So I recently started playing the drums and I am having a dilemma. I play with a 3 piece and we are very loud and deep with no distortion. The problem is while I hit very hard I have a problem achieving a sound to equall the other two in my band.
  
The bass player uses an svt 8x10 (sometimes using two) and the guitarist has a mesa 4x12 and uses an ampeg 4x10 bass cab.

I have a tama swingstar and use a 24" kick drum no padding 18"floor and 14"floor. For heads I was using coated emperors to try and keep up with the warmth that we are going for but they were too quiet and I hit HARD. I switched to clear pinstripes and while the volume is better they sound a bit punchy. On the bass I have evans eQ4 and a black remo on the res side.

My question is what can I do to make the set ring out and be warm, loud and sound super heavy.  At our last show the other two were making the earth vibrate and I need to be able to match this so we have a cohesive sound. At the moment we are only playing places that I will not have access microphones to enhance the kit...

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.

sounds like you're fighting with too much volume, those ampegs and mesas... and you're just starting. i guess that things will be different in, like, 6 months of heavy playing. you will sound different.
i´m not a drummer, tough, and i cant talk about the drum sound and heads and all that.

also, dumb answer, but what about asking the guys also to just turn down the volume a bit?

hmm maybe get them to turn down a bit?

ps I am not being a smartass.

blackeskimo wrote:
My question is what can I do to make the set ring out and be warm, loud and sound super heavy.  At our last show the other two were making the earth vibrate and I need to be able to match this so we have a cohesive sound. At the moment we are only playing places that I will not have access microphones to enhance the kit...

If the other two guys have amplification AND their dials set to 10 (in order to make the earth vibrate), you're pretty much fucked without a PA. Drums can really only get so loud. Without any help from a sound system, your best bet is telling the other two to turn down, which is never fun. You'll be amazed with what you can do with a good PA and a few mics on the drums.

Here's another idea...put the drums right in the middle of stage, and point the amps towards the adjacent corners from their position. This gives the drums center stage and "pans" the amplifiers to an angle which distributes their volume differently. Maybe it will work...

Best of luck.

yeah, pointing the amps away would make a good alternative if they are weird about turning down.

um, not to be cheeky but that's a ton of amplification. is all of that necessary? if they are using two cabs each, can they cut down to one for rehearsal (or turn down) and then bring the second only when you're playing a place with a pa to mic the drums with?

Or you could do what I usually hate to do, set up the drums to go through part of the PA. You may have to augment the PA to handle the drums if it's a vocals only situation. A drummer I played with once had his shit setup through a PA with a sub behind him and his shit going through a monitor that faced him. That usually filled the room nicely.

The thing I hated the most about this setup, besides the volume, is the fact that the drummer started to only be able to tune his drums through a PA. He didn't like his drums acoustic after a while. Yikes...

you and your bandmates need to have a talk about balance.

you aren't going to get any louder than them without a PA. It's impossible.

They need to push less air- or your band will sound like there's a faint hint of a drummer keeping time with snare and cymbals- the only sounds that will pop through the mix.

Hah, honestly if this was me and our schtick was being LOUD, I would mic my drums myself, send them to a small mixer (right at my throne), get the mix back to low level, and send it to an amp. Two cabs for each guitar, two cabs for the drums, why the fuck not?

Play a place that does mic drums to reinforce? Tell them to throw a mic on your cabinets.

I have played in similar situations. Sadly, I can only reinforce the recommendation that you either buy your own PA, or get your bandmates to turn down.

A couple of other things to note:

1) Very big drums don't necessarily make you louder. A given drummer can probably get more volume out of a 20" kick drum than a 24".

2) Depending on your technique, you might get more volume by using the butt end of your sticks on the drums. I used to do this when I first started playing, eventually I learned to hold my sticks so that the volume is the same either way round. It's all in the wrists.