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[Whit Hutchinson]

I was just wondering what you guys think the average SPL of a drum kit is in a corner of a small club for a rock band.   Whenever I get close to the stage checking on the monitors sometimes it sounds dangerously loud for the guys on stage.  None of my guys wear hearing protection except for me.  Most of the time I am off to the side of the band doing FOH and the drums just seem to be over the top.

P.S.

Our drummer is incapable of "turning down".

[Evan Kirkendall]

The snare on my old drumset could max out my ratshack dB meter, and that was 126dbA. Never metered just normal playing though.

Ill have to take a meter up on stage this weekend and see how loud some of the drummers are.



Evan

[Phil LaDue]

I would not doubt that an enthusiastic drummer could do 130 easy!

[Tom Reid]

Slight topic drift.
It's been my experience that a well tuned kit isn't as loud as a poorly maintained rig.

I don't know if that's a reflection on the guy behind the kit, or badly sympathetic heads.

[Adam Whetham]

Tom Reid wrote on Sun, 11 March 2007 22:50

Slight topic drift. It's been my experience that a well tuned kit isn't as loud as a poorly maintained rig. I don't know if that's a reflection on the guy behind the kit, or badly sympathetic heads.

I agree. I also believe a few other things about this subject, that  was taught to me by a very good band instructor of mine.

a drummer is a drummer, they usualy have one volume, and can read rhythm.

a Percussionist is a musician, they realize that music has a volume that is lower than Forte, and can read notes along with the rhythm.

See if you can get your Drummer to be a Percussionist.... Anybody can play loud. When you can play good at a soft volume, thats when you know you've got something. (I don't ever believe the "Can't play softer" line... I play a drum set and I can. Their is a life below 2B's)

Adam "A percussionist, not a drummer" Whetham

[Matt Duncan]

copied & pasted from another forum



The facts in brief:

At drummer ears

21" ride = 102 db
21" ride (bell) = 112 db
Bass drum = 105 db
Toms = 110 db
Snare 5x14 single roll all rimshot 120 db
Snare (maximum rimshot) 125 db
16" crash = 111 db
14" hats (maximum/open) = 117 db
18" china (maximum) 118 db


Interesting fact

Quiet groove: drummer ears 105 db - 5 feet 100 db - 25 feet 96 db
medium groove: drummer ears 110 db - 5 feet 105 db - 25 feet 102 db
Solid groove: drummer ears 115 db - 5 feet 110 db - 25 feet 108 db
Maximum (snare): drummer ears 125 db - 5 feet 120 db - 25 feet 116 db

These are the result from the January MD issue, all measure were taken with the Metrosonics DB-2100 digital SPL meter.

[Matt Vivlamore]

I had a drummer come into our venue and he was averaging 115dba at FOH (50 Ft back).  The guy also built his own drums.  That was a fun night working because my db limit is 107 in the club.  The owner asked me to turn down the drums, I showed him that the drums where on mute…

Here is his drums company:
http://www.myspace.com/beeleafdrums  

[Tim Padrick]

Every time I put my head behind a drummer's to hear what his monitor is doing, I can stay for about three snare hits, then I have to leave.  These guys must all have serious hearing damage.  (Or maybe it's me - when in my early 20's I used to listen to my friends in a deadened oversized 1 car garage - bass was a DC300A through 5 K140s, and guitar was two HD120s through 6 K130s - it didn't bother me much.)

[Mike Summa]

Whit Hutchinson wrote on Sun, 11 March 2007 21:30

Our drummer is incapable of "turning down".

That's what they all say.

[TrevorMilburn]

I remember working briefly with a drummer called Phil Spinelli in the early seventies who had a Ludwig kit which had the moniker '126db'. Judging by the way his kit/playing kept pace with the rest of the band in the rehearsal studio I have no doubts that the 126db figure was correct - it was painful to work near the kit in full flight.

Regards,
Trevor