Dumping Ground for Random Thoughts
The following was originally published at Church Soundguy on April 10, 2008.
Controlling Drums in Church
By David McLain
Any time a band has some of its sound coming through the main PA system (usually vocals and electronic instruments) and some of the sound coming from the stage acoustically (most notably the drums) you have problems. The drummer must play loud enough to keep up with the sound system, which he cannot hear. However, playing loudly enough for the back row of listeners means that the drums are often too loud for the first several rows. It’s even louder on stage, which requires the rest of the band to play louder and turn up the stage monitors.
The result is a stage volume that is overwhelming – too loud for the room, and often louder than the main sound system in the room, and still unclear. People get frustrated and irritable, and some leave to find another church where they can understand the music.
A major part of the solution for this problem is to control the sound of the on-stage instruments, beginning with the drums. There are three steps in controlling drums in church:
- Contain the acoustic energy from the drums,
- Absorb the acoustic energy from the drums, and
- Reinforce the sound that you want from the drums
Containing the acoustic energy from the drums is the easiest part. The sound of the drums travels from the drum head to the ears of the people hearing it. The strongest part of that sound is generally direct line-of-sight.Many churches have installed plexiglass drum shields around the drums for this purpose. It’s cost-effective and it’s a reasonably effective starting point. The plexiglass reflects most sound, preventing the direct line-of-sight sound from reaching the people in the congregation.
This solves one problem and introduces a couple of new ones.
Plexiglass does not absorb sound; virtually all of the sound created by the drums is reflected; that means that the sound is still in the room, it’s just not traveling to the listeners in a direct route. The drummer often feels more confident now that he’s behind the plexiglass, and often times he plays harder, creating even more sound than before. Now that sound is bouncing around the room as reflected sound.
Reflected sound is, by definition, noise: it has the same amount of energy as direct sound, but because it is reflected, it has become “incoherent.” Now instead of hearing the clear “slap” of the snare from a single source, we hear reflections of that slap from various reflective surfaces around the room. The clarity is decreased, but the energy of the snare is still there, rattling around the room, muddying up the rest of the sound.
The second problem with a plexiglass drum cage is that the first reflection of the sound is concentrated back at the drummer’s ears. The potential for hearing damage is greatly increased. That’s one reason some drummers want to play loudly – they can’t hear the sound as well as they used to, so they feel the need to play louder.
The result of plexiglass by itself is that the total energy of sound is not decreased. Instead, it’s just bouncing around the room, making the rest of the sound muddy, and damaging the drummer’s hearing.
After we block the direct sound of the drums with a plexiglass drum shield, the next step is to absorb a good portion of the sound, to keep it from filling the room with incoherent echoes. This is generally accomplished with sound-absorptive foam.
Generally, the foam is installed in three locations: on the wall behind the drummer, on the plexiglass itself, and as sound-absorptive “lid” over the top of the drummer.
How much absorption to install is governed by several factors, some practical and some aesthetic. Since the drummer needs to be able to see the rest of the band, it’s best to not block all of the plexiglass. Rather, install foam along the bottom and sides of the plexiglass. Generally, the foam is not installed above the height of the drumheads themselves, and often only to the top of the kick drum. On the sides, install the foam higher, particularly on the side with the snare and hihat, as these are the greatest sources of sound.
Install a greater amount of sound absorption on the wall behind the drummer. In fact, complete coverage of this wall is often appropriate, up to the height of the plexiglass drum shield. Since the sound from the drums is omnidirectional it will either strike the wall first or it will reflect off of the plexiglass and then strike the wall. Absorption on the wall behind the drummer will be a big help in keeping the reflections around the room under control.
Some of the sound from the drums, of course, goes straight up, where it will bounce off of the ceiling before eventually making its way to peoples’ ears. If you have done an effective job of absorbing the sound inside the drum cage this reduced amount of reflected sound may be acceptable, or even desirable. It may still be too much sound, especially in a low-ceilinged room, or with a large drum kit, or with a particularly physical drummer. In this case, it may be necessary to add a sound absorptive ceiling over the top of the drum kit.
