My tone chasing never ends.

Bull

Gold Member
Friday night, I played my first gig with my new band,a very loud,tuned down,Classic Metal/Hard Rock/Stoner/Doom 5-piece. I have been using my 6.5x14 Pearl Sensitone Brass as my main snare. It's outfitted with S-Hoops and Puresound snares. I have been using these Remo Emperor C.S. heads that Karl Crafton turned me on to. I love them on my Sensitone and my Supra. I brought a 6.5 x 14 World Max Brass as a backup. It was setup the same way. It's the same snare ,minus the Nickel plating and strainer. The only difference was it was outfitted with an Emperor X ,that I had laying around . I had both snares pretty much dialed in. The Sensitone was a bit crisper, having the thinner head,naturally. I expected it to sound great and thought the P.A. and some reverb would meat it up, a bit


The first band's drummer was having problems with his snare and asked to borrow one of mine. I gave him the World Max. It sounded great during their set!! It's a loud drum.Very little snare was actually in the mix. It was mostly stage volume.I was very pleased with myself,thinking my cheap snares both sounded so good.Lol. We played our set and I was loving the Sensitone. I couldn't have been happier.

Last night, I listened to a room recording of the show. The World Max sounded a lot better than the Sensitone! The Sensitone had so much crack it wasn't even in the mix,but by the time it cut through ,there just wasn't enough body left. It sounded like a piccolo! This is the drum that sounded amazing to me onstage! It was the sound of a fully processed/EQ'd kit with a completely raw snare.

I guess the Sensitone will be my larger club snare and the World Max will be for the smaller places. I might just go back to the Xs. I really like the Emperor CS but the X seems to sound better out front,with this band anyway.

when will it end?? :)
 
The good news is that you have learned the big secret in drum sounds; the actual sound from out in the audience perspective. What we hear behind the kit does not translate in most cases to what the audience will hear.

Gavin Harrison actually made a great point in an interview "Microphones are the lens of camera for our drums..." That is to say for almost all of us when we gig our drums are heard always through microphones. Therefore if you tune for what sounds best through microphones this might help you find your sound.

I don't think the hunt for the perfect sound will ever end. Endless variables with acoustical properties of the rooms, weather conditions, stage setup, microphones and so on. We can only strive to get nearest to the sound that suites our ear and tastes

Good to hear you have found some setups that work well and have had good feedback.

Manny
 
I played my Ludwig Coliseums for years. Gunshots with or without the mic. This my first show with a metal snare.
 
This is a real dilemma. A lot of us don't have the facility to play at full volume with mics a mixing desk and in-ears or headphones. So the best we can do is to get another drummer to play our kit so we can do a sound check from an audience POW.

Good luck!

Davo
 
This is a real dilemma. A lot of us don't have the facility to play at full volume with mics a mixing desk and in-ears or headphones. So the best we can do is to get another drummer to play our kit so we can do a sound check from an audience POW.

Good luck!

Davo


Unfortunately, original shows with multiple bands are lucky to get line checks. It was what we call a" throw and go" :)
 
Back
Top