live sound,does drummer set the volume?

[koolkid]

do you think in a live situation,especially in a small club, that the band should set their volume around the drummer or is it the drummers resposibility to "play softer" so to speak?

 

some drummers look at you like your crazy when you ask them to lighten up

[Steve LeBlanc]

Well...I think you have to meet somewhere in between...ALSO, the Bass player has to take a lot of responsibility for stage volume...if his volume is in the right place it makes it easier for everyone to hear what's going on.

[k1neta]

Unless you're dealing with a drummer in possession of adequate technical skills, never ask him to play softer. That is begging for trouble. The first thing, that usually happens is he'll get trouble with keeping the tempo.

 

And yep, as Steve pointed out, the rest of you will have to take responsibility for keeping it down as well. Also, keep in mind that it's possible to have good sound even if it gets loud. Even in small clubs.

 

Heh, what's the number #1 reason why drummers play loud? Guitar players

 

All jokes aside, if you're still too loud, chances are:

- you play in the wrong places for your music

- you play the wrong music for those places (as an example, rock music is supposed to be loud. If the club owner can't handle that, find another gig where you can play your music how it's supposed to be played.)

- perhaps you need to work on your arrangement skills.

 

Don't know if any of this helps, but hey I tried

[koolkid]

k1neta ,i think you answered my question,what your saying is that asking a drummer to play softer could lead to other technical problems so in that respect we should set our volume level around the drummer,every other part of a rock bands is amplified (guitars,bas,vox)and these

can obviously be adjusted with the turn of a knob, a drummer is really the only acoustic instrument in a rock band