All this absorption sounds expensive, but it is possible to cover all three sections – on the plexiglass, the wall behind the drummer, and the lid – for about the cost of the plexiglass drum shield itself.
To this point, we have been reducing the overall volume of the drums. The stage volume is under control, so the musicians can hear themselves, and the sound from the stage doesn’t overwhelm the main speakers. The front several rows of the congregation are no longer being overwhelmed by sound. But now the back part of the sanctuary isn’t being reached.
The third step of controlling the drum sound is to put the drums into the sound system. At the very least, you’ll need to mic the kick drum, the snare drum, and the hihat. With careful placement, a single mic can pick up both the snare and the hihat, for a two-mic minimum.
As far as mic selection goes, my preference is to use a large diaphragm mic on the kick drum – either a dynamic mic like the Shure Beta 52 or the Sennheiser E602II, or a large condenser mic like the CAD E100. Dynamic mics tend to capture the “boom” of a kick drum well, and condensers can capture the “snap” of the sound. Audio Technica makes a mic (AE2500) that has both a condenser capsule and a dynamic capsule in it. Be sure that the mic can handle the high sound pressure levels of a kick drum closely miked.
Your first choice for a snare mic is a simple dynamic microphone, with the ubiquitous Shure SM57 being the most popular. It’ll take a number of accidental whacks from overly-enthusiastic drumsticks and keep working well. Dynamic mics can also be used on the toms, but there are several very nice tiny condenser mics that have become popular, like the AKG C418 or the Audio Technica PRO 35. Sennheiser makes a small dynamic mic for this purpose, the E604. These small, specialized mics generally come with their own mic clips which attach directly to the drum itself, reducing the number of stands and cables sticking out of the drum kit, and allowing the plexiglass drum shield to be brought in nice and tight.
In a large room, you’ll want to add a pair of overhead mics, to capture the overhead cymbals and the overall ambience of the drum kit. Small condenser mics like the entry level AT Pro37R or the higher priced Sennheiser E914 are common choices. Recently, the trend has been moving towards large-diaphragm mics overhead, including the inexpensive CAD GXL2200 or the versatile AKG C3000B. Be sure to experiment with mic placement, listening closely to the sound of each mic, to determine best placement on your drum kit.
If you have the room, I prefer using a compressor on both the kick drum and the snare, and an ideal world would call for gates on the toms, the snare and the hihat, to tighten up the sound, but most churches will stop before that point.
The main goal is to prevent the acoustic sound of the drums from either overpowering the rest of the band, or reverberating around the room, by bringing the drums into the sound system with the rest of the band. You’ll be surprised how much cleaner your band sounds, and how much easier it is to keep the volume under control.
David McLain is a church sound system consultant with CCI Solutions in Olympia, WA. He has been working with church sound systems since 1978 and with portable churches since 1988. You may reach David at churchsoundguy@gmail.com
The following was orignally published at Guitarists Praise and Worship on April 17, 2009.
Over the years I have gotten quite a lot of mail, calls and letters from frustrated church musicians. Browsing any church related forum you will clearly see musicians hit the net to vent their frustration when it comes to the sound people. Either it is too bright, too dull, too loud, too quiet or just a huge ole mess all together.
I have designed a 12 step program that might be able to help some of you sort out these matters before you all are absorbed by holy wrath.
Step 1 Know Sound.
A lot of churches are not blessed with people who actually knows what good live sound is. Actually, often they don’t know what bad sound is either. While most musicians listen to music and try to mimic sounds or styles, a lot of sound technicians don’t seem to pay any attention to sound quality at all. Many sound techs are more volume controllers than anything else.
I usually put together a CD with examples of good live sound and bad live sound. I then bring this to the venue and set up a date with the techs going over the different examples explaining what makes them good or bad. Usually I hand out a copy for each tech with notes. You would be surprised how many techs who never thought about clarity in a mix.
