Quieting Down Loud Drums

[guitar roy]

We have a practice/recording situation where the drums sound good on the recording but are acoustically very loud in the room.

Any ideas how to quiet down the drums without materially altering the quality of the sound that gets recorded, and without telling the drummer to "play quiet"?

Thanks.

Roy

[4-Man Takedown]

You probably need to give some more info, like mics and placement and stuff. All I could recomend is to move the guitars closer to the mics, or turn em up.

[guitar roy]

We are triangular micing with two MXL63's overhead and a PG52 in the kick. I don't think that Mic placement is the issue because the recorded sound is fine and everything else (bass, guitars) goes direct into the recorder (D1600).

The question is how to reduce the acoustic volume of the drums in the room without it sounding dead. Basically our ears are hurting!

Thanks.

[Prizmaxic]

If you like the sound on the recording, why not just wear isolation headphones, or earplugs?

[guitar roy]

Prizmaxic,

Good point. This is just practice and the recording is more for working on our material rather than any finished stuff. The guys in the band aren't crazy about wearing earplugs because they can't hear very well, and its only the drums that we're having trouble "turning down".

Having said that maybe we're using the wrong kind of earplugs. Any suggestions on good ones that reduce the sound pressure without materially affecting the quality of the sound?

Thanks.

Roy

[4-Man Takedown]

Go to Tower Records or Guitar Center. Either grab the clear ones from tower or the orange ones from guitar center. Both are hearos I believe, and are high fidelity. Basically the volume will go down and it will still sound good. Actually I think it practicing sounds way better with them on.

[outlawtorn86]

they make plexiglass walls that go in front of the set. just make sure when ur recording the mics are on the same side as the drums, and ur standing on the other side. the thing isnt that expensive

[Chibi Nappa]

I always wear earplugs in the practice room. If you get the right ones, you can even hear your part better, especially if you are a singer. I used the Hearos for a very long time, and found them to be quite good. The only problem was that they were a pain in the ass to constantly remove/insert once the song ended, so I went and got some of those big ass ear mufflers like you see guys wearing at the shooting range.

However, if you really want to turn the drum volume down, companies do make thick rubber pads to rest on top of the drum skins and cymbals. It doesn't change the playing feel too much, and it doesn't change the drum tone too much, but it kills the cymbal sound. We have them. Great for practice, bad for recording.

[Fletcher]

Originally posted by guitar roy
Any suggestions on good ones that reduce the sound pressure without materially affecting the quality of the sound?

We have these little "skwishy" orange foam plugs that we give away with every order... they're pretty similar to the E*A*R plugs you can get at pretty much any drug store in Amerikkka...

I don't know what you're looking for in an ear plug... but these things have served me very well over the years.

[guitar roy]

Thanks for your replies. Sounds like the Hearos Hi-Fi is the way to go.

Chibi Nappa, were you using the "Hi-Fi" version of the Hearos? They look easy to remove with the stem. The more conventional "wad" Hearos look like they would be difficult to remove. Also, why remove in between songs, why not just leave it in for the entire session (not comfortable or trouble hearing?)?

Thanks. Roy

[Chibi Nappa]

I just used the standard Hearos. And I remove them for several reasons. For instance, we all use new patches and such when writing a new song. It helps to hear that clearly. And sometimes you just want to hear what the heck the drummer is saying between songs.

[guitar roy]

Chibi Nappa, can you recommend any drum pads in particular?

Thanks. Roy

[cstockdale]

Originally posted by Chibi Nappa
sometimes you just want to hear what the heck the drummer is saying between songs.

why would you want to hear what your drummer has to say?

[Chibi Nappa]

Originally posted by guitar roy
Chibi Nappa, can you recommend any drum pads in particular?

Thanks. Roy

I'll ask the drummer what he bought. I don't know what they are off the top of my head, but I really like them. I'll get back to you...

[Chibi Nappa]

Originally posted by cstockdale
why would you want to hear what your drummer has to say?

Har har. Actually the guy is quite tallented at song arrangement.