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Thoughts on acrylic drum screens?

#41
I saw Return To Forever at the IndigO2 in London in 2008. Lenny White (who's probably one of the top five drummers alive on the planet) was playing behind one of these. Nuff said?

Well, maybe not. I sort of agree that a good soundman can work around this and I also agree that we tend to worry about bleed a little too much. But I don't agree that seeing one of these means the band isn't very good. ;)
 
#43
bassybill said:
I saw Return To Forever at the IndigO2 in London in 2008. Lenny White (who's probably one of the top five drummers alive on the planet) was playing behind one of these. Nuff said?

Well, maybe not. I sort of agree that a good soundman can work around this and I also agree that we tend to worry about bleed a little too much. But I don't agree that seeing one of these means the band isn't very good. ;)
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A good soundman is not going to be able to convince that Beta 87 that the singer singing into it is louder than the snare drum bleeding into it. No soundman can do that.
 
#44
Pacman said:
A good soundman is not going to be able to convince that Beta 87 that the singer singing into it is louder than the snare drum bleeding into it. No soundman can do that.
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A singer that doesn't have the power to get over a loud rock band has no business fronting a loud rock band. Bruce Dickinson has been using a Beta 87 for years and he gets over Iron Maiden's famously loud backline just fine.

You can play games and apply bandaids all day long, the fact remains that a good band will sound good without all of this nonsense and a bad band will still sound bad in spite of it.
 
#45
projectMalamute said:
A singer that doesn't have the power to get over a loud rock band has no business fronting a loud rock band. Bruce Dickinson has been using a Beta 87 for years and he gets over Iron Maiden's famously loud backline just fine.
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Well sure.........on a massive stage with pro sound guys. How does that compare to the bar band playing in tight spaces using sub-par PA equipment?
 
#48
projectMalamute said:
You can play games and apply bandaids all day long, the fact remains that a good band will sound good without all of this nonsense and a bad band will still sound bad in spite of it.
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And a good band will sound BETTER with it. I've seen it time and time again, and have been doing it for the last 25 years around the world.
 
#49
Pacman said:
A good soundman is not going to be able to convince that Beta 87 that the singer singing into it is louder than the snare drum bleeding into it. No soundman can do that.
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A singer with a bigger head to better block the snare sound from the 87's diaphragm might be in order.

Shields were originally used to eliminate bleed from other instruments, not drums. My experience is that they work both ways to a certain extent. On a really loud stage, they won't do squat. A lot of churches have good results using them because many houses of worship have a different idea of "loud" than rock musicians do.

For my own money, they're heavy, bulky, and more of a pain than they're worth, especially on the smaller stages where they do the most good. If you're going to use one, make sure you get a roof for it. My church had one for a while, and you could clearly hear reflections from the warehouse roof in our sanctuary because there wasn't a lid on the thing.
 
#50
The truth is that they're a necessary evil. We use one at my church because we need to keep the snare under control, because the Pastor complains if the volunteer drummers are too loud.

Of course the tech teams (sound, lights, visuals) would prefer there not to be a perspex monstrosity in the middle of the stage, but for the moment, there has to be.

Every situation is different, and it's impossiple to say whether having a screen is the right call or not until you're standing there yourself.
 
#51
Earplugs that allow high end through will always be cheaper.

That being said we had one in my old band and rarely used it, mostly when volume was a major issue


Reading earlier posts, or drummer at church is 100% always behind one, although I'm close enough to hear him regardless, it does help us at church with our poor PA situation
 
#53
projectMalamute said:
A singer that doesn't have the power to get over a loud rock band has no business fronting a loud rock band. Bruce Dickinson has been using a Beta 87 for years and he gets over Iron Maiden's famously loud backline just fine.
Click to expand...

And most bands don't have Bruce singing for them.

Besides, this is an overly simplistic view. (as is the comment about the head - that one is hilarious) Is the singer going to be singing at 140db the entire night? No, and even if he *does* sing sound enough to get over the snare, the snare is STILL going to get into that open mic - that's the reality of the situation.

But clearly you have more experience than I do, so have at it...
 
#58
KingRazor said:
Interesting, how does one make people perceive that the drums are quieter?
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Case in point:

We had a big youth conference on at church a year or two back, and part of the stage decoration was some big dummy speaker stacks. They weren't plugged in, they weren't even loaded IIRC. The stage design was left in for the Sunday morning service, and the PA guys got countless complaints about it being 'too loud because of the new speakers.' I was in the room, it was no louder than any other Sunday.

To the untrained ear/eye, something that looks like it should affect volume, does. Essentially, people hear what they want to hear. So regardless of how much effect a perspex screen really has one way or the other on volume, because people can see that there's some 'soundproofing' between them and the kit, they percieve it as quieter.
 
#60
Our church used to use them.

The sound reflected right back at our drummer, so he ended up using ear plugs. This meant he could barely hear his monitor. The sound came out the back and reflected off the walls. I think we were actually louder with them, than without.

We got rid of them, and honestly, it's been for the best. He focuses on keeping his dynamics under control (as do all of the instrumentalists), which means our vocalists can tune better, and overall we have a better blend.

They were also a ginormous PITA to set-up and tear-down. They blocked where the choir sat, so we had to take them down every Sunday.
 

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