Dynamics

recognizing you have a problem is the first step to a solution!

you're just going to have to be thinking about dynamics at band practice from now on. it's something you have to be aware of all the time. you might also want to spend some time on your own practicing at all volume levels just to make sure you can do it.

once you get dynamics working, you'll be a lot happier. the music will sound so much more emotional and interesting. you won't regret it!
 
Okay, this is something that I've been having trouble with for a while. How do I improve dynamics in my playing? The problem's that with my band, as my guitar player says, I'm always way too loud, so that the hard parts really don't seem that hard and the soft parts don't really breathe. The musicality, in short, suffers. Please help me.

I posted a thread about this a while ago:

Tips for a quieter drum
 
it's good to practice playing very quietly because that's really difficult and some genres of music, like jazz, call for it. but if you're playing rock music, you probably won't have to play super quiet, just not at full blast during the less intense parts of the song. the main thing is that you're thinking about dynamics and applying them where they're needed in the songs. too many drummers just blast away as loud as they can for all parts of all songs. that's boring.
 
I believe that practicing a repetieve rhythm or exercise for an extended period of time say to your favorit song will open up new doors and help you play more Dynamicly. An exercise I use often goes like this:
Used with Ted Reeds Syncopation. Play the writen rhythm with the BD and fill in the "Spaces" with the HH as in Triplets.
This is a "Jazz" or "Swung" feel and everything is a triplet.
Page 38s first measure would be like: B,H,B,H,H,B,B,H,H,B,H,H, then 1 of the next measure. Now, play single (or double) triplets on the snare just back and forth R,l,r,L,r,l,R etc. Notice that the hands always land with the feet, but they switch up as you play the patterns between your feet. Maybe this will help?
 
Thank you. I also realised that I just can't play rudiments on snare, let's say, at really soft levels. Is practice the only solution, as always?

Therein lies your problem. You couldn't play a ratamacue the first time you sat down at a practice pad, either. It's a skill that has to be practiced.

Pretend there's an invisible ceiling 2" or 3" above your snare/pad while you're doing rudiments and don't allow the sticks to go higher than that. Work on fingers and the smaller muscles in your wrists and hands.
 
Okay, this is something that I've been having trouble with for a while. How do I improve dynamics in my playing? The problem's that with my band, as my guitar player says, I'm always way too loud, so that the hard parts really don't seem that hard and the soft parts don't really breathe. The musicality, in short, suffers. Please help me.

Stick height/stroke length is your volume knob: the higher you play from the drum, the more momentum the stick builds up before impact, which generates more sound.

So, to play quietly, you need to practice quietly, which means playing from very low heights with as little muscular force as possible. Here are some simple exercises that will help you get a better handle on your dynamic control.

1. Get a copy of Stick Control and play pg. 5 from between 3/8" and 1" from the drumhead. Use relaxed wrist strokes and apply as little force as possible to get each stroke. Start VERY slowly, i.e. eighth notes at 40 BPM.

2. Once you've got a handle on the above (give it a week or two of daily practice) Alternate playing the same exercises from 6" and 1" so that on each repeat you change the stick height. Ensure you play from only two different heights, watch your stick tips to see if you're being accurate. Moreover, listen carefully to the sound you're making and strive for control and evenness. ALL soft notes should sound the same and ALL loud notes exactly the same. Ensure that there is no "bleed" when you move from one stick height to the next as it is common to play the first stroke of the next repeat at the previous stick height. Use a metronome to keep your time steady, there is a common tendency to speed up as we play louder and slow down when we play quieter.

3. Take simple stickings like Single Stroke Rolls, Double Stroke Rolls and play them in ascending and descending stick height (i.e. crescendo and diminuendo). Take your time starting from ppp and going all the way to fff and down again. Try to make each stroke a little higher/lower than the last to ensure a smooth transition through the entire dynamic range. For instance, you can take 2 bars of 16th notes to get from softest to loudest and 2 more to return to softest once again. Again, start slow so you can focus on controlling your stick height. Above all, listen to the sound you're making - are your crescendos and diminuendos smooth like someone turning a volume knob?

4. Take everything you play with your band (even the loud parts) and practice playing it from lower stick heights, keeping the volume down. Focus on creating a good internal balance of instruments - i.e. keep the HHs and cymbals lower in volume and let the snare and bass drum speak a little more loudly. This will help make the snare and bass drum sound "bigger" in the overall mix - remember that dynamics are relative. A lot of players start by whacking the hats so hard that they need to darn near drive the stick through the head to get the snare to sound "big" and balance their hats. A simple solution (that'll save your hands and sticks, too) is to simply drop the volume of the hats so you don't have to work so hard to get the snare to stand out.

Put in some time on these and I guarantee you'll come out with improved dynamic control.
 
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Yeah, yeah, yeah, practice playing quieter...it's so obvious.

Something dairyairman said struck me, and I want to expand on it:

you're just going to have to be thinking about dynamics at band practice from now on. it's something you have to be aware of all the time. you might also want to spend some time on your own practicing at all volume levels just to make sure you can do it.

Here's a philosophy that I think of when I practice AND play live. One note is always leading to something else. Whether it be the funky timing of a ghosted snare hit "leading" to the next high hat hit, or something more general, like the overall volume and phrasing of a beat or fill. If you learn to think of playing a little less vertically (playing notes in time), and more horizontally (playing a sequence of notes in a melodious way, and how each note leads to the next and came from the one before), then you can work on feel AND dynamics at the same time.

