My church uses a front drum shield. recently, the coordinator wants to even shield the top. my hall is about a 500 seater. i've been to events where halls are smaller, no shield and music sounds even better. while i understand the need for a shield in front, i always thought letting some natural drum sounds through feels better. Any advise on this topic? would really appreciate it.
Drum Shield Advice
- Thread starter trento
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xxrevilexx
New member
From what I know, drum shields help to limit the sound from travelling out too much, your coordinator probably wants to stop the sound from travelling out at the top. Different rooms have different accoustic feel, if your hall is able to absorb the sound from the instruments well, it will be better than concrete walls that reflects the sound away, you get to hear echo in this situation(pretty annoying). It depends on your room's accoustic...
hope this helps alittle? haha...
hope this helps alittle? haha...
Destructos
New member
Hall acoustics is a big concern amongst audio engineers.
Their job is to make sure everyone gets to be heard as well as hear themselves and the rest of the band on stage.
Sometimes your drums can sound fantastic from where you are at, but hall acoustics may enforce some of the frequencies that may not complement the music so well.
So there is a need to attenuate what comes out of the stage so that there is better control for the engineer through the FOH system.
Like in New Creation Church, there was this time I went in early and got to sit through their sound check. At first the master volume was down, so I got to hear the kit directly from the stage. It sounded great on its own, though a bit papery and "woofy". Once the engineer turned up the master, the kit had a new lease of life. It sounded punchy and more fitting for a praise and worship number.
Now for the stage and the band. I bet that there are singers or musicians who will complain that they can't hear themselves through the monitors when the music gets loud (engineers can't always be turning the monitoring up, feedback will be imminent). Low-rise drum shields have a lot of cymbal bleed that will really mess things up for the other musicians.
So for this point, you either have to force yourself to play softer, or let the coordinator get you a drum shield so that you can express how you feel through the kit without killing everyone else.
I've been a drummer myself with a school symphonic band and took me a while to understand this concept.
Ultimately, your band's music has the priority, not just your drum's natural sound. You must trust your coordinator to make the stage a comfortable environment for the other performers as well as the sound crew to capture your sound and get the whole mix sounding great from the audience's perspective.
Their job is to make sure everyone gets to be heard as well as hear themselves and the rest of the band on stage.
Sometimes your drums can sound fantastic from where you are at, but hall acoustics may enforce some of the frequencies that may not complement the music so well.
So there is a need to attenuate what comes out of the stage so that there is better control for the engineer through the FOH system.
Like in New Creation Church, there was this time I went in early and got to sit through their sound check. At first the master volume was down, so I got to hear the kit directly from the stage. It sounded great on its own, though a bit papery and "woofy". Once the engineer turned up the master, the kit had a new lease of life. It sounded punchy and more fitting for a praise and worship number.
Now for the stage and the band. I bet that there are singers or musicians who will complain that they can't hear themselves through the monitors when the music gets loud (engineers can't always be turning the monitoring up, feedback will be imminent). Low-rise drum shields have a lot of cymbal bleed that will really mess things up for the other musicians.
So for this point, you either have to force yourself to play softer, or let the coordinator get you a drum shield so that you can express how you feel through the kit without killing everyone else.
I've been a drummer myself with a school symphonic band and took me a while to understand this concept.
Ultimately, your band's music has the priority, not just your drum's natural sound. You must trust your coordinator to make the stage a comfortable environment for the other performers as well as the sound crew to capture your sound and get the whole mix sounding great from the audience's perspective.
Thanks for the advice. The musicians are using in-ears so there isn't much sound going on stage other than the drums. I've been to New Creation and their drum sounds awesome, with only a front shield. But i guess their hall absorbs sound pretty well.
My hall is a little echoey, not too much though. I'm still trying to understand the rationale of a full all sided shield. Wouldn't a high front shield suffice? If all is covered, wouldn't the drum sound come only from the speakers, sounding too processed?
You're right about the drummer having to adjust his playing according to the hall. I saw Hillsong in New Creation few weeks back and the impression i get is the drummer ain't hitting as hard as he does in the live recordings. Whatever it is, it just doesn't seem to be the trend in doing a surround shield. I only know Riverlife does it. No hard and fast answers i guess.
My hall is a little echoey, not too much though. I'm still trying to understand the rationale of a full all sided shield. Wouldn't a high front shield suffice? If all is covered, wouldn't the drum sound come only from the speakers, sounding too processed?
You're right about the drummer having to adjust his playing according to the hall. I saw Hillsong in New Creation few weeks back and the impression i get is the drummer ain't hitting as hard as he does in the live recordings. Whatever it is, it just doesn't seem to be the trend in doing a surround shield. I only know Riverlife does it. No hard and fast answers i guess.
Destructos
New member
Exactly, because the hall is "echoey", or has lots of reverberation, the engineer needs the drums to be more shielded.
When a hall has lots of reverberation, there will definitely be too much of a certain frequency. And that frequency will tend to mash up the music and make it sound muddy and messy.
So with the drums shielded, the engineer will have greater flexibility to tweak your tone so that the "processed" sound will come out natural and punchy in the given environment.
Like in a church I do sound in. The drum shield is too low rise and it's only 3 sided.
So what happens that it makes it a good focusing tool like you cup your hands to shout across the field.
Half the time, I cannot turn up the overhead mics because the cymbal sound from the stage was already super loud. This basically means I have very little control and always have to remind the drummer to pipe down especially with slower going hymns.
With a full encompassing drum shield which I would like the church to get, I can have better control over the drum sound and mix according to the music.
And also so that I don't have to play softer when I serve, because I like hitting drums hard. A lot.
When a hall has lots of reverberation, there will definitely be too much of a certain frequency. And that frequency will tend to mash up the music and make it sound muddy and messy.
So with the drums shielded, the engineer will have greater flexibility to tweak your tone so that the "processed" sound will come out natural and punchy in the given environment.
Like in a church I do sound in. The drum shield is too low rise and it's only 3 sided.
So what happens that it makes it a good focusing tool like you cup your hands to shout across the field.
Half the time, I cannot turn up the overhead mics because the cymbal sound from the stage was already super loud. This basically means I have very little control and always have to remind the drummer to pipe down especially with slower going hymns.
With a full encompassing drum shield which I would like the church to get, I can have better control over the drum sound and mix according to the music.
And also so that I don't have to play softer when I serve, because I like hitting drums hard. A lot.
The shield is also good to prevent the drum sound from blasting the front row audience. Usually they are the VIPs! ha..haa.
I did sound for some shows where vvips need to be able to chit chat while the show is going on. Must really take care of the direct sound from the stage. Else I will have their aides breathing down my neck.
I did sound for some shows where vvips need to be able to chit chat while the show is going on. Must really take care of the direct sound from the stage. Else I will have their aides breathing down my neck.
xxrevilexx
New member
the padding is to absorb the sound that reflects from inside the drum shield, cause the shield that is usually made of acryllic reflects sound from the drums, the reflected sound can cause havoc for the drum mics to outputs if there is too much...
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