Re: How much does speaker polarity matter?

Arfa Daily wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:4f5fc0a90ddave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <ekUhj.10377$a61.2456@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Arfa Daily <arfa.daily@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
So, since we're talking drums and how to get the proper sound from them,
and as you are from the other side of the pond to me, can you explain
why drummers on a live gig seem to get shoved inside a glass cell ? I
have seen it on a number of occasions in Vegas, and a few minutes ago,
I was watching a Rod Stewart concert in New York on VH1, and again, the
drummer and his kit, were in this glass gas chamber looking thingy.

It's an attempt to screen off the drum kit acoustically from other stage
mics.

But to what effect, exactly ? Surely if the sound engineer knows what he's doing, such dubious techniques are not required.

It`s to keep the sound of the drums out of all the other mikes on stage. A heavy handed drummer on a loud kit can appear on every mike channel on the desk, particularly where mikes are set at high gains such as strings and vocals. Separation is the key to great live sound.

The screens are made from perspex (plexiglass in leftpondia) which has a high sonic density. A sheet of perspex stood in front of a guitar combo has a marked effect on it`s apparent loudness, sadly most guitarists regard such ploys as evil and not to be encouraged!

I can't say that I've ever
seen it done here in the UK.

Me neither

And if the sound engineer was any kind of
professional - and I can't believe that in a place like Vegas where the production is everything, that he / she would be anything *other* than a proper professional - then surely, when he stepped out into the main body of the hall, he would have to be thinking that the sound from the drum kit was bloody awful, and sounded nothing like percussion should.

Once you remove the room ambience from a drumkit, it`s not easy to put it back. From what I`ve heard of US shows, the drums are generally processed to hell. Phil Collins has a lot to answer for ;)


I mean, I am no recording engineer, but I've seen enough bands playing live, and listened to enough recorded music, to know that what I heard, didn't sound even remotely 'right' ...

Arfa
.

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