Think of a solo pianist playing. Now, picture them playing in time and in the same way on a drum kit. Wow! music...
 
Yeah, yeah, yeah, practice playing quieter...it's so obvious.

Something dairyairman said struck me, and I want to expand on it:



Here's a philosophy that I think of when I practice AND play live. One note is always leading to something else. Whether it be the funky timing of a ghosted snare hit "leading" to the next high hat hit, or something more general, like the overall volume and phrasing of a beat or fill. If you learn to think of playing a little less vertically (playing notes in time), and more horizontally (playing a sequence of notes in a melodious way, and how each note leads to the next and came from the one before), then you can work on feel AND dynamics at the same time.

Think of a solo pianist playing. Now, picture them playing in time and in the same way on a drum kit. Wow! music...

Absolutely! This is exactly the sort of thing that drummers need to think about more and more and more. And more...
 
Try playing along to a track at a quieter level than you might normally so you will have to play more softly to hear the track

(sorry if this is a repeat, i haven't read through the whole thread)
 
Okay, this is something that I've been having trouble with for a while. How do I improve dynamics in my playing? The problem's that with my band, as my guitar player says, I'm always way too loud, so that the hard parts really don't seem that hard and the soft parts don't really breathe. The musicality, in short, suffers. Please help me.

One exercise i like to do is 8th notes where the first hit is the most quiet and each consecutive one gets louder. At the 8th hit it is the loudest. Then immediately followed by the same 8th notes yet go from loud to quiet.

RECORD IT and note how the volume varies in spacing and may be inconsistent from note to the following note to the following note (volume level spacing should be even, it rarely is and it is not you, i have the same problem).

In other words, you want maybe 2%, then 12.5%, 25%, 37.5% 50%, etc.

Consider it a new type of rudiment. Then play around with it like 2%, 50%, 12.5%.. whatever. Of course it is easy for me to say this, hard to do in actual practice, yet that is the point to practice it so that it becomes second nature to where you never need to think about it, it simply happens.
 
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All the previous posts are very informative from a technical standpoint. I'd like to share my experiences w/ dynamics in a real life gig situation.

First of all, if you are the only one playing dynamically (the other guys are at 10 the entire time) then it just won't sound as good as is possible. The whole band needs to be on the same page. Here's some general rules that have always served me well regarding dynamics.

When the vocalist is on mic, noticeably drop your volume, and don't take the focus away from him. Shift the focus TO him. Support him/her, don't hot dog when the singer is conveying the song, it's rude.

When a soloist takes a solo, in the beginning, drop down just as you would for a vocalist. This is not your time to show off, it's the soloists. One at a time. When the soloist turns up the intensity of the solo, you can match it, not overpower it, with your volume. All good solos should have a peak, near the end, after which either the vocalist takes over or perhaps another soloist, in which case your dynamics should drop back again to show respect, then be built back up again for a soloist and dropped down after their peak.

Endings are where you can cut loose, the rest of the song is supporting vocalists, soloists, making smooth transitions from verse to chorus, chorus to bridge, bridge to solo etc. and keeping steady meter at the perfect tempo for the song. Educate your bandmates. It is the most effective when the whole band "gets it" and puts it to use as a unit. It's one of the things that seperate musicians from seasoned musicians
 
u should tell ur band to turn their amps up lol

no seriously stick control is a great book and playing rudiments from quit to loud and back to quite without changing tempo and so forth ive also noticed that the more i feel the song the greater my dynamic range try to play emotionally for a while im not sure how to purposely do this i just close my eyes and think bout whats being played facial expressions help too

somtimes if i want the music to drive i imagine the notes on the front of the beat almost rushing it and picture a train rolling down the tracks cause nothing can stop that

sometime i go for the hihat sound from the solo in smells like teen spirit if u never paid attention to it its awesome how it kinda losly bounces around as if diconnected from the rest of the song

i beleive that dynamics and feeling go hand in hand
 
Okay, this is something that I've been having trouble with for a while. How do I improve dynamics in my playing? The problem's that with my band, as my guitar player says, I'm always way too loud, so that the hard parts really don't seem that hard and the soft parts don't really breathe. The musicality, in short, suffers. Please help me.

I've had this issue. The answer is to aim to play with minimum force - the least you can get away with and retain the vibe. That way you have room to go up a notch and bring on a high.

However, just because you reach a musical high doesn't mean you have to stay there. Once you're there, look for a chance to bring it down again (if there is one, of course). Also, a musical high doesn't always have to be a screaming climax, so to speak. You can have little highs. Maybe just a momentary spark is called for.

It's super-important to be as relaxed as you can be at all times. If you catch yourself tensing up, take a deep breath and let your shoulders go as you exhale.

Still, as Larry said, if the others aren't playing with dynamics there's not much you can do apart from either talking to them about it (which is a good idea, if done gently) or simply placing yourself lower in the overall mix and seeing if the others adjust. Larry's advice is spot on IMO
 
Great point Polly about not going too overboard w/ the volume on peaks. So to break it down regular playing (verses, non dramatic stuff) say like 40% volume, peaks maybe 60% volume, softer parts maybe 25% volume, more or less. I never hit 100% of what's there especially on the cymbals. And don't hit the last note of the song way harder than the rest of the song, even though it feels like you should. Gotta stay controlled and reserved w/ power to spare.
 
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