So this week it's my turn to run sound at church instead of playing bass.

We had a rehearsal today I ran sound ....like I said. 

All rehearsal I am having trouble with the kick drum. Can't get any punch out of it. Sounds like mud. I am sweeping the eq like crazy all rehearsal. I am playing with the compressor. It's driving me insane this church kick drum. It's a nice seven piece DP. I've eq'd this kick before to have killer punch. What's going on?


I go check the kick mic... Just kinda glance at it.... It's in the kick drum hole in the upright position it's always in... Okay   ...


The rehearsal ends .... The worship team gets in a circle and someone prays us out. Then I hand everyone a CD of the practice for them to take home and listen to their mistakes. 

I ask the drummer Bob whom I am a good friend with if we are going out after to grab a bite to eat and shoot the breeze. He's says yeah but hang on a second... .... 

He goes behind the drum set and walks back over to me with the kick drum head and a big tear and hole in the middle of it. 

I ask him.... Was that like that the whole practice . He says yeah ... It was like that when he got there.... He's gonna replace it by Sunday he says.....

(Shakes head) 

Evidently, not everything in a Church should be holy, ya?

craigb


Evidently, not everything in a Church should be holy, ya?

Ya.... For sure...you ain't kidding 

You gotta luv a drummer that plays thru the set no matter what.

5 stars.

LOL Paul, I can't help ya in that situation. Then again....I HAVE duct taped the living heck out of kick drum heads before just to sort of get through....but you gotta catch it in time. As soon as the head totally loses tension you're toast. We've used Crazy Glue and tape...EEEpoxy...lol...rubber cement. The best bet if at all possible is to always have spare heads. I know sometimes this is tough for a church as there are so many things they need. Even if the members of the band throw a few bucks into a pot and you buy a head each week or every other week....it always pays to have spares so that this doesn't happen again.

The other fix for this...you're gonna crack up....grab a piece of wood, put the wood up against a cinder block or use something to keep it stationary, mount a radio shack trigger on the wood, run the trigger into your V Drums brain and instant kick drum. LOL! I've done that before too. I always carry DDrum triggers with me as well as cheapo radio shack transducers, a pad to midi interface and a TD-10 module. A midi safety net goes with me whether I run live sound or engineer a session at someone elses studio. :) Glad you found out what it was though. You must have been going nuts...lol....poor guy!

-Danny

Danny Danzi


You must have been going nuts... 

-Danny

I was. (Going nuts)  I had resigned myself to coming in early Sunday  to figure it out. I was going to ask the drummer to come in early too. 


I told Bob (the drummer) you could have told me about it or said something I was working on the kick drum all night. Then he tells me ... Yeah ... I was wondering why in my head set I kept hearing different things going on with the volume of the kick and wondered about that. I thought something was wrong with my head phone (We have head sets through an aviom monitoring system for the band and regular floor monitor speakers for the singers) 


I was thinking what? Bob is a smart guy ... Heck he's a Sargent on the police force.... I just shook my head again. 




I learned a lesson though .....next time don't assume there can't be a hole in the kick drum and walk around the entire set. 


I didn't do that because the drummer is up againts a wall. The wall acts as a sound enclosure so his back is up againts it. There are clear shields in the front. And then these homemade walls with wheels can be pushed in and out on the sides and then a home made sound proof ceiling. The drummer is literally boxed in a sound box. So I didn't bother opening it up disturbing the rehearsal and walking around in there. 


Now I am blabbering on ..... But that's what happened. Problems like this are good.... I suppose it makes you faster at solving the the next time they happen. 

mike_mccue


You gotta luv a drummer that plays thru the set no matter what.

5 stars.

Tell me about it 

Mooch4056

Danny Danzi


You must have been going nuts... 

-Danny

I was. (Going nuts)  I had resigned myself to coming in early Sunday  to figure it out. I was going to ask the drummer to come in early too. 


I told Bob (the drummer) you could have told me about it or said something I was working on the kick drum all night. Then he tells me ... Yeah ... I was wondering why in my head set I kept hearing different things going on with the volume of the kick and wondered about that. I thought something was wrong with my head phone (We have head sets through an aviom monitoring system for the band and regular floor monitor speakers for the singers) 


I was thinking what? Bob is a smart guy ... Heck he's a Sargent on the police force.... I just shook my head again. 




I learned a lesson though .....next time don't assume there can't be a hole in the kick drum and walk around the entire set. 


I didn't do that because the drummer is up againts a wall. The wall acts as a sound enclosure so his back is up againts it. There are clear shields in the front. And then these homemade walls with wheels can be pushed in and out on the sides and then a home made sound proof ceiling. The drummer is literally boxed in a sound box. So I didn't bother opening it up disturbing the rehearsal and walking around in there. 


Now I am blabbering on ..... But that's what happened. Problems like this are good.... I suppose it makes you faster at solving the the next time they happen. 

Hahaha I still can't believe that's what it was. Depending on your board Paul, you *should* be able to have your "house mix" and your own monitor mix. This way, if you ever have to solo something up, the solo only goes through your head phones in case you need to isolate something. It won't kill anything that's coming through the mains. If anyone else is using cans though, it may effect them because then only that instrument is solo'd.
 
The biggest issue for live situations is the stress of trying to remedy problems as fast as possible. We get that adrenaline boost and sometimes miss the obvious. I don't do much live sound anymore, but after a few episodes where you have issues, you start to plan for things better. I used to bring quite a few things with me even when the PA gear was provided for me and I was a "walk on" soundman.
 