Step 2 Know Instruments
To be able to dial in a decent live sound, the sound technicians need to know the instruments, including the characteristics and diversities of the human voice. At this stage I usually bring in frequency charts as well as suggested EQ-settings as a starting point.
With the help from the band, we do instrument by instrument. Listening closely to each instrument finding what frequencies that makes a guitar sound like a guitar and so on, we build familiarity for the technicians. This will help them fix issues in the mix at a later stage.
Step 3 Know gear
For a lot of church sound techs, they have gotten the job because no one else wanted it. In other cases they are good at operating other technical gadgets without really having a clue about sound systems. I usually go over the in-house system and make a simple diagram over the parts and the functions.
In a lot of cases the problem is that the techs don’t really have a clue about what is on a mixer and why it is there. At this stage I usually go over the functions on the mixer and how it can be used. At a minimum you need to explain EQ-settings, AUX, FX and mute. There are a lot of good books on live sound out there, and if you lack the knowledge on how to get there yourself, I am sure the band would be more than happy to contribute with a couple of $’s each to get one for the sound guy or gal.
Step 4 Know the music
Ok so let us say that you are on your way here. The sound tech has understood the concept of good live sound, the difference in instruments and frequencies and has a basic understanding of the gear. The next step is to get the tech to know the songs.
A very helpful tool here is making up a sheet with each song on it. Write in who is doing lead and backing, what instruments are on, if there are any solos and so on. I usually make these sheets very, very clear by using different fonts or colors for each musician/ singer. This way the tech will know what happens and when it happens.
Step 5 Know each other
One of the main problems I see in a lot of churches is that a sound tech more often is that annoying dude who messes up the sound, rather than a friend. I think it is crucial for any band to build a strong relationship with their sound tech. The tech can enhance or destroy what you are doing and should be viewed as a part of the band.
As any musician needs to practice, a sound tech needs to practice as well. Of course you can practice at home by yourself as a musician so you know your part when you are meeting up with the band, that is however not that easy for a sound tech unless her or she has a multi track recording to practice mixing with.
If the band rehearses anywhere with a PA-system, the sound techs should be included at every chance possible to hone their skills. I used to attend a church in Stockholm years ago. The band and the techs hung out, set up and rigged down together. It was great as friendship allows you to be more direct and speak your mind, rather than calling a meeting to sort out differences of opinions.
Step 6 Know the room
Some people might be surprised that I put knowing the room as far down the list as Step 6. However there is a reason for that. Without knowing sound, gear, instruments, the music and the band, knowing the room would be pretty useless to church technicians.
If you have gotten this far, I believe that your sound tech should have some point of interest in making everything sound as good as possible. Why, because he or she is a part of a team doing an important job in the church. Knowing the room will now become pretty essential to make everything smooth and clear all over the room.
With the band playing or with a CD for that matter, I take a tour of the empty room with the tech to listen. I repeat this when the room is filling up and when it is full. People will alter the sound. With basic knowledge of main EQ, most of this can be fixed. It is also a good pointer for all over sound levels.
Step 7 Communicate
Communication is the key to any cooperation. However to communicate, people need to speak the same language. Sometimes it can be necessary to educate each other on what we actually mean by expressions that make perfectly sense to us, but appears meaningless to others.
A little more bass, less boxy, a bit more air in the mix, I lack some definition, a tad more kick in the monitor, are all things that could be easily misunderstood and overdone or even underdone. We need to learn how to be specific and explain what we need in ways the techs actually understand.
The more we communicate the easier it is to understand that the bass player might mean a lot when he says a little, while the acoustic guitarist means a little when she says a little. We all have different scales so let’s sort those things out.
Step 8 Record, record and record.
I am a firm believer of recording live mixes of several reasons. First of all it provides a good tool for the musicians to improve their playing, secondly it can give really good hints on needed changes in the orchestration and thirdly, it will be a tool to improve the quality of the live sound.
