Our band has a couple of outdoor gigs coming up. I've never played outside so I'm curious as to how others approach it in relation to tuning snare, toms, bass drum. Does the temperature matter as to the approach to your tuning ie hot/cold ? We only mic the bass drum.
We are playing at a couple of wineries - outside on the grass , under a tree I believe . The bass player booked it and I haven't seen the venue. We play classic rock. Here in Adelaide South Australia in February the temperature could be anything from 75 degrees to 105 degrees. The venue is in the hills. It would be unlikely to be cold, but it could get cool.Depends on a few factors. A temperature range, and location, would be useful.
I live in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia that is semi desert and gets very hot and dry 90+F. I’ve done outdoor gigs at wineries as we have 150 in a 50 mile area. On hot afternoons the advice to high tuneOur band has a couple of outdoor gigs coming up. I've never played outside so I'm curious as to how others approach it in relation to tuning snare, toms, bass drum. Does the temperature matter as to the approach to your tuning ie hot/cold ? We only mic the bass drum.
This is the most important contribution to this thread. Nothing made me angrier than finding out I was setting up on grass, dirt, rocks, or sand when I got to a gig. I ended up with 2 2x5’ of 3/4” ply attached with a piano hinge down the middle to give me a 5x5’ footprint.And as for playing on grass.. don’t ! If you can take a sheet of 1/2 in /12.5 mm plywood big enough to go under your hat and kick pedal because unless the lawn is a golf Tee Box you can bet that it’s uneven. Nothing worse than an unstable hat or kick pedal.
We are playing at a couple of wineries - outside on the grass , under a tree I believe . The bass player booked it and I haven't seen the venue. We play classic rock. Here in Adelaide South Australia in February the temperature could be anything from 75 degrees to 105 degrees. The venue is in the hills. It would be unlikely to be cold, but it could get cool.
Don't worry about micing everything, projecting, or "cutting through" the amps. They are winery gigs, not coliseums or outdoor stadiums. It's not a concert. You're there as background music, where conversation should be able to take place while you play. As an audience member there is nothing worse than having to yell to the person next to you while you're trying to enjoying a glass of wine and get to know people. Tune a bit higher, as CM Jones said, and do a proper soundcheck. As others said, make sure you're going to be on a solid, level surface or bring one. Then just enjoy the gig.
Our band has a couple of outdoor gigs coming up. I've never played outside so I'm curious as to how others approach it in relation to tuning snare, toms, bass drum. Does the temperature matter as to the approach to your tuning ie hot/cold ? We only mic the bass drum.
You're outside. Mic everything. Every drum gets a mic, hi-hat mic, and an overhead. People always think the drums are inherently loud, but once you get outside, there will be no way to project above everybody else. Even if you play really hard, the drums will sound like they're behind something once you're outside. Even when I played outside with my Bonham set-up, I still mic'ed up. Being un-mic'd outside will make you over compensate and you'll be playing too heavy all the time. It'll take all the musicality out of your performance.
One winery gig we did we had a 6x6 ftGreat advice on here already, I'd just add that if possible you may want to add some sort of backdrop behind you which will help project and amplify the sound forward instead of losing it 360...thinking three 6' high x 6' wide panels set in a half polygon...although I'm sure there are sound engineers who will violently disagree...
And as @Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said definitely take rain protection for your kit just in case.
Bring a sheet to protect your drums from direct sun during setup. I always have a 10' x 10' pop-up sun shade ready just in case. I played one gig in direct summer sun and it was a TOTAL bummer. Have fun!!