DRUMMER CAFE

I’m sure a lot of you have played gigs where the drums just sound and feel less than inspiring due to the venue, your state of mind, or both.  This happens to me a lot on outdoor gigs, but it happens indoors as well (e.g., when the room is just not great for drums).  Sometimes the snare feels like a slab of formica to me rather than a musical instrument.  What do you do to overcome this?  Or is there really anything you can do besides just accepting the situation and grinding through?

Note:  This isn't an equipment-quality or tuning issue.  I have nice gear, and I'm a pretty decent tuner. I think it's really a combination of environmental and psychological factors.  It's not chronic, but it does happen once in a while.

Even though I'm not gigging, I still experience this occasionally while practicing.

The flip side is sometimes things just feel So right - and that's great when
that - rarely - happens.

I used to experience this when gigging on bass, too. 

Sometimes it's related to how you're feeling, and sometimes it really
is the sound sucking.     There are so many parms that go into
good and bad sound, and sometimes, in my experience, they're not always
controllable.

[This will sound bizarre, but on bass, it got to the point where I could hear
 significant differences based on - the weather.  I found humidity really
 deadly to the bass tone, and very cool, dry air to yield max tone.]
[I used to love practicing bass with the AC on or with the windows open
 on a cool dry day.]
[Yeah, I'm nuts.]
 

snare, kick and cymbal the groove.

I just drink more beer till it sounds better.

I find the biggest challenges are when I'm playing outside. Chris Whitten mentioned about one time when he was doing a sound check with Dire Straits where the drums were sounding great through the house - and then they turned the house sound off or brought the level down. He said his drums sounded like cardboard boxes (or something to that effect. Feel free to correct me here CW). Most of us have that as our normal scene.
Albeit, Chris did mention that his drums were tuned to sound good through the massive PA and not necessarily good without it. It was in pursuit of a good mix for this large venue that the drums sound was adjusted. I can relate as back in the '80's I was involved with promoting a concert at the college student union where the band had to play in a cavernous multi-purpose room. The drummer sounded great in the house and his monitors. However up on top of the set they were dead and and flat.

My first impulse when things aren't sounding right is to start playing with the tuning. That can help as a drum probably needs to be tuned differently then it was in the last environment you played in. My snare gets attention first, then toms and bass drum. I also have the luxury of owning a few snare drums. Sometimes if I know a gig is dicey sound wise, I'll bring a couple of snares to see which one fits better. A decent sounding snare can help me to recover a bit mentally, even if the rest of the kit can't be dialed in.

As far as it not feeling good, I tend to recognize when a gig is going not-so-good for me after the first song or two. If the magic is illusive, I try to play simpler. I also agree with Bob Diaz in that I will spend more time trying to lock in time, balance of elements on the kit, etc.

BTW: This is a normal occurrence. All of us have times like this from amateur to seasoned pro. You just have to fool everyone else. Billy Ward calls this 'qualifying good'. You may know it's not your best but your mediocre night still seems good to those that matter (audience, leaders, band members,...whoever is signing the check... ).

Jim

Relatively recently I found one of really frustrating things - at every place they tend to crank up the drummer's monitors so that I can't hear my drumkit anymore unless they add it to the monitor.

I did not realize how uncomfortable it was for me, but now I do, so the first thing I ask the soundguy is to turn that freaking thing off Then, depending on the stage configuration, I'll ask to put there e.g. a little of keyboards, and I can hear guitars from their combos.

I was amazed how important it was to hear the drumkit directly and without such ear stress. However, sometimes the stage configuration is so unfavorable that I have to add all instruments to my monitor, which could be too loud already. I try to keep it low, but sometimes I have to ask adding some kick sound to my monitor, because I feel uncomfortable without hearing it (which is the case in this unfavorable conditions).

Next time you feel bad about your drums on stage, just check for the above issue if it is the case.

 
I always feel this when I'm playing somebody else's kit. Nothing is comfortable then, even though the kit in question might be better than mine.
And also, if there's too little time to set up my own kit on stage, and I have to adjust it after the first song, after the second, etc. - I won't feel too well either.
As for sound, I don't care for it during the show. The only thing that you can do is taking your kit well-tuned to the venue, and then you're in the sound tech's hands. Fortunately, I usually have my girlfriend with me, who listens carefully in the middle or back of the room at the tune-in, and she may tell the sound tech what to change if there's something wrong with my sound.