Soundguys ever complain about your unported kick?

PorkPieGuy said:
Those of you who gig with an unported kick, ever had any techs complain about it? How did you resolve it?
Click to expand...
I have, yes. At first, we just dealt with it.
"Can we cut a hole in your reso head?"
"No."
"Gonna sound bad."
"Okay."

Then I got a Kelly Shu and installed an XLR jack in the shell.

"Can we cut a hole in your reso head?"
"No. But there's a D6 mounted inside, and you can just plug the cable in here."
"Sweet!!"

That mount has been a game changer. Funny enough, the biggest advantage hasn't been the big clubs with sound techs, but the tiny bars where the kick mic was always getting knocked over.
 
My first 2 kits had unported reso’s; I switched to ported for gigging cos’ the sound man at my first rock gig hung SM58’s off the bass drum lugs on my kicks that smashed against the unported reso’s when I hit the batters, causing a proper racket out front! 🤯 :ROFLMAO: I soon ported my heads and tbh I liked the sound; I’ve played ported ever since... and that’s why!:ROFLMAO:(y)
 
Never had them complain about that. I found that you do need to tell the sound guy if you will be playing the bass drum dynamically. I played an outdoor corporate gig with a jazz big band. It was in Vegas, so it was all backend equipment supplied by the sound company. I guess we didn’t soundcheck long due to scheduling (and the crowd already arriving) so we probably played a few bars and got offstage. The first tune was mainly feathered bass drum, with the exception of a few ensemble hits. There were these techno-like (extremely loud) sounds coming out of the system. We assumed that the bass trombone player’s mic was acting up.

We then played a Latin tune with a songo-like pattern. It was then that I realized the sound guy assumed that my feathering was my standard volume. Every time I played a normal stroke, it distorted the entire system.

I had another similar situation playing a casino with an act I never worked with before. Sinatra tunes - lots of feathered bass drum. The sound guys raised the feathering up to a rock bass drum volume. At the soundcheck/rehearsal the singer stopped and said, “Drummer, this is jazz - not rock.” I did not want to sound like I was blaming the sound guy, so I just tapped the bass drum with my fingers. The sound echoed through the house. The singer then turned his attention to the sound guy.

So when it comes to the bass drum, always be sure to tell the sound guy if you will be playing a wide dynamic range.

Jeff
 
I played my college age club gigs with a ported head on a set of Exports because it was there, not by actual choice.....that kick was made of compressed sawdust or something along those lines and sounded about like you would expect. Mic location didn't really matter much lol

Most of my more professional gigs and all the wedding gigs were done without a port and since we were our own sound people no one complained and we always had good sound from my 22x18".

Now with the Hendrix kit, I am ported for recording and I like it......Beta 52 inside and we're good.

Sound guys never really made a fuss the handful of times I played my un-ported head with hired sound guys. However there was one notable somewhat heated exchange.

Guy asked about cutting a hole and I just looked at him and from my look I think he realized that wasn't happening. Guitar/band leader comes over to me 20mins later and is like "the sound guy is pissed off that you won't cut your head and I get a feeling he might do something stupid with our sound."

I walked over to him and as calmly as I could speak I said something along the lines of "I know you know how to get good sounds, that's why we hired you, and I know you can do it with a solid head on my kick. That being said, if I get the feedback that it sounds bad, I have a whole bag of sticks, I pitched in college, those sticks will be coming in hot to your location." He smiled, we laughed and the gig went off fine and we complimented each other afterwards.

Ports make things easier......no ports certainly do not make things impossible however.
 
Stroman said:
I have, yes. At first, we just dealt with it.
"Can we cut a hole in your reso head?"
"No."
"Gonna sound bad."
"Okay."

Then I got a Kelly Shu and installed an XLR jack in the shell.

"Can we cut a hole in your reso head?"
"No. But there's a D6 mounted inside, and you can just plug the cable in here."
"Sweet!!"

That mount has been a game changer. Funny enough, the biggest advantage hasn't been the big clubs with sound techs, but the tiny bars where the kick mic was always getting knocked over.
Click to expand...
Right?! Beware of the girls dancing so close to your kick in clubs without stages!
 
River19 said:
I played my college age club gigs with a ported head on a set of Exports because it was there, not by actual choice.....that kick was made of compressed sawdust or something along those lines and sounded about like you would expect. Mic location didn't really matter much lol

Most of my more professional gigs and all the wedding gigs were done without a port and since we were our own sound people no one complained and we always had good sound from my 22x18".

Now with the Hendrix kit, I am ported for recording and I like it......Beta 52 inside and we're good.

Sound guys never really made a fuss the handful of times I played my un-ported head with hired sound guys. However there was one notable somewhat heated exchange.

