The challenges drums create on the worship platform manifest themselves in multiple areas; sound quality, musical technique, stage space, the visual aspect, and most prominently, loudness.
As someone who has been helping churches with audio for decades and a former professional drummer (another story from another life-time), I have been in the trenches on this issue for years. I’ve seen and participated in many approaches; some amazing successes and some dismal failures. Like most of my content, I hope to provide solutions not only for your tech team but for leadership as well. I will attempt to identify the problems, cut through the misconceptions and discuss real solutions, so you, as a ministry leader can make well-informed decisions that actually work.
The problem
Thanks to the unchanging hand of physics, no surprise here, drums are loud. Actually louder than they used to be. I say this because drum tracks on modern worship recordings are performed and recorded in a very aggressive style. The 20” crash cymbal is the new high-hat. Thank you Dave Grohl. Depending on your auditorium size and acoustics, a drum set on stage without any effort to control its volume can easily generate well over 80dB of unprocessed noise. The chief offenders here are cymbals, snare, and open hi-hats. For a church that has a maximum sound level target of 90 or 95dB, that means your sound engineer does not really have control over the mix, other than to try and keep the rest of the musical and vocal components below the max level.
Add to that, often the drum kit is in front of an LED wall that looks great but is also great at projecting sound into the congregation. Another contributing factor is almost all worship bands are using in-ear-monitors (IEMs) these days. So the drummer can play as hard as he wants because his in-ear-monitor mix can be tailored to sound perfect to him. In effect, due to the IEM system, the drummer himself is isolated from the excessive stage volume he is producing. Unprocessed, or uncontrolled drum noise, does not sound good to the human ear. There’s a reason why the audio engineer is not in the same room with the drummer in recording sessions.
None of this is new, but I am constantly surprised at the reluctance of some churches to deal with this very real problem of uncontrolled drum volume. On occasion I’ve been invited to train audio teams in an environment where no effort has been made to handle the drum volume. Sadly I have had to tell them, until you take steps to control this issue, no amount of training will help your team. You cannot change physics, no matter how much mixing experience you have.
So we’ve identified the problem. There are plenty of half-measures, DIY videos, and products in the marketplace that simply don’t work as advertised. You may have been sold some of these. I’m pretty sure I’ll offend someone here but I wouldn’t be helping you if I don’t speak truth.
The myths
Playing to the room: This concept of a drummer self-mixing is really only effective in the smallest of environments without any drum mics etc and minimal amplification. It definitely doesn’t work in larger worship environments where musicians are using IEMs.
Playing with hot-rods or brushes: Hot-rods (modified drum sticks made up of bundled dowels) are quieter than normal sticks, as are brushes. But neither are adequate substitutes for real drum sticks when trying to replicate most current recordings. That isn’t to say there is no place for this technique. If your worship team is doing an alternate arrangement of a song that calls for this type of sound, the decrease in volume is just a fortunate side effect. For perspective, switching from sticks to hotrods does not equate to a guitar player switching from a Gibson to a Fender. It’s more akin to him switching from a guitar to a ukulele.
Using digital time alignment from the mixing console: This is a rather complex effort of digitally “time-aligning” the drum channels or even the entire PA system so that unprocessed sounds coming off the stage and audio mixed through the PA arrive at the audience at the same time. In theory this cleans up the sound, and to some degree it does, depending on many factors: room size, speaker location, the engineer’s math skills, etc. However, the juice is rarely worth the squeeze since any improvement of clarity is rarely detectable by the average congregant. Unfortunately it also does nothing to actually reduce the unprocessed drum noise from the stage.
Shy Baffles: These are clear acrylic discs mounted vertically around a live drum set, usually 3 or 4. The manufacturer “Shy-Baffles” has become the generic name for this product, but there are other companies selling essentially the same thing. They are designed to redirect drum and cymbal bleed away from other microphones in close proximity to the drums. In fairness to the company, as best I can tell these are not marketed to churches as a solution to decrease on-stage drum volume, but many churches have purchased them only to be disappointed in the result. I see lots of these in storage closets when I visit churches. As I mentioned I don’t blame the company, but if anyone tells you these are a comprehensive solution, they are simply wrong.
The goal as worship sound engineers is to present the audio presentation that aligns with the desires of leadership and your specific church culture. This requires having as much control over the mix as possible at any volume. Remember, the more control you have, the more flexibility you have to respond to the changing needs of the ministry. If you are directed to reduce your overall volume to 85dB while there is simultaneously 85dB of cymbal wash coming off the stage, your audio presentation will be harsh, unintelligible, and distracting. The solution requires doing everything possible to control every musical component on stage through the PA system, and eliminate as much stage noise as possible. None of the points discussed so far will accomplish this.
The solutions
Let’s talk about Drum cages and Enclosures: For the purposes of this discussion we’ll define an enclosure as a fully enclosed drum booth – all the sides including the top. A cage is basically a set of plexiglass panels connected together and typically on the front and sides of the drums.
Cage: A simple cage may work for your situation. But this is very dependent on your stage, environment, and your drummers. The most consistently loud sounds from a drum set are generated from the cymbals and snare drum. The plexiglass is very reflective and that sound is going somewhere. In this case the plexiglass will be directing the sounds up and behind the drummer.
