Snare Too loud!

Mike Armstrong

Senior Member
My drum room is roughly 10x10ft. I have everything mic'd and run through a Yamaha MG166 and into ATH-50 headphones. MY Ludwig BB is so loud that I cant turn the volume down on the mixer enough to tolerate it. I tried using ear plugs with the headphones but it muffles the overall sound too much.

Do I need IEM's? Can a good pair of IEM's, like Shure or Ultimate Ears, maybe if they are custom molded, cut out enough outside noise by themselves or do you think for this situation I'll probably have to use IEM's and headphones? Thanks
 
How 'bout shifting your kit around the room somewhat? That particular drum might be ringing with your room at a certain frequency when it's in the right spot. If you change the spot, it might go away.

If not, then some other alteration needs to happen.
 
The material on the walls is very influential in how a drum resonates in a room. Also, since the room is square, that also affects the sound.

I would suggest getting good padding for your drum room.
 
Sorry, I should have been more descriptive

Actually it's more of a pentagon shape with two 10ft walls in the corner of the garage and three 6ft wall forming the front with an 8ft ceiling. The drums are positioned with my back to the 10x10 corner. The walls have 2x4 framing with sound deadening insulation, a layer of Mass Loaded Vinyl and then Green Glue sandwiched between two sheets of 5/8 drywall. The inside is carpeted and the walls covered about 75% with acoustic foam wedges from 1-3".

For mic's I'm using two Shure PG81's for the overheads and a PG56 for the snare.

I didn't think about just repositioning where the snare will be, I'm kind of limited as to where i can move the kit in that small of a space. I guess just to check it out I could just move the snare itself to different spots and test things out. It's definitely the lower end of the frequencies that bleed through my headphones.
 
Buy a different snare. My practice space is 12x14, roughly. I have several snares that have the same "sonic" ability as a Luddie BB. And they are "way too loud" for the room. I picked up a Pearl Omar Hakim 13x5 ... it's perfect.
 
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I use a 5x13 cheap wood snare that is made from (mystery wood) in a small 10x10 practice room.
I use a Remo Powerstroke 3 head for a batter on that snare.
It works for me.
 
I use a Remo Powerstroke 3 head for a batter on that snare.
That's one of my favorite snare heads ... and now I've switched to the coated Evans Genera HD Dry. Another "really" good snare head.
 
That's one of my favorite snare heads ... and now I've switched to the coated Evans Genera HD Dry. Another "really" good snare head.
I also like the PS 3 on my vintage chrome Gretsch 5x14 snare in a small room.

When I play on a big stage I use an Evans single ply tuned tight and wide open. Love the POP

In a small practice room or a small club I like to dry out my snares a bit.
I will give the HD Dry a try one of these days. Thanks.
 
Thanks,

Searching the net on this topic I've seen these snares recommened as having lower volume but great sound...

Pearl MCX Masters
Yamaha SSD 1250
Yamaha 12x5 Maple
Pork Pie 5x13 Maple
DW Collectors 5x12 Maple
Tama Starphonic Maple
Pearl Omar Hakim 13x5

Since I don't own a wood snare I'm not familiar with ant of these. Does anybody have experience with any of these 'low volume' wood snares?

I'm hoping my local GC has most of them that I can try out.
 
Thanks,

Searching the net on this topic I've seen these snares recommened as having lower volume but great sound...

Pearl MCX Masters
Yamaha SSD 1250
Yamaha 12x5 Maple
Pork Pie 5x13 Maple
DW Collectors 5x12 Maple
Tama Starphonic Maple
Pearl Omar Hakim 13x5

Since I don't own a wood snare I'm not familiar with ant of these. Does anybody have experience with any of these 'low volume' wood snares?

I'm hoping my local GC has most of them that I can try out.

I have the MCX snare. Very nice in practice room with a powerstroke 3 head. Just about right. maybe too dry for the stage, dunno yet.
I have a steel Pearl piccolo with emperor coated head. Blindingly loud and makes my ears bleed in the practice room. Bad practice drum!
I have a steel Pearl sensitone with a genera HD dry head. Very nice in the practice room but extremely dry.
Try the genera HD dry I guess. Just seems to suck too much life out but it may work well for you.
 
When I need a low volume snare I do not immediately turn to a smaller drum. Although I can attest to the Omar drum being quite a low volume drum. Many others listed are not quiet at all.

I first turn to drum head selection when considering dynamics. IMO the Powerstroke 3 is not "quiet" as such, it's just barren of tone and unable to convey a wide range of dynamics. A better alternative IMHO is a single ply head, the Jack DeJohnette Aquarian signature head. The coating is twice as thick as usual and provides adequate dampening, while lowering the volume considerably. The single ply still allows a wide dynamic range and is perfect for recording in a small space. It is the best head for these requirements I have come across.
 
I own both the Yamaha 1250 and the Omar Hakim (which is 13x5) ... both of those are wonderful drums. The Yamaha, I picked up "used" for $50. The Omar, also "used" was $202.
 
Funny thing...While looking for better fitting earpieces to attach to the crappy earbuds I was using I found a pair of Skullcandy In Ear buds laying around. They are more of the type that actually fit 'into' the ear canal, not like the ones I was using that sit 'over' the canal. After stuffing those into my ears and putting the hearing protection headphones on most of the outside noise has been eliminated, including when I strike the snare. Lo and behold I can now 'use the mixer' to increase volume enough to hear my kit and it sounds great, well, it still needs to be eq'd but I'm not cringing from the outside loudness of the snare before even turning on the mixer now! The quality of the drums sounds through these earbuds is just ok but at least now it's fun to turn things up and mess with the mixer settings.

So now I see the reason for the IEM suggestions. It's awesome to cut out as much of the outside noise as possible allowing for only the eq'd mixer sounds to be heard at safe volumes. I can imagine a quality set of custom molded IEM's must be just great! I'm gonna research more into the brands of IEM's that have been suggested and invest in a good pair. It will be worth the quality of the sound and more importantly protecting my hearing. In the meantime I'm going to get a better pair of hearing protection headphones. The ones I have now only have an NRR rating of 20. I can get a pair with an NRR rating of 30 for not that much more money.
 
When I need a low volume snare I do not immediately turn to a smaller drum. Although I can attest to the Omar drum being quite a low volume drum. Many others listed are not quiet at all.

I first turn to drum head selection when considering dynamics. IMO the Powerstroke 3 is not "quiet" as such, it's just barren of tone and unable to convey a wide range of dynamics. A better alternative IMHO is a single ply head, the Jack DeJohnette Aquarian signature head. The coating is twice as thick as usual and provides adequate dampening, while lowering the volume considerably. The single ply still allows a wide dynamic range and is perfect for recording in a small space. It is the best head for these requirements I have come across.

Me, I start by not hitting the thing so hard. :)
 
I'm trying to figure out why you need your drums amplified into your own ears in a small room.

Hi Boomka,

Actually, it's just the opposite. Acoustic drums played in a small room are way too loud to not get hearing damage. What's necessary is to block out the sound of the drums being played as much as possible and instead listen to them at a much lower, controlled (and EQ'd) volume through something such as a such as a mixer.

I've been reading many, many IEM reviews on the net and have decided that custom in ear monitors is what I need/want. I'm going to go with Ultimate Ears 'budget' model customs, the Ultimate Ears 4 Pro. I like the reputation, many positive reviews and professional background of UE and the fact that the UE factory/headquarters is only 20min. from my home. Using them should be a giant step up from my cheap earbud/hearing protection headphone combo I'm bothering with now.

http://ultimateears.com/en-us/products/4-pro
 
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