01.19.07 The Problem With Modern Drummers and the Modern Public Address System Howdy Cats and Kittens,    This week's little rant is about how the modern PA system (public address system) has changed the way drummers play.    Back in Louis Belson's day, drummers had to have sonic responsibility. In other words, they had to control how much volume they were putting out at all times. PA systems weren't nearly as powerful as they are today. Back then, drummers were often fired for playing too loudly. With one weak microphone, the singers still had to be heard. So, if the drummer played over the singer or soloing instruments, they could really make the band leader mad. But, bandleaders didn't fret too much about the issue. They just fired the guy and gave the charts (back then, most bands had charts) to the new drummer who would be worked into the band the day after the previous drummer was axed. Tough luck, huh! So, putting mics on drums was out of the question. Public address systems were invented for the voice, not the drums - drums were loud enough already!    Now, fortunately (or un-fortunately in my humble opinion), we have huge PA systems that have so much power, there's not only ample power for the singer's microphone, but, they even put microphones on the drums! So nowadays, drummers don't really "mix" themselves - the sound man does. Each drum and cymbal has it's own microphone. The sound man turns up the kick drum microphone really loud. The kick drum is the lowest volume of all of the drum set. The sound man turns up the tom-toms. Tom-toms are not as loud as the snare drum which is the loudest of the drums. Anyway, the sound man gets the drums and cymbals balanced, so that, when the drummer hits the kick at full-tilt, it is roughly the same volume (loudness) as the snare and all of the other drums.    Then, the sound man, "mixes" in the rest of the band until he thinks that there's a good balance (usually the drums are still the loudest in my humble opinion). Anyway, with this being the situation, the drummer can hit the snare drum really loudly on every back-beat without the worry of some old-timey band-leader firing him.    Here's one problem. After decades of the mega-PA, drummers have lost all sonic responsibility. Louis Belson, as well as all of the great drummers from the swing and early rock and roll era had great sonic responsibility. They couldn't just whack the snare drum as loud as they wanted on every back-beat because you wouldn't hear the down-beat on the kick drum (the kick drum being naturally lower in volume than the snare). They couldn't just smash all of the cymbals all at once because it would drown out all of their own drums (except for maybe a loud snare drum). They couldn't just bash and smash all or the time because you wouldn't hear the singers and soloists. Now, just about all drummers, save a very few, smash and bash the drums all they want because they know that the sound man will balance their drum set as well as the whole band. This, however, leads to some other problems as well.    Another problem is that on stage, behind the PA, drummers over-take the band. Whenever I set up a recorder with microphones aimed at the stage only, it's all drums. They're about twice as loud as even those loud-ass guitar amps! When drummers hear the recording, they all say, "Recordings just make the drums sound louder than they really are." Wrong again, little drummer boy.    The main problem, in my opinion, is not just the volume issue. It's the artistic issue. It's something called dynamics. Louis Belson, Gene Krupa and the great swing drummers (some rock and country guys too), really milked their snare drum for all it was worth. When the singer was singing, or when the trombone solo was going, they would sometimes barely touch the snare drum on each back-beat. Guess what, without microphones on each drum, they had to artfully mix themselves. You could hear the down-beat of the kick drum. You could hear the shimmer of the ride-cymbal. The snare drum might have several different volumes in the same measure. Same with the kick. There was room to breathe. Then, when they really wanted to add some zip, "Whap!" Babies cried, women were startled, and grown men blinked when Louis Belson hit a dramatically loud snare drum note. Then, suddenly, he's back swinging - using all of the sounds and volumes of the snare as well as all of the drums and cymbals.    By the way, when, all of the sudden, Louis, or any of those guys, hits a loud kick-drum note, it's called "dropping a bomb."    Anyhow, here's what's happening today. Now, it's all boom, whap, boom, whap, boom, whap. As loud as they can play it. Every drummer. All of the time. And, the crowd gets used to the boom-whap that the sound man has so graciously "mixed" louder than even the singer. The boom-whap is so loud, and so "all of the time" that the crowd is now de-sensitized to the loudness of the drums. Babies don't cry, women aren't startled and grown-men don't have to feel the embarrassment of blinking and wincing. The drummer is dropping bombs on every single down-beat. The drummer is using all of his volume on every back-beat. If he wants to play a loud accent on the kick or snare, he can't - there's no where else to go but lower.    This is not just a drummer problem. Sound men of today almost always demand that every snare hit on every back-beat is the same volume. They even have limiters and compressors to help them do the job. This way, sound men don't lose a single note of their precious "drum sound". Even if you can't understand the lyrics and the chainsaw guitars are reduced to background humming.    You could say, "It's just a different style of drumming."    I would say, "It's not as good a style of drumming as Louis Belson." Not as artful, not as musical and kind of dumb.    lease...sound men of today. Let's lose some of the drums so we can hear the singers and other instruments (besides the bass - you guys are turning that up too much as well).    We all know where the back beat is. You drummers don't have to hit them so loudly. Save that loud WHAP!! for the one note that needs to make the babies cry and sound men blink. Thanks, Jim "Reverend Horton " Heath