There is a local church in my town that has stadium seating. Their plexiglass drum cage is about 5′ high (front and sides only). The result is that on the auditorium floor which contains about ¼ of the seating capacity, the audio is clean and full from the PA with almost no detectable audio rolling off the stage. However as you move up into the stadium section (the other ¾ of the seats), the PA gets washed out by overwhelming cymbal and snare bleed, making the overall experience distracting and unpleasant.
In some situations adding acoustic absorbing panels inside the cage may help. But the sounds we’re trying to control (cymbals, snare, hi-hats) are not easily absorbed, and the plexiglass is simply redirecting that noise in a different direction.
In my experience the success rate of a simple 3 sided plexiglass cage is low. It’s very dependent on the drummer, the room and the worship style. More often than not, a more radical solution is required.
Enclosures: Isolation equals control. A complete drum enclosure is the most radical and effective remedy for live drums. I have seen some churches actually build permanent drum enclosures into their stage. There are several manufacturers for enclosures with multiple levels of sophistication. Most feature a plexiglass/acrylic front and sides, with internal absorbing material on the ceiling and walls. Costs for these range from a few thousand to over ten thousand dollars. They can be equipped with cameras, LED lighting and even air conditioning. There are several DIY videos online. I’ve seen some great enclosures and some bad ones. You can determine what fits your culture. The best advice I can give you is to make sure that it is completely enclosed; top, sides, and back with a door that closes, with no gaps. I can almost guarantee if you have not been using a complete enclosure, implementing one will vastly improve your audio presentation.
Electronic Kits: Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have added E-Kits as a consideration. But the technology has come a long way. As an audio engineer, my greatest criticism of E-Kits has been the lack of audio outputs. Many lower cost drum “brains” were limited to 4 outputs, pretty much eliminating themselves from use in professional environments, not to mention the lack of realistic sounding drums and cymbals. Today, manufacturers are building E-kits that look, feel, and sound more like real drums. The higher end kits feature more outputs, providing more flexibility when it comes to mixing. Roland’s top of the line E-Kit brain has 10 balanced outputs. EFNOTE, a relatively new manufacturer, has a brain with 12 XLR outputs, which is a great feature. Both manufacturers’ pro-line products are worthy of consideration. From a purely audio-centric perspective, if you’re considering E-Kits, I highly recommend you get one with the higher output count, which inherently includes the highest quality sounds and playability.
At the risk of infuriating all our drummers, Enclosures and E-Kits will provide the best audio experience for the congregation. At this point I’d like to remind us all that everything in worship audio is a compromise. Enclosures take up a lot of space on the stage. I used to work with a church where we referred to the enclosure as “The Death Star”. Enclosures obscure the drummer from the rest of the team. I am sensitive to the effect the isolation has on his ability to feel connected to the worship experience. On the other hand, it allows the drummer to play without restraint. An E-Kit can essentially look like a real drum kit on stage and the drummer is actually a part of the team. The stage will look cleaner, more balanced and symmetrical if desired. However there are some limitations of E-Kits. They don’t feel exactly like real drums or cymbals. It’s not bad, it’s just different. A real kit, even in an enclosure can be challenging, maintaining proper mic placement, tuning the drums etc. From an engineer’s perspective, you are at the mercy of the drummer. Many of our volunteer drummers serve wonderfully. They play the parts correctly and solidly with the click. But often these are not professionals and they struggle with consistency and balance, what studio musicians refer to as “touch'” so it’s harder to build a good mix. With an E-Kit you can overcome some of these dynamic inconsistencies, which helps stabilize and improve the overall sonic experience.
A good friend of mine says, “When we come to serve on the worship team, we all lay something down for the greater good”. Playing in an enclosure is not ideal. Playing or mixing an E-Kit is not ideal. But we have to check our egos at the door and understand that “it’s not about me”. I say this to both drummers and sound techs. Don’t get me started on guitarists.
The good news: I used to work for a pastor who said, “we see it before we hear it”. That may be true, but one thing I’ve learned, if your audio is bad your congregation will notice and they will let you know. If it sounds good or even great, very few of your congregation will voice an opinion on how the drum enclosure looks, or question if there are wires coming from drums instead of microphones. To my knowledge, no one ever said, “I really could have gotten to the throne if that drummer wasn’t in a box”. I don’t say this to offer permission to choose the cheapest option simply because your average congregant won’t know the difference. But this perspective could provide some latitude on the final decision.
If you’re considering implementing any of these recommendations I would suggest working to get a consensus from all who will be affected by the change. Your worship leaders, musicians, (especially the drummers), audio, video, and lighting team members all need to buy-in to the upgrade. More than once, I’ve seen people genuinely hurt when eliminated from the process. It’s important to honor your team members’ contribution, to reiterate that this is in no way an insult to anyone’s skill level. This should be viewed as an improvement for everyone and a punishment to no one.
I hope this is helpful. I’d love to answer any questions specific to your church or hear about your success on this topic.
Here are YouTube links to 3 different approaches used in the same worship environment:
In closing, I have some exciting news to share: Due to the overwhelming response to this newsletter, starting in January, we’ll be doing 2 each month. Thank you for your continued engagement. If there are any topics you’d like to explore please contact me at rcochran@worshipfacility.com. We are here to serve you!
Until then, don’t forget to listen!
