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Old 04-01-2013, 12:23 PM   #1 (permalink)
JohnnyBold
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Join Date: Apr 2013
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Default Drummers!

-----DRUMMERS--------
I do hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but........A good drum kit is made in such a way that all the drums are of similar volume. Woods are used and/or combined to create consistant tone and volume. So consistancy is a good thing. Imagine a guitar having an "A" string that is overwhelmingly loud, that guitar would be on the repair bench in a heartbeat. Then why, oh why do some drummers develop a techinique of constenty using rimshots on a snare. This technique throws the drum kit out of balance. A rim shot is striking the skin and the rim of the drum at the same time. This produces a loud sound and is great for coloring up a fill or accenting a hit. But the constant use of rimshots creates problems in recording and to a lessor extent in live sound. In recording, mics are used to capture the sound of the kit from above, these are known as "overheads" and mics can also be placed further out in the room, these are known as room mics. When a snare is too loud, these mics need to be turned down or compressed to achieve a balanced drumsound. The result is a drum sound that has too little cymbles from the overheads or ,with compression, a drum sound with a super squished snare with no snap. In addition to this problem, rimshots in my opinion sound thin, piercing and don't sit well in a mix. Now, I realize that the "constant rimshot" technique was most likely developed in rock music as a way to get heard above loud guitar amplifiers during rehearsals. The solution to loud guitar amps during rehearsals is to raise the speaker cabinets to ear height and place them next to the guitarist. Soon you'll discover you have decent rehearsal levels. Sorry if I'm being harsh, but I thought you may want to know.
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