How does hearing your drums in the front of house while you're playing affect your playing?

cdrums21

Gold Member
Do you play any differently when you can hear that kick drum exploding in the house or hear the snare crack throughout the club/auditorium? For me, it definitley gives me more of a sense of power and drive, but it also can change the way I feel the pattern I'm playing because the sound is so fat out front. Alot of times, it seems more appropriate to simplify the pattern. For example, maybe I'm playing a slow ballad in a small room and all I can hear is the acoustic kit. Perhaps I'll play a dotted kick drum pattern like: boom...crack...boom boom....crack. The next night I'm playing in a large room and the PA is just kickin'. Now I can hear the power of my kick drum out front and it seems more appropriate to play a straight beat: boom...crack....boom....crack. All of this of course within the context of the music and the bass line, etc. Do you know what I mean? Have you experienced this?
 
For sure. When you drums sound powerful meaning when they are through a nice PA where YOU can feel the power....what a pleasure they are to play. When you can't feel the power, it affects how you feel when you play. It's good to feel the power lol.
 
Hearing everything though the house mains makes me play even more relaxed.

I don't now, but a while back, in the bigger venues, even though I KNEW everything was being picked up by the mic's, I'd play too hard.
Not crushing, but on the edge of being not relaxed enough.

Somehow, I just "got over" what was going on in the back of my head. It's all good now, but a great monitor mix with kick and snare is awesome.
 
I pay way more attention to what I hear on stage - in monitors or from amps - than I do to house sound. Maybe it's a shortcoming I have, but I tend to focus in on the stage happenings and only when things are at a good "straightaway" in the music do I like to uncouple for a moment and take notice of what's going on past the stage.

I also use in-ears a lot, so the difference in house sound doesn't usually even register with me.

But when I do get a cracking monitor mix - yes, that feels pretty magical too.
 
I never have monitors, even when I sing. I just don't need them. Do I want them, would I prefer a nice monitor mix, heck yea, but it doesn't happen in my world.

I have played gigs where the set is miced and I can feel the power from behind the kit, they are the most satisfying gigs. It does relax you when you know that a simple kick beat has that much power.
 
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Really interesting thread Clint, I never thought about it. Now that you mention it, I do tend to adapt my dynamics to what it is sounds like FOH sometimes. But that is rare, i.e only if I manage to get past the on-stage monitering issues in time, which I obsess about till the last minute usually.. I'm just happy if I can hear everyone including myself and I leave the rest to Mr sound man/monkey and to God.
SOmetimes I run into sound guys who mix you down for the wrong kind of music. A jazz fusion gig and the drums are sounding like Def Leopard cannons!!! Anyways, thats a whole different battle.

I've played many gigs where the sound onstage sucked big time but sounded great upfront. I' m curious to see what some of the other experiences are?

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I use an in ear monitor so its more like I am listening to a cd than actually listening to the FOH mix.
 
a great monitor mix with kick and snare is awesome.

That's for sure Karl. I remember reading somewhere that Tommy lee had to 18" subwoofers mounted underneath his throne to literally kick him in the butt whenever he played the kick drums. Monitors definitely make life a little sweeter. Those nights when the drums sound great and everything sounds blended and happening...it's almost as if the drums play themselves.

Aydee said:
I've played many gigs where the sound onstage sucked big time but sounded great upfront.

Me too and that's still a tough one because I think, at least for me, acoustically right in front of me, the drums have to sound good in order for me to really enjoy the gig. When you can hear the FOH on top of it, it's even cooler. I know what you mean about the wrong type of drum sound for the gig. We played with an AC/DC tribute band a few years ago and it was funny because the guitarist was spot on and had THAT sound and look. The bass player got a funky slappy bass sound and the drummer had so much padding and muffling on his drums, he would have been better off playing the cases. They were ok, but could have been sooo much better if they had a more AC/DC like sound.
 
I've played many gigs where the sound onstage sucked big time but sounded great upfront. I' m curious to see what some of the other experiences are?

Same here, or so I was assured. I didn't know. At times all I was hearing a dull amorphous roar plus the guitarist's nigh notes, kick, snare and the vocalist faintly going burble mumble blah ...

Having a big sound definitely affects what I play, namely not as much. Once the boom fills the sonic space there's less room for extra notes.

One example that always struck me was the difference between Tommy Bolin's drummers, Ian Paice and Bobby Berge.

Ian Paice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-sIKX227Yk

Bobby Berge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DBzlLWGHtE

Check out Bobby Berge's fill at 4:21 ... it would sound lame without the huge sound but a blazing Ian Paice fill with that sound would sound messy.
 
If I can hear myself above the rest of the band THAT much, I'm too loud.
I'd rather not hear myself to where it kicks me in the gut. I would want to hear what everyone else is doing so I know where to drive the train.
I know what my kit sounds like and what the song is supposed to sound like, I need to know where it is and where everyone else is at.
 
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