Clear Plexiglass in front of drummers?

peter prescott plays like this now w/ mission of burma, so i'm guessing it's to protect ppl's hearing

They used to use a chain to protect the crowd, but this is more human.

I thought maybe it was something to do with making it easier to use microphones with the drums without other noise bleeding in. Either way, it's dudley.

i liked your answer Z S, but this was an acoustic show.
and Ward, i doubt that is the reason. that'd be akin to a restaurant serving skim milk with coffee in lieu of cream for health reasons-it doesn't compute

"The CS drum shield and free-standing sound absorbers will reduce your drum volume levels and clean up your stage sound! Great for use in churches, schools, theaters, recording studios, clubs, concert stages and rehearsal rooms."

http://www.drumcentral.com/drum_shields_02.htm

"clean" stage sound blows

"great for use in churches" - de-satanization sound sanitation.

yeah, doesn't the MoB guy play behind plexiglass because one of the other members is now crazy sensitive to loud noise?

Actually in churches I kind of see the appeal because churches tend to be giant echo chambers

The CS drum shield and free-standing sound absorbers will reduce your drum volume levels and clean up your stage sound!

Wait...so maybe I was half right? Is it to to reduce the amount of drum sound bleeding into other mics? Were any of the other instruments mic'd at the acoustic show, outdoor miner?

>Is it to to reduce the amount of drum sound bleeding into other mics?

In part, and in part to ensure that other instruments can be heard over the drummer (a big danger with Denardo Coleman).

I first saw Garbage do this at the Big Day Out in 2002. I'm not sure it improved their 'sound' but if you tilted your head the right way, the reflected glare from the sunlight on the plexiglass made Butch Vig disappear!

Awesome.

I always figured it was for the benefit of the other bandmembers ears.

It's to stop the sound of the drums going straight down the singer's microphone, assuming that the drummer is stage rear centre and singer is stage front centre.

Based on my experience in bands I thought it might be so the singer/guitarist doesnt cop flying drumsticks to the head. Maybe I just played with shit drummers.

Does it also stop the snare drum snare from vibrating loudly every time the bass player hits a certain note? I hate when that happens.

It's to stop the sound of the drums going straight down the singer's microphone, assuming that the drummer is stage rear centre and singer is stage front centre.

But wouldn't it be more simple to adjust the position or the angle of the drummer/singer, rather than erecting a dudley clear plexiglass screen in front of the drummer?

This can be used to solve just about all of the problems listed! It just isolates the drum sound from the other musicians and microphones, the way they'd often be in a studio. I think you tend to see this live most often with pop singers whose voices are supposed to be good -- the singer can hear herself and the monitors better with something shielding the drums right behind her. (It makes it easier to mix a really large group, too, like with horns and percussionists and backup singer and all.) It also gets used a lot for live performances of, say, r&b songs that were originally programmed -- that way you can mic and mix the drums to sound crisp and clear like the programming, instead of hearing the whole natural drum-set sound.

P.S. This makes perfect sense for an acoustic show by a rock band -- no amps means the bass and guitar players are really only hearing themselves in monitors, while the drums are exactly as loud as usual!

They probably use it in Mission of Burma because someone's back there sampling the live sound and looping it, and they want to be able to isolate the instruments.

I love it when church bands have a fucking 12 piece drumset w/lots of splash cymbals + the three panel plexiglass.

xpost - no, they do it because of roger's tinnitus. and the sampling/looping takes place back at the soundboard.

(nabisco otm)

http://www.drummerworld.com/pics/drum16/terribozzio.jpg

(James Redd even more otm)

I just hope and pray that one day a drummer with a kit like that gets hit by lightning, and then some kind of Akira stuff happens where he actually morphs into the RoboTech-style MechaDrummer he was clearly dreaming of while setting up his 10th pedal.

Bozzio to Dream Theater guy: "Fuck you, dink."

http://www.mikeportnoy.com/media/pics/celebs/MPBozzio97.jpg

http://www.united-mutations.com/b/moderndrummer198412.jpg

http://www.umop.com/photos/1999_bozzio.jpg

I mean, there comes this point where you're seated on your stool looking out on an array more complicated than any shuttle bay or Voltron command area, and what goes through your heart then? Is there any twinge of fear that you're now basically Louis XIV-level dependent on roadies?

(The funny thing is I found that picture while I was looking for Terry Williams, who also has been known to play a kit like that)

Bozzio Time Lapse Drum Setup

I was going going to explain why I didn't think an Akira reference should be mixed with a Robotech reference, but that would be the nerdiest shit I ever posted on the internet. Then you throw Voltron in there and I give up.

Bozzio vs. Wackerman

I've been mostly playing brass band gigs, where I only play one drum, and on Saturday I was bitching about have to break down my four piece jazz kit. It's like getting drunk and moving.

I think being a Bozzio roadie would be the worst job in the music industry.

But if they just formed a tiny union, the guy would be screwed!

These clips of Bozzio with bands are pretty hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy1Kf-Xue-g

Here is a whole thread on another board on this topic, full of photos http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29552

I just wish I could find a youtube of the alleged Carter Beauford and Futureman duets.

But back to the plexiglass.

(Although this interview has a funny bit about Weird Al's bass player auditioning for Bozzio's old band)

This thread on another board has an interesting discussion of the original topic. Apparently the use of shields is really common (and advanced) in Vegas.

Man, I've read lot of stories about the Black Page Zappa auditions. At least one of the guys that actually passed that thing admitted he sort of faked his way through it.

sometime in my future i've gotta get around to doing that joke band where everyone but the drummer lurks stage rear with plexiglass backstops in front of them shielding them from "the action"

was lookin for a fuckin damon che threa dand found this thread

here's a gif, i don't even know (???)

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/554/tumblrl73rzitrni1qajg12.gif

Only reason Burma uses the screen is to shield guitarist. (who sets up to drummers right)
Guitarist suffers from tinnitus. He uses no stage monitors and sets his amp at his side.
Along with custom ear protection and the above measures guitarist is able continue playing live music at high volume. j

That's a good reason to use the screen. All other reasons to use the screen are not good. Unless of course, the drummer puts it up herself so she doesn't have to listen to the guitarists.

my kybad dsn't k, and dn't kn hy vn hav a scn

"clean" stage sound blows

― Hurting 2, Sunday, September 9, 2007 2:36 PM Bookmark

Haha I was about to OTM this post and then I saw it was me.

When we opened for The Fire Theft (aka Sunny Day Real Estate during the offer years), the drummer had the plexi-glass. What I found most interesting was that he was able to mic his entire kit with only two large overheads mics (and presumably a kick mic). So obviously that shield helped to control the sound. His kit sounded great, even if the songs were garbage.