Monthly Archive for October, 2011

Treat Your Drum Throne Like Royalty

Published
by
Dennis
on October 25, 2011
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

Beyond learning proper stick control and independence, selecting the most effective drum throne is the single most important purchase drummers will ever make. At Gibraltar Hardware, we have developed more than 18 different styles of drum thrones to satisfy virtually every desire imaginable, including a cool new release, titled the 9608 2T drum throne.

Why is selecting the best seat for your drum kit so important? Buying the wrong drum chair can mean the difference between learning to play kick drum patterns absolutely the wrong way, or perhaps even developing poor posture that will weaken your ability and endurance to play consistently over time. The doom and gloom gear-gone-wrong list goes on and on, but it is imperative that you select a drum throne that is the most comfortable and serviceable – not the cheapest purchase at the time.

Gibraltar Hardware offers four different drum seat lines, including traditional round, saddle, dome, and motorcycle styles. Why we have 18 different drum chair products within these four categories is to give drummers the most options regarding their particular weight, size of buttocks, positioning needs, ease in transport and color/pattern aesthetics. We even carry a hybrid style to help double bass drum players maximize their power and maneuverability between feet with our new 9608NRG throne seat. Not to mention, we have also partnered with ROCK-N-SOC USA to offer several products from their beautiful line of seats and backrest attachments to enable you to further customize your drum throne. We also make available our own throne separates offering not only backrests and seat replacements, but also two different throne bases.

NEW DRUM THRONE RELEASED

Our newest release drum chair model, the 9608 2T drum throne, comes in a few cool color combos you should definitely check out depicted here in this short video.

The large X bracket underneath offers strong support along with the contoured back panel that allows for great lumbar support. It also features the spin height adjustment to get the height you need and the Gibraltar Super Foot. This seat measures a whopping 16-inches wide by 13-inches deep, which is just enough size to give ultimate comfort to the player while being compact to carry. Gibraltar utilizes two styles of materials; a durable textured seat cushion material mixed with black vinyl side panel covering, with a stitched Gibraltar color logo and red stitching highlights. The seat is built with premium foam padding contoured for added lumbar support and comfort.
And in a way, this particular chair represents the many great qualities about the design and versatility of all Gibraltar Hardware drum thrones. Features that we carry which you should definitely look for when buying a drum throne, include:
• Rock solid single and double braced and hydraulic leg bases
• Super-lock cast seat fastening system
• Super foot solid foundation rubber feet
• Memory lock height adjustment
Whether you prefer a larger size seat like our motorcycle style or a more simple round variation, the most important aspect of a drum throne beyond gauging its foam comfort thickness, locking mechanisms and overall stability is whether the height adjustment is tall enough to match your particular playing style.
Rest assured, Gibraltar Hardware treats you like royalty when it comes to drum thrones.

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How Drummers and Bands Can Manage Stage Volume

Published
by
Dennis
on October 17, 2011
in Accessories, Custom Hardware Setups and DIY
. 0 Comments

The challenge with drummers and bands managing stage volume at live shows all begins during practice with the fine art of setting proper levels, using your PA system as it was designed, living by decibel metering, and understanding song dynamics. But in the end, good, consistent sound levels all start and end with the drummer.

LEARN STICK CONTROL

If you as a drummer play your skins too loudly or softly, there are some practice techniques you can use to begin mastering stick control. First, the legendary instructional book “Stick Control” by George Lawrence Stone is a must-have for any serious drummer. I still practice from that book 30 years after hitting my first head. If teaching books don’t float your snare wires, try learning – or re-learning – traditional rudiments and paradiddles from a plethora of online resources until you can consistently accent each stick strike with both your left and right hands and feet fluently. Once mastered, you will be able to easily control your sound levels and become a much better drummer in the process.

