I need advice on acoustic set up..

StickMan87

New member
Hey,

I have a small acoustic gig soon and im cracking my head trying to figure out how to set up and muffle my drums so that it's not too loud.

For my set up, i'll be playing the snare, bass, ride and hihats only.
I'm thinking of getting those multirod drumsticks coz i heard that it is much softer compared to regular drumsticks.

For my bass, i'll have a pillow stuffed inside and i'll be playing heel down (usually i play heel up but that's more powerful, meaning more louder).

I'll be playing along with around 3-4 acoustic guitars.

Any idea how i can make this better?

Thanks guys.
 
hmm.. for the snare add some toctin inside? not alot, juz to muffle it down. abit of toctin shud be enuff. hi-hats w/o muffle shud be ok.. the ride u can try screwing it down tightly to mute it more. ( not to the extend is doesnt vibrate.. dis way it will break..)
 
I think if you use the hotrods and use some control when you play, it should be sufficient for an acoustic setting. Works for me when I play acoustic sets. Hope this helps :)
 
Try using smaller cymbals. That does help a little. I once tried using a pair of splashes as hihats- a bit overkill, but smaller and thinner cymbals do help to reduce. I think it's pretty hard to reduce hihat volume otherwise- the hihats are already muted, so you either have to make the instrument softer, or hit softer...
 
Crashing cymbals with rods is not loud, depending on how you hit it of course. Rods are not made for whacking anyway lol. It'll take a little of getting used to as it feels somewhat different from sticks. But it is certainly easier to get used to as compared to brushes, which require a whole new set of skills altogether.
 
Not sure if Yamaha sells rods, but yeah I got my promark rods from Drum Resources too. Good stuff.
 
How big's the place your gig's at?

What sizes will your bass drum and snare drum be respectively?

You don't have to stick to just the rods. You can bring along a pair of brushes, as well as a pair of lighter and thinner sticks.

Sticks would come in handy if you wanna do a little cross-sticking here and there. Even a shaker might be cool, depending on what exactly you're doing.

And personally, I don't really like the sound of rods on drums. (just MHO)
 
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By the way, have you seen those huge chopsticks used to stir in large pots? I bought a pair of those from Giant for a lighter sound...

Ha ! I have a pair of those chopsticks we always use to "Lo Yu-Sheng" during every Chinese Lunar New Year :). Pad the sticks with some duct and masking tape at the tip and it is great for low-volume practice :)
 

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