Guy asked about cutting a hole and I just looked at him and from my look I think he realized that wasn't happening. Guitar/band leader comes over to me 20mins later and is like "the sound guy is pissed off that you won't cut your head and I get a feeling he might do something stupid with our sound."

I walked over to him and as calmly as I could speak I said something along the lines of "I know you know how to get good sounds, that's why we hired you, and I know you can do it with a solid head on my kick. That being said, if I get the feedback that it sounds bad, I have a whole bag of sticks, I pitched in college, those sticks will be coming in hot to your location." He smiled, we laughed and the gig went off fine and we complimented each other afterwards.

Ports make things easier......no ports certainly do not make things impossible however.
Click to expand...
Thing is, a lot of soundguys put the mike too close on an un-ported kick. Putting it too close to the reso head causes the diaphragm to bottom out just as if you put the mike too close to the batter head.
 
Sausagetoad said:
Thing is, a lot of soundguys put the mike too close on an un-ported kick. Putting it too close to the reso head causes the diaphragm to bottom out just as if you put the mike too close to the batter head.
Click to expand...

Agree. Again, it comes down to a sound guy knowing how to "do things". In college we didn't have a the first friggin' clue what we were doing and saw plenty of sound guys mic an unported kick, slap a gate on it and be done with it.
 
Sausagetoad said:
Right?! Beware of the girls dancing so close to your kick in clubs without stages!
Click to expand...
I tried putting up a "fence" made of those LED light strings between the main speakers and across the front. Subwoofer height. "Do not cross." But they get drunk and do. Makes me nervous. Guitar players too. People stepping on their pedals and bumping their vocal mikes into their faces/teeth. It gets ugly, man! :ROFLMAO:
 
mikyok said:
Never had a problem, all you need to do is back the mic off a little bit.

Novice sound guys get nervous when bass drums aren't 70s dead and they're this thing called tuned.
Click to expand...

While I do the best I can to treat everyone with respect, I just assume that the sound guy is about 2 steps right above "completely useless." My kicks are usually a little more dead than I like, but they mic up incredibly well. A good sound tech is worth his/her weight in gold in my eyes.
 
I did have a studio engineer give me some looks when I showed up with a solid reso. He knew what to do & all was great for that session.
Live? No.
Most Front of House guys seem to be flying by the seat of their pants when it comes to getting mic placement & the mix right. So I have a ported kick so life is easy for both of us.
 
Stroman said:
I have, yes. At first, we just dealt with it.
"Can we cut a hole in your reso head?"
"No."
"Gonna sound bad."
"Okay."

Then I got a Kelly Shu and installed an XLR jack in the shell.

"Can we cut a hole in your reso head?"
"No. But there's a D6 mounted inside, and you can just plug the cable in here."
"Sweet!!"

That mount has been a game changer. Funny enough, the biggest advantage hasn't been the big clubs with sound techs, but the tiny bars where the kick mic was always getting knocked over.
Click to expand...

for me, it was:
SG: "uhhhhhh.....how do I...uhhh...mic the kick drum?"
me: "here. give me the mic" ...I proceed to put it on the batter head, about 3inches away from where the beater hits the head, and at an angle so that the diaphragm can pick up the attack
SG: "hmmm...that sounds great!!!"

is it really that much of a challenge?

I eventually bought a D112 and my own stand, and now at gigs, I just ask for the cable to plug into the mic. It has never been a problem
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
I eventually bought a D112 and my own stand, and now at gigs, I just ask for the cable to plug into the mic. It has never been a problem
Click to expand...
This is a solid idea, especially with the relative low cost for a solid kick mic and stand so you have repeatability in your sound.
 
I've heard it from my band leader/guitarist, who is also a sound technician, and from our college degree'd sound guy. Both would prefer to have the hole. And both will also admit that it still sounds damned good without the hole, after they've eq'd it and such.

We also get compliments on it from other musicians attending our shows. All credit to those two for working out the right mixing board magic.

I haven't had to worry about that conversation in a long time now. ;)
 
River19 said:
This is a solid idea, especially with the relative low cost for a solid kick mic and stand so you have repeatability in your sound.
Click to expand...
yep...it was one of those things where I wanted to "take the middle man out" of the situation. I love and respect all of the sound people I work with, but thinking outside the box is sometimes something that doesn't happen. I find that I get just the right amount of attack and reso in this situation. And more often than not, the soundguy is thankful to have to manage one less thing in a set up

also, sometimes, the sound guy will work with me and still put a mic on the reso head to get some more body into the mix.
 
A competent sound engineer (Studio or live) will not say anything about it to you because they know that it is your gear and it is probably like that for a reason. They also know how to properly mic a bass drum in either fashion. A self conscious sound engineer will not let you hear the end of it because it is out of their comfort zone and they have yet to realize that they are not the one to make that decision. All they need to do is figure out how to reinforce the sound that the drummer wants.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top