Band wants to move to a silent stage.

DrumDoug

DrumDoug

Senior Member
One of my bands wants to go to a silent stage. Everyone on in ear monitors, no amps, and an electric drum kit. I really don’t want to gig on an electric kit, but I really like this band. Great guys and great music. Too bad I can’t afford the new DWe kit. The bass player said he’s willing to spend $3000 on the drums. While I hate this idea, I am not willing to quit this band over it. I hope this doesn’t totally suck.
 
See if you can get them to start with custom mold in-ear monitors. After they see that those will allow them to personally control how little/much drums they hear they might not object to keeping the acoustic drums...

Personally, I could possibly adjust to using electronic drums exclusively if I absolutely had to, but there's no way I could let go of real cymbals. Even if the music is great, if I couldn't express myself with my touch and nuance on the instrument, it would no longer be great for me.
 
Nobody I play with has broached the subject of a silent stage. We simply don't have the required type of PA gear to get this done anyway, and I'm grateful we don't. With The Kootz, our PA is strictly old school digital. The leader doesn't upgrade anything unless he needs to do so. Fine with me. I'm not investing in electronic drums at this point. Not gonna happen.

And I can't wear in-ears, as I have hearing aids that I can turn down at will to compensate for onstage volume.
 
Oof. I can't say that it would be inspiring, but neither have I tried it. Is there a particular reason why this is being brought forth? Is the band's stage volume out of control?


Dan
 
you'd better have a good powerful PA/speaker system otherwise going to a silent stage wont do a dang bit of good.

and i mean good subwoofers/bass bins as well as good tops
 
Unfortunately it's the way the industry is headed. Small venues want the business bands bring but not the noise.

If they're well paid gigs make the investment. You'll be a big step ahead of a lot of bands and get more work. We use floor monitors but you can keep the noise down a lot.

I've done all but 2 gigs on my electric kit this year. Given the choice I'd use acoustic any day. The good thing with electric drums or at least mine is the retro 80s drum machine samples. They really work when needed.
 
With the Devo band we’re kind of a silent stage now. But I still use live drums. If everyone is on IEMs, and the house is being mixed properly, why would it make a difference if the drums were not real?

I think you should try completely miking up your kit and feeding that through your PA to the IEMs - I’m gonna guess your band will like it and the audience won’t be able to tell the difference. Unless, where you’re playing wants that - I once did a gig at a casino and I had to play their Vdrum kit and that wasn’t a bad experience. But is every gig you guys do demanding absolutely no sound? That sounds unreasonable if every gig is that way.
 
I can't comment on the E-drums, as I've never used a full electronic kit live, but going with IEM's and no amps on stage is amazing!
A good chunk of the artists I've toured with the last couple years all did this. Everyone on ears, no wedges, no amps. All DI.
It's fantastic. You hear everything you want nice and clear, at a reasonable volume. No ringing ears after a gig, and you can cut out anything you don't need. Most of the time I don't run vocals into my IEM's, and if there's no wedges on stage it avoids mic bleed.
Plus if you're a traveling act, it saves hella space in the trailer. No giant amps to take up all the room.
 
equipmentdork said:
Oof. I can't say that it would be inspiring, but neither have I tried it. Is there a particular reason why this is being brought forth? Is the band's stage volume out of control?


Dan
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We have had a problem with stage volume. Not only were the guitar amps an issue, but everyone but me was using two monitors. The guitar players each had one monitor for vocals and one monitor for their guitars, in addition to their amps. The lead singer had two monitors because it made it easier to hear herself and she could put the vocals in stereo. We have a gig coming up and I’m going to suggest we try and bring the volume down and simplify the monitor situation before we go all in with the silent stage.
 
DrumDoug said:
We have had a problem with stage volume. Not only were the guitar amps an issue, but everyone but me was using two monitors. The guitar players each had one monitor for vocals and one monitor for their guitars, in addition to their amps. The lead singer had two monitors because it made it easier to hear herself and she could put the vocals in stereo. We have a gig coming up and I’m going to suggest we try and bring the volume down and simplify the monitor situation before we go all in with the silent stage.
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People don't always realize that monitors add to stage volume, too.

