon]

He sounds like a keeper, just for a sexy R&B type group

 

[LBS-bass]

For it’s been my experience that a great drummer can play at any weight, loud, quiet and every possible level required in between.

You don't have a different take. It's just that the loud bashers outnumber the quiet mice by about 20:1 and the drummers that play with appropriate dynamics in all situations are even more rare.

I think most of us who are suggesting we covet the quiet drummer do so because we want someone who can and will play quietly when appropriate, not necessarily someone who will only play quietly.

 

[Kukulkan61]

Thats a great track. A great groove being laid down by the bassist.
I love a bunch if that stuff from Daryls House.

Alot of great talent goes on in that house!!

 

[darwin-bass]

tl;dr - If the drummer is too quiet it may be he can't hear the band. Put him under some isolating headphones and put the band but no drums in his headphone mix.

Sennheiser 280's should do it. They'll block out his drums and he'll have the band louder so I bet he'll automatically play louder.

 

[TreySonagras]

What is his background? Rock drummers tend to hit heavy and jazz drummers not so much. Jazz drummers also have often been coached that the bass is the tempo-keeper. Experience has shown me that it's hard to get a jazz drummer to play rock well. It's not impossible, but generally they've been taught all the wrong things for that genre (hold down the tempo on the ride, syncopated comping on snare and toms throughout, etc.)

A lot of people here would tell you that a drummer who can play quietly is a strong asset and a rare diamond. But not knowing what kind of music you're playing, it's hard to say if this is just a mismatch or what. If you're metal, you probably need someone who wants to hit hard. If you have intricate singing and strong harmonies, you might need to tone that down in order for the singers to hear themselves.

I run a high school jazz band and we teach that bass holds tempo and drum set provides the style. In a rock band I teach that the drum set holds the tempo and the bass sets the harmonic structure. In my own real-world rock/blues playing I want to play the same rhythm as the kick drum, plus a few notes. I like to get where I can really hear and feel the bass drum.
I like loud drummers...it’s a loud guitar wanking around that bothers me.

 

[Bill Murray]

I love this drummers heavy hand!!!

Not I, snare is too aggressive/loud for my tastes, it’s well suited for 80s rock though, anyways that’s just being nit-picky of a solid cover

 

[MustangWally]

I wish at times I could splice him to our drummer, who struggles at times with accelerating tempo and volume.

God help us - a genetically engineered drummer! What if it breeds??? It's the end of the world as we know it!!!!

 

[MasterG]

Used to play with a drummer for years like that. Guys that played with him gave him the name Tip Tap.

 

[Axtman]

Soft hitting drummer? No such thing! Almost always people complain because the drummer is too loud. Is he a jazz drummer?

Get him an electronic drum kit. Then he can be a quiet as he wants and you can turn him up.

 

[Playbyear]

I love this drummers heavy hand!!!

I don’t find that heavy handed. It’s not like the guy is “building houses”. He’s mixing smooth drumming with that crisp hit on the snare. It’s the kind of drumming that works real well live because everyone can stay on time with it.

 

[3bc]

I'm with OP. I will take the energy of a hard hitting drummer any day, as long as they play in good time. I don't need to be hunting for the downbeat every time a drummer does a drum fill.

 

[petrus61]

I appreciate a talented drummer that knows when to play light. A skilled drummer can actually keep time when doing this. Lots of drummers can blur the line a bit, with their dynamics dictating tempo, which is a war crime as far as I’m concerned and the only reason I’d have trouble with a limp wrist Larry behind the kit.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

simple three word answer: get new drummer

 

[fourstringdrums]

I would love to see a video of him playing. My first thought as a drummer myself is to say that you're just too loud, even if you say you're not. But it's possible that he just isn't playing with any confidence.

 

[JimmyM]

I love this drummers heavy hand!!!

Me too! I also love that his snare drum isn't all pingy and super tight.

 

[Guitalia]

I don’t find that heavy handed. It’s not like the guy is “building houses”. He’s mixing smooth drumming with that crisp hit on the snare. It’s the kind of drumming that works real well live because everyone can stay on time with it.

Yes. He comes in at the top with take-no-prisoners rim shot volume for the first couple of bars and then pulls back just enough to blend with the band, while still doing all rim shots, so you get the sharpness but at a slightly lower volume level. If I hadn't been listening for it, I wouldn't have noticed that he'd backed off.