Assorted cables, fuses, my midi rig, my favorite effects, headphones, a few extra 57's and 58's, a few 421's, a set of bass strings, a set of guitar strings, picks, drum sticks, extra felts for cymbal stands, moon gels, duct tape, gaffer tape, electrical tape, assorted screws and washers, tool pouch, soldering iron, assorted batteries, flashlights both big and small, walkie talkie for the monitor man, lap top....stuff like that. It al (just about)l fits into this tool box I bring which is in a anvil chest. It weighs about 20 pounds but everything I need fits perfectly into it. I never brought drum heads with me though....a bit too cumbersome as the most important is usually kick and snare.
 
Sounds like your church is pretty hooked up. I think they could probably afford a kick and snare head that you keep in reserve. Toms aren't as important really...but we gotta have kick and snare. :)
 
-Danny

Danny Danzi

Mooch4056

Danny Danzi


You must have been going nuts... 

-Danny

I was. (Going nuts)  I had resigned myself to coming in early Sunday  to figure it out. I was going to ask the drummer to come in early too. 


I told Bob (the drummer) you could have told me about it or said something I was working on the kick drum all night. Then he tells me ... Yeah ... I was wondering why in my head set I kept hearing different things going on with the volume of the kick and wondered about that. I thought something was wrong with my head phone (We have head sets through an aviom monitoring system for the band and regular floor monitor speakers for the singers) 


I was thinking what? Bob is a smart guy ... Heck he's a Sargent on the police force.... I just shook my head again. 




I learned a lesson though .....next time don't assume there can't be a hole in the kick drum and walk around the entire set. 


I didn't do that because the drummer is up againts a wall. The wall acts as a sound enclosure so his back is up againts it. There are clear shields in the front. And then these homemade walls with wheels can be pushed in and out on the sides and then a home made sound proof ceiling. The drummer is literally boxed in a sound box. So I didn't bother opening it up disturbing the rehearsal and walking around in there. 


Now I am blabbering on ..... But that's what happened. Problems like this are good.... I suppose it makes you faster at solving the the next time they happen. 

Hahaha I still can't believe that's what it was. Depending on your board Paul, you *should* be able to have your "house mix" and your own monitor mix. This way, if you ever have to solo something up, the solo only goes through your head phones in case you need to isolate something. It won't kill anything that's coming through the mains. If anyone else is using cans though, it may effect them because then only that instrument is solo'd.
 
The biggest issue for live situations is the stress of trying to remedy problems as fast as possible. We get that adrenaline boost and sometimes miss the obvious. I don't do much live sound anymore, but after a few episodes where you have issues, you start to plan for things better. I used to bring quite a few things with me even when the PA gear was provided for me and I was a "walk on" soundman.
 
Assorted cables, fuses, my midi rig, my favorite effects, headphones, a few extra 57's and 58's, a few 421's, a set of bass strings, a set of guitar strings, picks, drum sticks, extra felts for cymbal stands, moon gels, duct tape, gaffer tape, electrical tape, assorted screws and washers, tool pouch, soldering iron, assorted batteries, flashlights both big and small, walkie talkie for the monitor man, lap top....stuff like that. It al (just about)l fits into this tool box I bring which is in a anvil chest. It weighs about 20 pounds but everything I need fits perfectly into it. I never brought drum heads with me though....a bit too cumbersome as the most important is usually kick and snare.
 
Sounds like your church is pretty hooked up. I think they could probably afford a kick and snare head that you keep in reserve. Toms aren't as important really...but we gotta have kick and snare. :)
 
-Danny

Oh yeah .. You can solo it and you hear the solo channel in the headphones and it doesn't effect the mains .... We have the Allen and Heath gl2400 32 channel 
The old sound guy was on the board of directors and was able to get them to sighn off on whatever he wanted for the sound gear. He left the church on a sour note and I got hacked with training people on the board since becuase I recorded the worship team on sonar (we have two CDs I  engineerred) they deemed me most knowledgeable to take over. I didn't want the job ... Trust me. I like playing better. 

http://www.musiciansfrien...gl2400-32-live-console


The thing is it sounded like a kick. A bad kick.....but it still sounded like one. And I was gonna fix it with Eq and compression. Did it before. 


I trained our new sound guy on this board a few months ago .... And I've been trying to stay out of his way and not be a dick about being stingy... Besides that when I am playing I have headphones on and my own mix through the aviom system that I control ... The whole band does ...I never know what the house sounds like. 


I made it a habit not to concern myself with how the house mix sounded becuase when ever I tried to put in my thoughts to the old sound guy he made it clear.... There was one chef in the kitchen. I would get made on what I would hear through the house so I just made it a point not to know what was going on and concern myself with my aviom headphne mix that I controlled. It kept my blood pressure in check at the time. 


I assumed he ... the new guy i trained ...just had the eq set poorly since he kinda doesn't understand eq. I trained him just to play with the faders and busses and don't touch other stuff and he's cool with that, so I should have known something was up maybe with the drum itself. Who knows. I am a dork. 

I just got a text message ... Bob has replaced the kick drum head ....

We're good to go tomorrow ...Hahahahahaha funny 



I texted him back a joke ... "How many drummers does it take to tell the sound guy his kick drum has a tear and a hole in it?"