Larry
"Uncle Larry"
So I saw this band last night, so naturally I was checking out the drummer and especially his sound, and here are my observations.
Basically, and this is my opinion, his drums sounded very lackluster because they were all tuned just too low. My GF mentioned it first. I was pretty close to the stage, and I could tell that in the drum chair, they probably sounded OK, but out in the audience....no liveliness to the toms, just an unsatisfying impact with no real tone to it. Also about muffling...that also kills the tone when listened to from the audience. I wish people would let the drum ring, those "annoying" overtones that a lot of guys muffle away are the very personality of the drum. His snare was tuned too low and sounded...boring. It was just screaming to be tightened up. Anyway, my point is, low tunings sound like crap unmiced (IMO) from the audience. The toms sound so much better than you think when tuned well above the low thud that sounds good from the throne, and they carry so much better through the room. Drums that are tuned higher than what you think sounds good, sound even better out front, that's my observation.
Basically, and this is my opinion, his drums sounded very lackluster because they were all tuned just too low. My GF mentioned it first. I was pretty close to the stage, and I could tell that in the drum chair, they probably sounded OK, but out in the audience....no liveliness to the toms, just an unsatisfying impact with no real tone to it. Also about muffling...that also kills the tone when listened to from the audience. I wish people would let the drum ring, those "annoying" overtones that a lot of guys muffle away are the very personality of the drum. His snare was tuned too low and sounded...boring. It was just screaming to be tightened up. Anyway, my point is, low tunings sound like crap unmiced (IMO) from the audience. The toms sound so much better than you think when tuned well above the low thud that sounds good from the throne, and they carry so much better through the room. Drums that are tuned higher than what you think sounds good, sound even better out front, that's my observation.