Drums on the Half Shell

iwantmemoney

Senior Member
I'm playing a lot right now in this hall that was designed to hear pins drop, so you touch the drums with a feather and it sounds like the 4th of July. I was gonna just quit playing and shoot myself but I realized I can still play the drums in any other room or any other place-just not in this crazy hall(it was designed for some foofoo string quartets, long before disco came on the scene).

I did the plexi- shield. Strongly dislike it-for numerous reasons. Doesn't solve the problem anyway! Thinking about a sort of band-shell looking thing, but small, just for the kit, with baffling, in hopes it could suck up some of the out-of-control situation. It'd look like I'm playing in a grotto.

Anyone got other ideas or tried something similar to this? Thanks!
 
Thanks for replies.

It's a whole band but its not normal- not one of my drums is mic'd.

Tho hand percussion is a legit idea, it would be totally inappropriate here(unless it was an extra percussionist). I would probably go to triggers.
 
If it's that bad.. I've seen some drummers in really small clubs hang a thin sheet over the drum heads (like a bed sheet linen). Gives a really dry sound but can work pretty well. Don't know how you get it to stick on the head without draping it over the edges.. but I've seen it done. Toning down the cymbals is harder as everything falls off.. and you don't want to look like your hanging out your laundry to dry... I've heard of people taping foam under the cymbals.. but the tape to do that is usually so strong it leaves gunk on the cymbals (hence putting it on the underside)..
 
Playing with single-ply heads will allow you to play quieter easier. Also, tuning the heads medium to high will allow the quieter notes to speak more fully at this quieter dynamic.

I just played a gig in a VERY live room two weeks ago, and all I had to do was adjust my stick height. I used thinner cymbals so they would "open up" with the touch of a feather. Worked great!
 
The half-shell idea must be just a little too freaky anyway. Gonna look at some E tones I s'pose. Appreciate the input and will probably mess with some of your ideas, thanks.
 
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