RUN DIRECT INTO YOUR PA

If your guitarist and bassist are still cranking the volume, stick control mastery is a mute point. If you don’t have a sound guy hired to keep levels consistent without blowing eardrums, there are some techniques you can employ to get a good EQ. If your PA system allows, try miking all guitar and bass amps and running those signals through a pre-amp direct into your board. You will still use your on-stage amps at lower levels, but they will serve more as monitors than the only amplification devices for your stringed instruments. At larger venue gigs, the same theory really applies to miking at least your kick and snare drum – and one or two ambient overhead mics – if you are lucky. I know many bands that run everything through the PA – even at rehearsals – and “hide” their own amps on stage by pointing them inward or at different angles toward the band to reduce overall stage volume.
The PA system is your friend if you use it correctly and purchase one with at least 8 channels and proper wattage for your musical needs. If your guitar amp isn’t able to run directly into the PA, I have been in bands where the guitarist will use a smaller wattage amp, mic it through the PA and then run it at lower volume.
It all starts and ends with the amp’s volume knobs, however. More often than not, there is not enough PA gear to go around at gigs, so it usually results in a mix of amps running direct in and ones that are self amplified. My advice: Guitarists and bassists who play the loudest should run direct in and use on-stage monitors to control sound output.
Another option is to both mic and line out your amp into the PA. Beware of running too many things into on stage floor monitors, however, as they tend to muddy up the entire sound and confuse the overall leveling process. Another option is to try using in-ear monitors or headphones to beat the floor monitor balancing challenges. Bass carries more than any other instrument in a band so if you continue to have issues with volume, try EQing the bass amp so it is more mid-range highlighting attack and punch than its low end.

VOCALISTS SHOULD EAT THE MIC

Vocal levels also play a crucial role in your band’s overall sound integration. Whether your singer screams or whispers, vocals should have the low end rolled off quite a bit on the board. And technique plays a vital role, too. Vocalists should almost be eating the microphone while singing, thus reducing how much gain you apply to that channel and prevent leakage from other instruments to reduce feedback problems.

GET SOFTER

The other tip bands regularly employ is just to not play so darn loud all the time. Dynamics are a fundamental ingredient of overall musicality and composition. You should talk regularly about dynamics as they apply to each song. Levels should rise and fall several times in any given tune to express and accentuate the different parts. If you find your ears ringing at the end of rehearsals or gigs, your band played too loudly all night.
Drum and guitar Plexiglas shields, which Gibraltar Hardware just released new products for, are also another good tool to use live to control on stage volume and capture the true essence of your drum shell and guitar amp sounds.
If all else fails, buy a decibel meter if your stage – and practice – volume continues to be an issue, and live by your desired settings – preferably 10db lower than your current maximum levels. Mount the meter so all bandmates can see it while playing.
Ultimately, if you as a drummer can’t hear the vocals or other instruments clearly, YOU are the one playing too loudly.

- Tim Kane is an independent drummer, instructor and writer living in Massachusetts. He writes a regular blog for Gibraltar Hardware.

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New Drum and Amplifier Sound Shields From Gibraltar

Published
by
Dennis
on October 5, 2011
in Accessories, Custom Hardware Setups and DIY
. 2 Comments

There is nothing more frustrating for your fans – and potential new ones – than hearing out of control stage volume emanating from drummers and guitarists that totally screws up a mix, and vice versa with musicians on stage unable to hear each other. And what about your neighbors who don’t want to hear your band blaring until 10 p.m. at night? These are a few of the reasons why Gibraltar Hardware has created all new Drum and Amplifier Sound Shields.
Gibraltar Hardware knows full well that sound attenuation is deserving of as much consideration and respect as your string and stick selections. More and more guitarists are using sound shields – even Joe Walsh – to control volume, limit feedback, and increase micing quality to accentuate the natural sound of their amplifiers. Drummers have been driving sound shield innovation for many years.
With four panels, the 24-inch (#GAS-2X4) or 36-inch (#GAS-3X3) high by 6-foot-wide amp shields situated in front of guitar amps are hardly noticeable from the crowd. For drummers, the five 5-1/2-foot by 2-foot panels (#GDS-5) require no assembly and fit together with flexible hinges that run the length of the connection, making sound dampening, setup and tear down a breeze. Gibraltar Drum and Guitar shields also have two end panels that feature mouse holes at their bases, so it’s easy to run cables for mikes or e-drums through the shield.
These shields are rising in popularity not only at gigs where sound quality definitely needs to be controlled – like in many boomy church settings – but a growing number of clubs are demanding more control beyond the sound engineer’s capabilities as well – not to mention sound studios that don’t have the luxury of a separately enclosed drum kit space for recording. The beauty playing drums live with our drum shield is you can flip it around behind your kit to project your sound more, especially at outdoor venues where you might not be totally miced, or feedback problems are ever present.
Mic and feedback isolation are the key points of using the shields. It’s difficult to stop the drums from projecting out into the front vocal mics or feeding back from their own mics, unless you own top notch golden sound gear that can isolate all the instruments and uses proper limiting/gates to get desired results. The Gibraltar Drum and Guitar shields take the physical and monetary expense of that sound gear investment out of the equation and deliver both a better on-stage volume and fan listening experience.

2 Comments