By having the mix “documented” you can go back and go over the good and the bad with the tech. By using heir sheets from Step 4 they can make notes on what works and what doesn’t work. I do not care if it is recorded to an old cassette deck or an mp3 player, as long as it is recorded. As the musicians need to evaluate their playing, the sound tech needs to evaluate his or her job.
Step 9 Keeping it interesting
I come from a family who has been into music and sound for decades. I wanted to be good at it because it gave me something. Someone managed to keep it interesting. I had my first sound tech job at 12 years old. It was a pretty much straight forward gig, 2 ole ladies with acoustic guitars and one preacher. I had been a volume controller for the pulpit mic for a while under my father’s supervision. Now I got to manage 5 channels as well as the mains.
The thing here is to let people grow with the task, setting realistic goals, keeping it interesting to learn more and handle more. Too much too quick will most of the time discourage people, while too little too slow, will most often bore people to ignorance.
I have been to numerous churches and with very few exceptions I have heard people complain over sound. Funny enough I have never heard someone in a congregation say “Hey let’s send our tech on a weekend sound seminar”. Keeping it interesting is also about actually equipping people to become excellent.
Step 10 Gear up
Everyone loves unwrapping new stuff. A zillion kids can’t be wrong at Christmas. I have gone in and out of churches that get new chairs, new lighting, new décor, new coffee machines and what not, but still run the same ole PA-system year after year after year.
If you manage to get someone to take sound seriously, I think everyone will benefit from the occasional bone throwing. It doesn’t have to be the huge investments, but maybe a decent headset, a new chair for the tech or even a new mic every now and then. Making people feel that what they do is important often starts with small gestures.
What actually works like a charm is to have the tech explore different solutions on the bands needs. I watched one of the most hopeless cases I ever seen turn into quite a decent tech after he was given the possibility to impact decisions on what gear to get. Suddenly he found a trigger to learn more.
Step 11 Recruiting new talents
You might be going wooot, while scratching your head now. If we finally are having a sound tech who actually does a decent job, why go out and bring in someone else
?. There are mainly two reasons for this.
First of all teaching someone something often lifts your level of knowledge as well, as you are forced to think about why and how from a new perspective. Secondly, your sound tech could get sick, move away or move on to another church, and you would be left with having to start all over. If you let the sound tech train an assistant, that job will be less stressful on the band.
Step 12 Acknowledge efforts
When I started out as a kid doing those kinds of 2 ole ladies with acoustic guitars and a preacher gigs, I was pretty fast getting credits for my efforts no matter how “easy” the gigs might have been. I felt welcomed and included. I am not saying that I did not get straightened out from time to time, but that always happened in private, while acknowledging happened in public.
The reverend was introduced, the singer, choir or band that was performing was introduced and the sound guy was introduced. That made me really want to do my best not only for the people on the platform or the ones sitting in the pews, but I wanted to do my best for God.
I probably messed up more times than I remember, but I got better, and so will people who are allowed to make mistakes but still receives acknowledgement for their efforts. You would be amazed how little cred most sound techs get at all. If the pastor or the band doesn’t do it either from the platform or after, the chance that the congregation does it, is slim to zero.
————————–
You might find this all to be interesting but a lot of work. Maybe you find this to be utter rubbish. I don’t know. What I do know is that patience, a will to share knowledge, an inclusive friendship and acknowledgement probably will get you a lot further than criticism, ignorance and hostility.
I see the frustration from both sides. I have been on both sides and I still am. I am not saying churches should treat sound techs like superior beings, but they should not be treated like necessary evil either. It is often very easy to praise those on a platform and forget about the ones who clean the church, the ones who prepares the meals, the ones who decorates and yes, the ones who manages the sound system.
embedded by Embedded Video
embedded by Embedded Video
-
Phone Call Comments
-
Connectors, Cables and Adapters Pinouts
-
Collaboratively edited question and answer site for system administrators and IT professionals – regardless of platform.
Previous Entries
Categories
Tag Cloud
Blog RSS
Comments RSS
Last 50 Posts
Back
Void 
Life 
Earth 
Wind 
Water 
Fire