Snare too loud

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:20 am

I guess this is the place to put this?

Anyway, I was talking to some new friends Friday night at the local pub. They have a band, and said everything was going well EXCEPT their drummer's snare was always too loud in practice.

"Turn up your amps!". Naw, they are sane enough to know that a reasonable stage volume is easier to control.

This is in their practice room. Drums aren't mic'ed for practice.

"Tell the drummer to quit being so ham-fisted". Yeah, right. Try telling a drummer ANYthing Wink

(C'mon now, just KIDDING!)

"How about some duct tape on the head where he hits it? Offer to pay for a new head if it doesn't work out." Naw...probably wouldn't go for that.

"A tea towel over it?" I dunno.

"Retune the drums?" Well, probably DOES need to be retuned, but won't keep him from beating the snot out of them.

"DIFFERENT snare head?" Possibly.

"Lighter sticks?" Possibly.

Any quick and relatively inexpensive solutions anyone could recommend? A combination of some of the above?

I'll print out the answers for them to present to Bam-Bam. Razz

Thanks,

Kapt.Krunch

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:05 am

Kapt.Krunch wrote:

I guess this is the place to put this?

Anyway, I was talking to some new friends Friday night at the local pub. They have a band, and said everything was going well EXCEPT their drummer's snare was always too loud in practice.

"Turn up your amps!". Naw, they are sane enough to know that a reasonable stage volume is easier to control.

This is in their practice room. Drums aren't mic'ed for practice.

"Tell the drummer to quit being so ham-fisted". Yeah, right. Try telling a drummer ANYthing Wink

(C'mon now, just KIDDING!)

"How about some duct tape on the head where he hits it? Offer to pay for a new head if it doesn't work out." Naw...probably wouldn't go for that.

"A tea towel over it?" I dunno.

"Retune the drums?" Well, probably DOES need to be retuned, but won't keep him from beating the snot out of them.

"DIFFERENT snare head?" Possibly.

"Lighter sticks?" Possibly.

Any quick and relatively inexpensive solutions anyone could recommend? A combination of some of the above?

I'll print out the answers for them to present to Bam-Bam. Razz

Thanks,

Kapt.Krunch

Get the drummer some rods.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:19 am

Nasty buisness, but i take my swetter of and mount it around the snare. To cover the bottom. It takes a few desibels away without distorting the feeling when hit.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:01 am

In rehearsal, to avoid blowing the guys heads off with my snare, I'll turn the snares off and dial up the tension so I still get a little snare sizzle. I also tune the snare much lower in pitch than I do for live gigs. Occasionally I'll break out a little 3" x 13" piccolo snare which just makes less noise than my main snare. Hope this helps! Andy

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 3:56 pm

Thanks, guys,

I'll pass those and any others on. I guess I probably shouldn't let him try THESE?

Kapt.Krunch Laughing

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:04 pm

As mentioned, a loose/low-tuned snare will be MUCH quieter than one that is tuned high. MUCH quieter.

Maybe try one of those "V-Drum" heads on the snare? Then, you will only hear the snare-side volume in the room, but tone will obviously suffer.

If he is not willing to compromise in one way or another, then there is NOTHING you can really do. The ball is in his court, and the band's sound depends on it...

I'm also a harder hitter. I grew up with a 200-Watt Marshall + 4x12" in my ear since I was 8 years old - so I always had to play harder to hear myself :rolleyes: . Believe me, it's not something you can just "get over" in a few months. I actually mic my Kick at practice so the Snare and Kick end up being the same relative loudness. Damn drummers - WE RULE!!! :p

Cool

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