Bass drum mic creating havoc with my sound

[Bridgehouse]

56 minutes ago, skankdelvar said:

At this point people usually suggest sitting down with the drummer and talking things through or having a 'band discussion' or helpfully reconfiguring your FOH so that the drummer gets 'his sound' and everyone's happy. 

Well, that never works, so wait until the next time you see him and then punch him in the nuts as hard as you can. No preamble, no 'Can we talk about your bass drum amp, Tarquin?' Just an overwhelming pre-emptive strike on his testicles. He'll probably leave the band on the spot, which is fine. If he doesn't leave, keep pulverising his gonads until he does then find another drummer and carry on.

Or, get him to sit down and pummel his man globes with his bass pedal...

[Rayman]

I've had this....

It's like having two bass guitars playing at once....

I'm sure it's been said already, put the kit through the PA. Job done (usually). Two bass amps pumping out similar frequencies (but different notes) will often (Not always) screw with sound. 

[vmaxblues]

Great answers guys, and it pretty much confirms my thoughts.

We tend not to use subs as we have found that the size of venues we play they are unnecessary, therefore wouldn't want the bass drum through them.

 

[project_c]

I’ve played with a drummer who did this, it’s basically a really stupid idea that only works if you don’t want any kind of bass other than the kick in your overall sound. There’s no good reason for a kick to be put through a bass amp in a live band. Dance music maybe - but even with dance music one of the first things you do to control a mix is cut the lows on the kick to make space for the bass. Same thing as when a guitarist boosts his lows or the keyboard player decides to ‘double up’ on bass. Recipe for disaster.

[leftybassman392]

Well it's been said many times on this thread already, but just so that I've said it too...

No. Just, no.

Much as I abhor physical violence, I'd be sorely tempted to go with Skank's solution in this particular case. He's most likely doing it because he thinks it's a really good idea, so discussion is unlikely to prove fruitful.

 

[Japhet]

Tell him to fit a Kickport in his bass drum and leave the bass amp at home. Bass frequencies are very susceptible to cancelling themselves out so not surprised his bizarre idea is causing problems.

[Dad3353]

Subs are not necessary for micing a drum kit, especially for smaller venues such as typical pubs and the like. One mic in the bass drum, another perched for overhead, and that's all. Have them go to FOH, turned up just enough to hear them, and no more. The idea is not to create festival chest-heaving lows, but simply integration of the whole kit (not simply the bass drum...) into the overall band sound. The principal role of the PA is still to carry the vocals, and a smidgen of drums in the tops shouldn't be so loud as to hinder this.
Unless your repertoire is very unconventional, there's absolutely no need to have an overpowering bass drum in there at all, and any decent drummer would recognise this and play accordingly.

Edited October 29, 2018 by Dad3353

[SubsonicSimpleton]

What size bass drum is your drummer using?

[steantval]

35 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Subs are not necessary for micing a drum kit, especially for smaller venues such as typical pubs and the like. One mic in the bass drum, another perched for overhead, and that's all. Have them go to FOH, turned up just enough to hear them, and no more. The idea is not to create festival chest-heaving lows, but simply integration of the whole kit (not simply the bass drum...) into the overall band sound. The principal role of the PA is still to carry the vocals, and a smidgen of drums in the tops shouldn't be so loud as to hinder this.
Unless your repertoire is very unconventional, there's absolutely no need to have an overpowering bass drum in there at all, and any decent drummer would recognise this and play accordingly.

Get some traps 🐭🐭🐭 nothing worse than having them in a drum kit 😀

[steve-bbb]

19 hours ago, vmaxblues said:

 

I have asked him to roll the bass off and use the mids and treble but he likes to make it bassy, this plays havoc at some gigs depending on acoustics

a drummer? with access to the mix? without parental supervision?

there's your problem right there  

[leschirons]

[EliasMooseblaster]

21 minutes ago, leschirons said:

As several replies on this page have suggested physical violence upon or around the drummer's genitals, this response made me wince and cross my legs rather abruptly.

Edited October 29, 2018 by EliasMooseblaster

[leftybassman392]

Wasn't there a thread up here a while ago about a drummer who insisted on having his own personal P.A.? (Whatever happened about that BTW?).

Anybody else seeing a common, er, thread here?

[leschirons]

1 hour ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

As several replies on this page have suggested physical violence upon or around the drummer's genitals, this response made me wince and cross my legs rather abruptly.

