Don't you love it when the sound guys starts tuning your drum kit.

Bo Eder said:
I’m a sound guy - and I never touch somebody’s’ instrument unless I’m invited to help in some way.
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I'd go over to his board & start messing with the knobs & sliders after he tunes my kit. When he complains, I'll say, "You tuned my kit, so I'm mixing our sound".
If that doesn't send the message, nothing will.
 
I-P said:
Shook my head when this happened on my kit at a recent gig. Was slightly peeved.

Sound guy tells me he know better. He probably does as it's his workplace and knows it well. Still made me grrrrrr.
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Absolutely a No no. I'm a sound guy and i never touch any of the instruments. even if i think the drums Sound like crap. I don't have the time anyway.
 
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Cmdr. Ross said:
I'd go over to his board & start messing with the knobs & sliders after he tunes my kit. When he complains, I'll say, "You tuned my kit, so I'm mixing our sound".
If that doesn't send the message, nothing will.
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And I‘ve had musicians tell me how to get a good sound and that never goes over well.
 
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If you disappear after setup this is the kind of thing that happens.

Always stay with your gear after you set it up and watch what is happening.

I've seen house staff try to change my pedal, start writing on the heads, move cymbals...on and on....

Bars appear to rarely be professional environments.
 
I cant say that its happened to me, but I can say someone wouldnt be happy with the outcome if it did.
 
Bo Eder said:
And I‘ve had musicians tell me how to get a good sound and that never goes over well.
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Absolutely.
It's why I trust them to make the band sound good & they trust me to make my kit sound good.
Symbiosis is a good thing sometimes. ;)
 
Once when I was playing outside the sound man asked me if he could tune the bass drum front head, and told I him OK. He tuned it way higher than I would have. He told me it sounded great out front. Peace and goodwill.
 
Thankfully, I haven't had that situation happen. If there's a weird ring or honk, I'll work with the sound people to tune it out, but I will be the one doing it. Small bit of painter's tape to dampen something, and we're good.



Dan
 
I always prefer to find the sound guy the second I get to the venue, introduce myself, and let him know that I'm eager to do whatever it takes to make the band I'm playing with sound the best we possibly can. If that means muffling, cool. If it means wide open, cool. If it means retuning, cool. Whatever. Watching the big sigh of relief come from the sound guy as I tell him that is worth its weight in gold.

I'm not dependent on whether or not a drum has to be muffled or retuned in order to make or break my gig. I play the drums. They don't play me. I manipulate them however I want in order to get the sound I feel is best for the gig. I do, however, rely on sound guys all the time to get my playing represented the best it can through FOH. If sound dude thinks a drum needs to go higher, I'm tuning it higher. If sound dude thinks one of my drums needs some gaff and tissue, or a slice of onion on the batter head, I'm game. If I leave the area and sound dude can't find me, I'm expecting that he'll change something if he needs to.
 
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Otto said:
If you disappear after setup this is the kind of thing that happens.

Always stay with your gear after you set it up and watch what is happening.

I've seen house staff try to change my pedal, start writing on the heads, move cymbals...on and on....

Bars appear to rarely be professional environments.
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I certainly will from know on. Thanks.
 
Drumolator said:
Once when I was playing outside the sound man asked me if he could tune the bass drum front head, and told I him OK. He tuned it way higher than I would have. He told me it sounded great out front. Peace and goodwill.
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This is an actual recipe laid out in a bass drum tuning how-to that Roy Burns actually did back in the early 70s. He routinely tuned his front head tighter (not unlike how we do this to toms. It makes sense when it’s a full front head bass drum using felt strips. I think it translates to a ported head too because sometimes the mic is just inside the opening and if the head is tuned down, it develops a long ring the microphone picks up. But, since most of use ported front heads with some kind of pillow in the drum, I’m not sure how effective it would really be in that situation.
 
If I had a choice between allowing a sound man to re-tune my bass drum or adjust the fly on my pants, I'd let him re-tune my bass drum (only after much thought and careful consideration). :)
 
Drumolator said:
Once when I was playing outside the sound man asked me if he could tune the bass drum front head, and told I him OK. He tuned it way higher than I would have. He told me it sounded great out front. Peace and goodwill.
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My front head is tuned much tighter than the front, and has a 4" hole. The batter was JAW, but I've put a little more turn on it for beater bounce.
 
Bo Eder said:
And I‘ve had musicians tell me how to get a good sound and that never goes over well.
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I imagine you need less handholding than some since you do so much different stuff at Disney and have for a good while. But these kids today…they think you mix an oldies show like a hip hop show! Don’t get me wrong…I’m flattered that they like bass so much that they want it to make people puke from the sub lows. But still…The Turtles are not Snoop Dogg.
 
A J said:
If I had a choice between allowing a sound man to re-tune my bass drum or adjust the fly on my pants, I'd let him re-tune my bass drum (only after much thought and careful consideration). :)
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I suppose it would depend on how cute he is for me.
 
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