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I have an audition next week for a rock cover band.
I was entertained by the notes for the audition:


I haven't heard people call for Louder playing in a long time.  It's interesting.  This is not a bunch of kids, either.  These are 40 somethings with a rock cover band.   But, I have logged several years of rock cover gigging - on bass - in this region, and more and more, the bars want - inspired playing - but at low volume.   

Very interesting.  I don't know what will come of it all - but I bet it will be fun.  :)
[Better put my Regal Tip Combo featherlight sticks down and get some tree trunks out.]
[Maybe I'll use my Hannah Ford Vater's, which I only currently use when I go to the batting cage.   ;D  ]

Seems like they have a very good grasp of the skills needed to be an effective drummer... the comment "about to break everything" sounds a bit juvenile... that would turn me off... but they did say "kind of" ... but maybe they really mean someone who can be "animated" instead of boreing (like me)  :-\ when I play.  I've been told that I don't play loud enough... my response is "ok, we can mic the kit and make it as loud as you like"  ;)

I lost my first audition for a touring gig for not playing loud enough. That won't happen to me again. ;)

Bring your loudest drums, your biggest cymbals, some beefy sticks, and get medieval on 'em! Have fun!

I can conjure lots of volume, including with the foot, but I was taken aback by the comments, knowing what's going on in our bars.  Bands get told to turn down around here, not crank it up.   Our crew of bar hoppers wants to drink and talk while hearing music.

Well, it will be an adventure.  I'm over my obsession with hooking up immediately with a gigging situation.  I have already seen a ton of time wasters since moving back to drumming and seeking a gig.  I'll just have a laugh with it, and if it turns into something real, yippee.   If not, I now have a funny quote from someone talking about "almost breaking everything."   :)

[Ok, where are my HF Vater tree trunks?]

hehe... "get midevil on 'em" ... that's my favorite comment from a Bruce Willis movie  ;D ... how did that go? ... gonna get some homeboys... get da plyers out and get midevil on ya"...  ;D

Did somebody say "Louder?"

(http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:sfisQPqUReujxM:http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/adc/10229354A~Terminator-2-Judgement-Day-Posters.jpg)

The last time Jeff Porcaro was told to play louder...louder!...LOUDER!!!! from Rickie Lee Jones he stabbed his sticks through his snaredrum and walked out of the studio and went home >:(. Ill never forget that story.

No, I have never been told to play louder, even with light sticks. I have always thought the key was to use my ears. I have played music when the bass player was vibrating dishes off the shelf and CD's off the rack and they told me to play a little softer. My response was "I play to the level of the bass player, he needs to turn down", then I will play softer.
                          Nutty

I don't think I play loud compared to other drummers but I'm constantly told to play quieter.  It's kind of funny because I'm only 5'4" so when people see me they don't expect me to play with volume. 

But anyways, sounds like a good gig to bring out the lumber. 

cc

Actually, Jeff put his sticks through all of his tom-toms plus the snare drum - he played the fill, stabbing the drums, holding the sticks like daggers!!  :o

One of the keys to sounding loud on the drums, is to have a loud-sounding kit, with minimal dampening. Especially the bass drum, which is easily over-dampened. A room with lively acoustics can certainly help. The visual aspect is probably important as well - it has to look like you're playing loud. 

2Bs or not 2Bs...That is the question.

2B's..... held in reverse :P

A friend of mine brought his friend's band to play at a coffee house at my college.  Somehow the drummer didn't bring any sticks, so he asked to borrow a pair of mine.  I usually use 7A's, but he thought those were too thin and took my one pair of 2B's. 

He played them backwards and broke one of them.

...oh god. Let me guess, he has his cymbals up really high and flat and thinks he must be a really good drummer because he keeps cracking them? :P

Hehe sorry, couldn't help myself. I'm sure that's not the case at all. Though I think we've all met one of those drummers  ::)




or been one of those drummers :-X

Not me.   :)

Sheer volume is not the only thing I pick up from the audition notes.
They just want someone who plays straight forward and solid.
You don't need a loud kit, or loud cymbals, you just need to put effort, energy and enthusiasm into your playing.
When I was a young player, competing at auditions, I noticed that the drummers who played mid-volume and focused on their own playing instead of on the band sound as a totality (kind of introverted), more often than not didn't get the job.
The sound of Pop/Rock is the sound of a drum kit being played loudly and confidently.
It's more of a sound and energy thing than just a volume thing.
I hear the point about bars looking for lower volume bands.
If I were doing the audition, I'd play loud and solid, then address the volume issues at each venue as they occur.

Often, when people ask me to play louder, I find that what they're really looking for is the rimshot. It's easy to forget that the other musicians aren't necessarily familiar with drumming terms and techniques.

Mr. Frank...perhaps if you need some further insight - This approach may be what their
looking for..... 

http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/tommyaldridgeyamaha.html (http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/tommyaldridgeyamaha.html)

Gotta love Mr. Aldridge.  ;D :o 8)

Wow...

I thought I would throw this one in from my local scene this weekend:

Pro drummer wanted for local jobs. We are a three piece and play about 7 to 10 times a month. You must have reliable transportation, your own professional equipment, monitor and vocal gear, be able to appreciate constructive criticism. Must be proficient in rock, blues and funk, pop, country. Want to hear an mp3(s) of your live playing and a brief history of who you have been working with for the last 15 years. No beginners. Your vocal's would be a plus if you sing. We are looking for a drummer who wants to make music with us not show us how hard drums can be hit, no offence. Like we said in the beginning " Pro Drummer ". Please send your info to be considered. We will call if we like what we hear.
Location: Cincy Area


be able to appreciate constructive criticism. Haha, I always love that one!

