Author Topic: LIve sound  (Read 1546 times)

LIve sound
« on: February 20, 2017, 12:26:18 PM »
I have been using my DM 10 Pro X Mesh kit for playing with my hobby band and have noticed when we are all playing the sound of my kit seems diminished in volume.  Loud enough when I play on my own but not during songs.  I am patched to the PA mixer via the fixed output from the DM10 (mono only).  The PA (Yamaha MG12XU).  House speakers are 4 Yorkdale active 3 way pa speakers and a Beringer Eurolive active speaker as a personal monitor.  Any suggestions to improve the presence and clarity of my live sound coming from the house speakers and my monitor?  We don't use a sound man so its tough to tweak the sound when we are all playing.
DM10 Pro X Mesh kit, Behringer Eurolive 1220 monitor, Tama Speed Cobra pedal, ProX hi hat, Pearl Throne Thumper

Offline Iggford

Re: LIve sound
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2017, 04:14:47 PM »
I have been using my DM 10 Pro X Mesh kit for playing with my hobby band and have noticed when we are all playing the sound of my kit seems diminished in volume.  Loud enough when I play on my own but not during songs.  I am patched to the PA mixer via the fixed output from the DM10 (mono only).  The PA (Yamaha MG12XU).  House speakers are 4 Yorkdale active 3 way pa speakers and a Beringer Eurolive active speaker as a personal monitor.  Any suggestions to improve the presence and clarity of my live sound coming from the house speakers and my monitor?  We don't use a sound man so its tough to tweak the sound when we are all playing.

I am in the process of trying to get the same things figured out.  Our whole band connects into a Behringer XR18 mixer, then out to a dual-Bose L1 PA system.  It sounds great when we are practicing and when we do get the mix just right playing out, but it takes some time to get everything set up just right.  My DM10 Studio Kit is a great joy to play, but on our gig recordings, the kit tends to sound a bit washed out, and the snare will often get lost in the mix.  We've had a couple people comment that the drums never seem loud enough when we play out.

I've been tinkering around with levels and things, and I'm going to try a few ideas when we get back together later this week.  My kit is at our practice space, as we've been recording an album and I don't want to compromise my setup until we're done.

I think my experiment is going to involve bringing each pad level down a bit, so I can bring up individual pads to "pop" a bit more in the mix, then boost the overall volume of the kit through both the module and the mixer.

I'll report back on my results by the weekend, and hopefully there will be something in there that will help you!


--Shawn.

Offline rhysT

Re: LIve sound
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2017, 09:19:14 PM »
There are a few things you could try to get a better DM10 output mix via a PA system.
If you're using one of the module's mono outputs, just be aware that each kit instrument usually has different L/R pan settings which may not sound balanced on say the left output compared to using headphones.

It could be worth trying various COMP effects types to possibly boost the overall kit level (O/M p-15).
Also maybe try different trigger velocity curve settings like Spline 1/2/3 for suitable instrument dynamic range/s.

Have fun tweaking guys! 
« Last Edit: February 21, 2017, 09:04:31 AM by rhysT »

Online AlanK

Re: LIve sound
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2017, 11:07:20 AM »
I have two ekits that I've used to jam with my buddies and when they get going, confidence level is up and those guitarists start to show off, they always start jacking up their volumes and my drums start fading.. and it's not like you can smash harder to try to match their volumes.

I've given them all shit and asked them to cut back and take it down a notch. But then I bought a small mixer and just crank my output up to match theirs. But I've also got a powerful speaker behind me as well as going into their PA. This is always in a tight basement room btw, never tried in open stage or live setting.
DM10X with Addictive Drums 2, Pro X hi-hat, 4 crashes, foam cone conversion w Roland mesh heads, Laurin Drums snare and kick, Mapex P710W double kick pedal, Mapex 2 legged hi-hat, Behringer 8 channel USB mixer, Tascam 144MK AI, Samson Expedition Escape powered speakers

Offline Iggford

Re: LIve sound
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2017, 12:03:44 PM »
There are a few things you could try to get a better DM10 output mix via a PA system.
If you're using one of the module's mono outputs, just be aware that each kit instrument usually has different L/R pan settings which may not sound balanced on say the left output compared to using headphones.

It could be worth trying various COMP effects types to possibly boost the overall kit level (O/M p-15).
Also maybe try different trigger velocity curve settings like Spline 1/2/3 for suitable instrument dynamic range/s.

Have fun tweaking guys!


I use a stereo input and usually have most of my sounds set to center, so the pan settings aren't affecting my setup very much.  I did notice differences when playing around with the COMP effects, but didn't get a lot of time to explore it.  That's one of my goals at this week's practice.  The rest of the group are finishing some vocal tracks for the album, so I'll get some time to tweak levels on my own, and hopefully I'll get it dialed in the way I want.


I have two ekits that I've used to jam with my buddies and when they get going, confidence level is up and those guitarists start to show off, they always start jacking up their volumes and my drums start fading.. and it's not like you can smash harder to try to match their volumes.

I've given them all shit and asked them to cut back and take it down a notch. But then I bought a small mixer and just crank my output up to match theirs. But I've also got a powerful speaker behind me as well as going into their PA. This is always in a tight basement room btw, never tried in open stage or live setting.


Our keyboard player is bad for cranking himself up quite a bit, which causes everyone else to bump their volume up.  I know exactly what you mean, though, it's not like playing harder does any good.  I'm trying to find that perfect balance that still gives me enough head room so that I can match the rest of the group.  We did give the keyboard player an additional monitor so he can hear himself a bit better, so that has helped a little!


--Shawn.

Offline JimmyB

Re: LIve sound
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2017, 04:20:37 PM »
Hire a soundman....
JimmyB

Re: LIve sound
« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2017, 10:02:54 AM »
You know - you're probably right.  A trained sound man could come out and tweak everything just right so we'd never have to fuss with it again as long as we locked in the setup.
DM10 Pro X Mesh kit, Behringer Eurolive 1220 monitor, Tama Speed Cobra pedal, ProX hi hat, Pearl Throne Thumper