In one of the bands I'm in there is the constant complaint that I play too loudly. I tuned my snare lower which wasn't good enough. I moved from sticks to rods which wasn't good enough. I added a muffling ring to my snare which wasn't good enough. I have now been asked to drape a towel over my snare while still using the muffling ring and rods...At this point I'm not really playing an instrument. There is no feel, no rebound and the drums don't actually make sounds drums are supposed to make..... How would the guitar or bass player feel if I asked them to play their guitar with winter gloves on 100% of the time? That's in essence the level of feedback I have from my instrument....
What bothers me the most about it is that I'm a self conscious drummer to start with so I tend to use dynamics and play lower volumes anyway. I've never been asked to continuously play quitter over many years of playing. When I go into 9/10 bars drummers are playing louder than I ever have and aren't using muffling and rods. I've thought about investing in a drum shield but I think its absolutely ridiculous to carry around a drum shield from bar to bar and completely mic the kit up for a 100 person show...
I'm not sure where to go from here and I'm contemplating stepping out and moving on. I really like the music and the band members but I'm so focused on my volume I cant enjoy playing. Have any of you run into bands that want a drummer on the stage but they want the drum volume so low that the drums can barely be heard. Why is it fine that the guitar players can "fight" for volume all show but I'm supposed to as quiet as possible?
What bothers me the most about it is that I'm a self conscious drummer to start with so I tend to use dynamics and play lower volumes anyway. I've never been asked to continuously play quitter over many years of playing. When I go into 9/10 bars drummers are playing louder than I ever have and aren't using muffling and rods. I've thought about investing in a drum shield but I think its absolutely ridiculous to carry around a drum shield from bar to bar and completely mic the kit up for a 100 person show...
I'm not sure where to go from here and I'm contemplating stepping out and moving on. I really like the music and the band members but I'm so focused on my volume I cant enjoy playing. Have any of you run into bands that want a drummer on the stage but they want the drum volume so low that the drums can barely be heard. Why is it fine that the guitar players can "fight" for volume all show but I'm supposed to as quiet as possible?