I don't see the relationship between making music and how hard one hit's their instrument if it is appropriate.

actually that is the type of add that would catch my eye... they don't want a "banger" and they want someone with good interpersonal skills!   :D

All those ads sound like they are coming from control freaks.

Frank I thought you were a jazzer, are you picking up a rock gig now too?

My thoughts exactly. Pretty rare I would even pay any attention to an add like that. I answered an add like that a few years back. Turned out to be some of the biggest jerks I ever met. I doubt if they ever got their group off the ground. No one could get along. Everyone had to be in charge....A couple agents I know wouldn't touch them.   ::)

I don't think they are control freaks. I just think bands are driven to cut out as many timewasters and wannabe's as possible these days.
I don't think the first band want a basher. They just don't want a heavily jazz influenced drummer, who plays a bop kit with 5A's wasting their time. Nothing against those type of drummers, but they are (in their own words) saying they aren't looking for that kind of drummer.

I've been the auditioner, as well as the auditionee, and it's frustrating to waste time through an endless procession of inappropriate people.
The trouble is, there are more desperate musicians looking for gigs than there are good bands looking for musicians.

Seems they're very particular about everything.  Except spelling and grammar.  :)

I also like "vocal's would be a plus if you sing".  Yes, I'd have to agree.  Those are the best kind of vocals - the singing ones.

 
I think loudness is part of the game. If you play background music in a small bar, you should be soft on a small sized kit with light sticks and brushes. But in a large room, you must really beat it.
I was always told to play louder - now, fortunately, every larger hall I happen to play at has its own amplification system, so you can have the comfort of hitting the drums hard enough only to get the proper sound from them, and the rest of loudness is done by the sound techs.
 

That ad reminds me of that tired old line:
"The band consists of 4 musicians and a drummer. ::)

I don't know.  Perhaps you are right CW, perhaps not in some cases.  I am under the impression that many "musicians" have no clue how they actually play.  I got a kid up last weekend who has been telling me for weeks how hard and fast of a player he was, all of his great gigs, etc. (I mean who the heck am I, some clodhopper from ohio really)- ultimately he played like a mouse that could barely groove.

It's seems like every band I'm in there are always several people leveraging for control on how things should be run or sound.

Why can't music be fun and sound good at the same time ergo *everyone think like  me*  ;D

The other part of that equation, felix (and not to imply that I mean you) is that many musicians don't even know what they're looking for in a player when they want to audition them -- or how to describe it adequately.

The characteristics they're looking for are very subjective, and they either over-describe or under-describe the trait compared to how the auditioner perceives it.  It's like me trying to tell you what good music is, when you already have your own opinion.

I've had to laugh at one of my own experiences lately for just that reason.  I'm playing in a band with three of my cousins again for one gig, and they all have a ton of experience compared to me.  And although I'm known outside of their circle as an extremely laid back and subdued drummer (and have been for 25 years), the lead guitarist likes to make little jabs at me, saying what a "heavy-hitter" he thinks I am.

Puh-lease!  ;D  It makes me laugh when I think of the pro drummers, well-known in this genre, who he would undoubtedly let go because they play too hard.

Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder.. umm, beholder.  Yeah, that too.

How about reverse 2Bs doubled up? Is that LOUD 'nuff?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnzXTGn3i58

 
Why doesn't he use a hammer instead? I don't see too much reason in playing like this: it surely won't improve the sound quality in a positive way. :)
 

I don't agree, if you are only talking about using multiple sticks. "Positive" is relative. What it DOES do is create a unique sound ... almost as if two or more drummers are playing in unison. I do this on occasion, although I don't play near that hard ... ever.

So the multiple sticks isn't to be louder ... it's to create a unique sound.  8)

There's a bigger issue with playing really hard, collapsing the sound of the drummer by over-driving it, than using multiple sticks.

If you never used multiple sticks ... try it ... it's cool for some things. Hey, Steve Gadd used this technique decades ago, so it can't be all bad ... right?!  ;D

He's using a pair of single sticks anyway - not two in each hand.
There's a weird blurring doubling effect on the YouTube clip.
Pause it in a section where he's not playing. The sticks are almost certainly the right way round too.
Also, 1) I don't think he's hammering the kit that hard and 2) it sounds good and is appropriate for the song.

What's to criticise?
 :-\

I'm with you, Chris.

- This is Not two sticks per hand.

- This is what the song required.

It's played with a Whole Lotta Authority.

If only he'd left his shirt on, the take would have been perfect.  ;D

Is it common (as in not odd) to crash a cymbal with both sticks?
(he does it at for example 3:35)

I think that's what he was doing anyway. Not sure I've seen that before.

When he stops you can see that it is only one stick per hand.  He is using a slow shutter speed(more with regular camera film) or some effect but I am just guessing.  For what he is playing, it works.

Interesting.  Acrylic kit-not Ludwig.  I think his style of playing matched the song and dont think he was hitting all that hard really.

Dont really care for him being shirtless, but I know people with tats like to show them off-and thats ok I guess.

He definately is playing with 1 pair of sticks though.  The video recorder had trouble keeping up with the sticks, thats why there is a double image.  Airplane propellors do the same thing when they are videod also. 

Still an interesting technique nonetheless.

I have rehearsal this afternoon and will give it a try, Bart. Thanks!