Separate monitors for vox and guitars? Stereo vocals? Your bandmates sound high-maintenance to me. Just my opinion, but those things aren't even reasonable, and add to overall volume concerns.


Dan
 
I feel like asking a drummer to play an e-kit is comparable to asking a horn player to use a keyboard. They just are not real instruments no matter how good they have become. If a drummer wants to play them that's different.
 
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Your band could reduce noise in phases. Start with IEMs and ditch the monitors. Then go to small guitar amps (5-15w) and smaller bass amp. Mic your drums and you can play softly but still come through the mix. This is my band's set-up and it works well. See how that sounds and then, if necessary, bypass the amps and go DI or modellers and perhaps edrums.
 
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DrumDoug said:
One of my bands wants to go to a silent stage. Everyone on in ear monitors, no amps, and an electric drum kit. I really don’t want to gig on an electric kit, but I really like this band. Great guys and great music. Too bad I can’t afford the new DWe kit. The bass player said he’s willing to spend $3000 on the drums. While I hate this idea, I am not willing to quit this band over it. I hope this doesn’t totally suck.
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Maybe musicians will end up playing remotely in the near future.

Just stream it to the club via the internet. Maybe more than one club at a time!

/S
 
I agree
DrumDoug said:
We have had a problem with stage volume. Not only were the guitar amps an issue, but everyone but me was using two monitors. The guitar players each had one monitor for vocals and one monitor for their guitars, in addition to their amps. The lead singer had two monitors because it made it easier to hear herself and she could put the vocals in stereo. We have a gig coming up and I’m going to suggest we try and bring the volume down and simplify the monitor situation before we go all in with the silent stage.
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I agree with some others - the place to start is with getting everyone on real in-ears (custom molded) - which will get eliminate all of the wedges and put a stop to the ever escalating "I can't hear myself, turn me up in the monitors", "Now I can't hear myself... turn me up" "Now turn me up some more" round and round.

You'll be able to play softer - because you won't be fighting the din - and will be able to hear yourself better. Unless you're trying to play full band rock in a cocktail lounge environment. There's no reason to ditch real drums and even small amps - though the guitarists could go amp simulation and it would have far less of a negative effect than shifting to e-drums.
 
DrumDoug said:
We have had a problem with stage volume. Not only were the guitar amps an issue, but everyone but me was using two monitors. The guitar players each had one monitor for vocals and one monitor for their guitars, in addition to their amps. The lead singer had two monitors because it made it easier to hear herself and she could put the vocals in stereo. We have a gig coming up and I’m going to suggest we try and bring the volume down and simplify the monitor situation before we go all in with the silent stage.
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All l in ears and no monitors is already a big move . You can reduce stage loudness by a good margin by doing that. That is what my band does. We still have amps but their volume haas come down by a lot since they don't have to compete with blaring wedges. Another option to consider before going all electonic kit might be some smaller sized 3 ply drums and/or subdued sounding woods like mahogany maybe some quieter cymbals as well.
 
Trickroll said:
Maybe musicians will end up playing remotely in the near future.

Just stream it to the club via the internet. Maybe more than one club at a time!

/S
Click to expand...
Hmm… Rent a warehouse, build a couple of stages and add a few high speed data lines. Anyone know the current cost of an OC3 connection?

Stream the bands, rent sound gear and screens to the venue if needed. You could be onto something.

Seriously, I’ve used a 4 watt guitar amp, mic’ed for FOH. This with a drummer playing acoustic kit and me on guitar. I had plenty of stage volume. In all fairness I had the FOH in a monitor. In ears would have worked though.
 
I would also agree on starting with IEM's. Double/stereo monitoring (with cabs) seems a bit ridiculous to me - just my opinion.

In my band, the guitar players each use a single multi-effect pedal board (with a zillion effects, amp models, etc) that goes directly to the PA, so they don't need big amps or cabs. Helps keeping the stage clear.
Most likely your band wouldn't like that suggestion because most guitar players are very addicted to their precious tone but the same would go for you when you would have to switch to an e kit... :p

To me, stage volume wouldn't be a reason to switch to an e kit - that can be solved other ways - only if the gigs would require it.

BTW: I own both an a and e kit and both have their purposes but I still prefer acoustic.
 
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