I was thinking more of his XLR cable😂

[Rich]

5 minutes ago, leschirons said:

I was thinking more of his XLR cable😂

Well that's one name for it.

[Noisyjon]

On 28/10/2018 at 18:46, lazzer said:

Yep, a crazy idea! Can you convince him to wear IEMs- he can have it as loud as he wants then!

 

On 28/10/2018 at 16:02, vmaxblues said:

We play rock covers, stuff from Oasis, The Smiths, Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Pulp, Blur, etc...

9 times out of 10 it isn't an issue, but occasionally (like last night) because of various factors it becomes an issue.

I think he has in his mind a big deep stadium sound as opposed what he should be aiming for which is the attack not the boom.

IEMs are part of the solution here but to really sort this one out get him to look at shifting the amp setup for one of these systems:

https://www.porteranddavies.co.uk/products/

[drTStingray]

If he insists on doing this (I have heard of it as well) then why can't the amp be EQd and the output set at a sensible level so that it doesn't get in the way, particularly if the bass drum doesn't go through FOH.

[Rich]

2 hours ago, Noisyjon said:

 

IEMs are part of the solution here but to really sort this one out get him to look at shifting the amp setup for one of these systems:

https://www.porteranddavies.co.uk/products/

Yes. Our drummer has the Gigster and reckons it has revolutionised his playing. He hardly ever asks for any kick in his drum fill these days, he gets it all via his butt.

[mep]

7 hours ago, leftybassman392 said:

Wasn't there a thread up here a while ago about a drummer who insisted on having his own personal P.A.? (Whatever happened about that BTW?).

Anybody else seeing a common, er, thread here?

I was thinking of that thread.  I believe the OO showed the thread to drummer.  More sure of the outcome. 

Back on topic a powered sub would do the job instead of his rig.  Handy to for your bass too if required. Our drummer has a powered sub for thet larger pubs and that works just fine. 

[drTStingray]

I think there's some truth in the notion they're after some 'monitor' sound and I have known drummers say they play better when they can hear the bass drum better - I've also refrained from suggested they hit the other ones less hard to give themselves a chance.

However FOH bass drum sound is often a problem - should it be a thud or a boom - the latter is a real problem especially if mixed too loud. As I don't play in marching bands I really don't understand anyone who wants the bass drum to boom - and it sounds like that's one of the problems the OP has...... 

[mrtcat]

14 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

However FOH bass drum sound is often a problem - should it be a thud or a boom - the latter is a real problem especially if mixed too loud. As I don't play in marching bands I really don't understand anyone who wants the bass drum to boom - and it sounds like that's one of the problems the OP has...... 

Yeah boom is not what you want. A nice little push around 60hz  and then a bit of high end to give definition is usually all you want - much of the rest can be dialled out. I have to say that I've always found that running subs on aux makes it much easier to achieve this. More often than not, unless it's a really big venue, I just bleed in a little bit of low into the subs from the kick and it fattens up nicely. I also find that putting kick through a PA without subs usually sounds worse rather than better. You're asking a lot of your tops if you want them to do the whole 60hz bit. There aren't many relatively affordable tops (RCF 735/745 & BF FR800s excluded) that I've come across that can really cope with that.

[steve-bbb]

16 hours ago, leftybassman392 said:

Wasn't there a thread up here a while ago about a drummer who insisted on having his own personal P.A.? (Whatever happened about that BTW?).

is there another website out there called drumchat.co.uk ???

where they all sit around all day whining about bass players and guitarists when they should be hitting things with a stick in time to a metronome 

[steve-bbb]

2 hours ago, drTStingray said:

and I have known drummers say they play better when they can hear the bass drum better

on a serious note maybe suggest one of those strange seat pad things that thump you up derrière every time you kick the bass drum

[bassace]

54 minutes ago, steve-bbb said:

on a serious note maybe suggest one of those strange seat pad things that thump you up derrière every time you kick the bass drum

I’d suggest a seat pad that triggers a high voltage shock. Wired in series with the keyboard player that kicks in when he plays on the bottom two octaves.

[steve-bbb]

1 hour ago, bassace said:

I’d suggest a seat pad that triggers a high voltage shock. Wired in series with the keyboard player that kicks in when he plays on the bottom two octaves.

Keyboard players who have anything more than 56 keys should be considered delinquent and nonconfomist and their left hand activities should be closely monitored