bass in studio?

[Greekdrummer]

when my band goes to rehearse in a studio I always complain that I can't hear the bass drum but they always say that they can hear it clearly during songs and stuff...the sound guy says the same thing...is there any chance that we (the drummers) aren't able to hear the bass drum while we're playing?

bear in mind, that the drums in the studio aren't miced.

I remember one time when we played at a bar where the drums were miced(every single one of them) I could hear everything clearly.

so?wtf's going on?

[johngault007]

If you're not wearing hearing protection (which I highly advise you do), it might get so loud that the bass drum gets drowned out.  I know if we are playing a large enough venue, and the sound guy doesn't listen to me and run bass drum through the monitor, I can lose it from time to time, and this is wearing earplugs.

On that note, I started using earplugs (ER20) made by a company called Etymotic.  They do an amazing job reducing the sound by 20db, but unlike silicon or foam plugs, these things really bring out the lows and cut those annoying squeals that guitarists like to pick on their high E's.

[robmoth]

It does get lost if you're not miked and dont have it running back to you through a foldback monitor, with gigs though as long as the sound out front sounds good, the sound onstage for you might sound absoloutly gash and distorted and all over the place, because 9times out of 10 the sound coming out of your monitor is nothing like the sound out the front, think you're sitting behind your kick and the sounds going out in front of you so it will get lost in band practise,

often when my band plays smaller venues with smaller PA i feel the drums are mega loud but it's cause everything's going out front and im behind it all, it's weird just something you'll get used to


rob

[Greekdrummer]

so it CAN be heard then? it's just me(the player) that's not able to hear it?

that sucks

[robmoth]

If they say they can hear it then i presume so, just ask for more kick in your foldback if you want to hear more of it at gigs, but yeah it does suck in band practise etc.

[shwoz]

well thats interesting
at leat you have the feel for wat your playing but that would be a very odd scenario and i think it would be tough to do

[gregr85]

Is there an engineer there running sound while you practice?  Are you all getting headphone/monitor mixes? If so you could have him mic your kick and send it to a wedge or your headphones so you can hear it.

If you have a sound guy and he just tells you that it's ok an everyone else can hear it, he's not doing his job.  He should make sure everyone involved can hear everything they're playing.

If there's no engineer to run monitor mixes for everyone then I agree with johngault007, a good pair of ear attenuators (these are different and more expensive than standard earplugs but very well worth it) can do wonders for clearing up the sound in the practice room.

[Greekdrummer]

about a week ago we went to practice again but there was the previous band there still playing so I went and sat with the sound guy and listened to them a bit...what amazed me is that I could hear the bass drum CLEARLY with no mics whatsoever,I forgot to ask the drummer if he could hear it though afterwards...damn...

[Cyborg]

All of the above...
check the tuning of your bass..
this is most important when tones are lost.
You might try.. a chromatic tuner.
Loudness should not be a factor if tuning is correct.
unless you are severely under miked.

[Greekdrummer]

well I can't tune them and I believe that they sound great...they're the sound guy's after all so I guess he has them well tuned.