Personal Drum "P.A."

ambientgreg

Senior Member
I work in a band that barely mic's my drums,and then barely turns them up in the house and not all all ever in the monitors.

I play Yamaha Recording customs and nice high end cymbals,and am tired of not hearing the quality instrument I play...not to mention getting swallowed up by bass and guitar rigs from both sides . Hence, I am planning to put a "drum Rig" together consisting of a powered cab,& mixer.

Is there anyone here that has such a rig and can recommend certain setups and/or specific products to help me out here" Thanks and I'll hang up and listen ( :
 
OK so you are not going to run the drums through the bands PA system? Then you need your own PA? If so, get a PA w/ subwoofers.

This is a ton of extra work. It would behoove you to do or say whatever you have to in order to get your drums heard through the band's PA.

But if that's a dead end, then you will need mics, XLR cables, a mixer, powered 2 way speakers plus a powered sub. You may need a snake. One sub should do it but 2 would be better lol.

Personally I think that's cray-zee. Have you considered bodily threats to your bandmates? I think you have to make some bold moves here and take on and REVERSE the status quo, for the betterment of your bands sound and for personal gratification. (Don't let the man keep you down lol).

So your choices are:

Get your drums through the bands PA (to your satisfaction) however you can...

Get your own PA... (this is bound to cause problems with space and I'll betcha your guitarists and singers aren't going to go for it)

Suffer through like it is...

Split.

I'd go for option #1 and don't take no for an answer.
Getting your own PA is nuts IMO.

Also, drums don't normally run through the monitors, at least in my experiences. (excluding huge stages and outdoor festivals)
 
I have considered this too. JBL powered speakers are quite good. Check out Musician's Friend. Good luck.
 
Score yourself a Roland PM-1, and 4 mics (kick, snare, and 2 overheads) and you're ready to go.
 

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I use an active monitor with a 15" driver works perfect, better to have more power than not enough.
 
not to mention getting swallowed up by bass and guitar rigs from both sides

I've had this problem in bands before and it all comes down to onstage volume. You need to get across to your guitarist(s) and bass player that amps on stage are for front of house to hear, and not for them to hear...that's what monitors are there for. The is idea that the amps only need to be loud enough to produce a good signal for the mics so that the sound engineer can amplify the signal through the front of house speakers, the sound is the "thrown back" to the players onstage via monitors so they can hear themselves.

So many guitarists have the misconception that amps in a live setting are for both them to hear themselves and for the audience to hear. If you can get the sound levels on-stage down low enough you'll have a much better time of hearing yourself.

Another misconception (amongst drummers) is that mics for the kit are to add volume out front...and to a degree yes and for large venues definatley, but the main purpose of mic'ing the kit live in smaller venues is for tone rather than volume.

I must say that bringing your own seperate P.A. soley for drums will turn into a nightmare; it'll take up a lot of extra space on stage and will add way too much time to your soundcheck, something I can't see venues, promoters, sound engineers and other bands that are playing being happy with.

Hope you manage to resolve your situtation,

Kev
 
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