stick-struck drums

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boogievan
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Location: Dutchess County, NY

stick-struck drums

Post: # 24881Unread post boogievan
Sun Apr 21, 2013 10:03 am

Just took look at the SPLs of a stick-struck snare drum versus hit with brush. Man, it's a full pegger at ear-distance with all but the most flaccid of velocities. I've looked online and seen consensus that no drummer should play using sticks unless wearing musician's ear plugs or closed-back headphones. This means that that instrument (drums) when played with sticks (Rock, Classical, Funk, etc...) has screw-ball signaling theory going for it. The player has to attenuate his hearing in order for his performance not to destroy part of his hearing and/or result after years of doing so with at least tinnitus. Even Lars Ulrich is said to suffer from tinnitus that is blamed on his band's loud version of playing.

...so, I've come to the sad conclusion that while I love audio and music recording, I don't think I can with good conscience do any more work on music that involves stick-struck drums. If the drummer wasn't taking precautions to protect his ears, then he is playing too loud (that way). On the other hand, if he is taking the necessary auditory precautions, how can the subtlety of his performance not be bogus? He wants us to hear his poundings, but he played them while trying not to hear all that he was doing?!? That's crazy. We should ban drumsticks that aren't terminated with soft felt.

Stick-struck drums are for a militia so that the enemy will be made afraid of the kooks who can stand to make that much ratchet, I mean, racket! I'm not against jazz druming with brushes, or the use of timpani mallets for cymbal flourishes. Hand drums? Cool. Close micing? Never!

Thoughts?

-boogie

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Dub Bull
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Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:53 pm

Re: stick-struck drums

Post: # 24882Unread post Dub Bull
Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:35 pm

Hey, Tim E., boogieman, that idea is basically two-fold. Yes, it's true that the stick-struck drum is a sonic weapon by comparison to most instruments*

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2043552

, but, No, it doesn't matter to most people and the idea of stopping doing something now which is so ingrained as fun and without immediately perceivable consequences is like how hard twas to stop a nation smoking cigarettes or how we finally got everyone to surrender his weapon. (L:

You do what you want - or at least don't do what you don't want. That's shall be the rule. hehehe

Pax vobis,
Fa†her Jose

* and check out the trumpet SPLs - right up there with the loudest measurements of the stick-struck snare

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jesusfwrl
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Re: stick-struck drums

Post: # 26041Unread post jesusfwrl
Sun Jun 16, 2013 4:20 am

Let's ban trumpets too!! Nah, just kidding..

I'm a drummer and I play with sticks. I always use industrial-grade hearing protection, the same that I use when I shoot my guns (which I haven't surrendered yet and I'm not likely to). I also use the same hearing protection when I hammer nails, when I use an electric drill, when I cut the grass, even when I use a vacuum cleaner. Hearing protection is deeply ingrained into my life, as I value my hearing and try to keep it sensitive enough for my mastering work.

When you actually play drums, it's not so much about the hearing as much as it is about the feeling. I play particularly loud, and each time I hit the kick drum, my stomach pulses along with it. I can feel the pressure of each snare hit on my eyes! The cymbals throw waves of air towards me. Within a few seconds of playing a beat, my heartbeat locks to it. Even if I couldn't hear anything at all, I could probably still play just as well.

It is unfortunate that I am unable to hear my drumming in real time at its full potential, but this is why I love studio engineering. I can enjoy the sound later, without sweating my behind off.

Generally, if you're performing live regularly, with any electrically amplified instrument or PA system, you eventually learn that it is not about you. Your part is to give your best performance like you have practised. Each venue has different acoustics, each country has a different "sound" culture, and generally the audience likes it loud. Even when I did solo guitar performances, I found that although at home I can play at reasonable levels, when in concert, the audience and venue staff expect everything to be working at ear-destroying levels. Eventually I stopped arguing about this. I automatically put on my hearing protection upon entering a venue, and remove it when I leave again. I set up my stuff on stage and play at whatever backline settings I feel good with. If the sound engineer wants to make sure we reach alien civilizations by pure sound pressure levels, or if they're set to knock earth out of orbit, it's not something I'm bothered about anymore. I do my part, they do their part. The audience loves it, I have to use hearing protection. Different worlds really. But I do respect my audience's wishes. I just make it clear that I'm only responsible for my backline and performance. The PA sound and levels are not my responsibility. But then, I don't get paid enough to carry my own PA and live engineers with me, so there's not much I can do about it.

Also, in a studio setting, there's a huge difference in sound between loud and soft sound sources as seen from the microphone perspective. A soft hitting drummer sounds entirely different to a hard hitting drummer, even when they both play with sticks. As a studio engineer, I never tell a drummer how to play. I just listen to what they do, and set up the session accordingly. Same with all instruments. If a guitarist feels most comfortable cranking that amp as loud as it will go, I'm fine with it. I adjust my setup accordingly, to capture the sound they want, as accurately as possible. I just use hearing protection while in the live room.

It's up to you what you do with your ears, just as it is up to everyone else what they do with theirs.
~~~ Precision Mechanical Engineering, Analog Disk Mastering ~~~
Agnew Analog Reference Instruments: http://www.agnewanalog.com

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THD
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Re: stick-struck drums

Post: # 26045Unread post THD
Sun Jun 16, 2013 12:23 pm

I'm a drummer too, started to play when I was 10 years old and have been playing for almost 40 years now. I have been and are playing different styles of music, I can play soft drums ( sometimes with brushes ), but mostly I play very loud and with drumsticks. Some of the bands I've played in plays really fast music ( and loud too ), to do that I only press the drumstick down, the stick hits the drum skin then it bounces back by it self, this you can't do with brushes. look at this video 4 min 24 sec into it and you get the idea whats going on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojiPW0FAiik

I also use ear protection, always got it in my pocket in case I end up on concert somewhere. And like Jesus says, to play drums is very much a feeling, I'm always only listening to the other musicians what they are playing while I'm playing drums and don't even think about what my hands and feet are doing, sometimes it goes so fast that the head got no chance keeping up with that pace anyway.

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Dub Bull
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Re: stick-struck drums

Post: # 26454Unread post Dub Bull
Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:37 pm

Well, I did a test. I played drums with brushes and my dog walked in the drum room and sat down to listen. When I switched to sticks, even played gently, he immediately left the room. As Bram Stoker's Dracula said, there's much to be learned from beasts. It was clearly the SPLs which informed my own Nipper that stick-struck drums are unsuitable for music appreciation. It's much better for marching bands, outside, where mob appeal and military tensions are desirable... Alas, it's the software in our human brains that turns off the pain too fast when we persist in hearing high SPLs which keeps us, too, from leaving the room. Only felt tipped mallets and brushes, here, from now on. ...or hand drums...

And imagine how the cutting head will appreciate the elimination of those loud treble peaks. (L;


- Jose Fontana, Valparaiso Dubplate

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