you play too loud...you don't play loud

[old_K_ride]

so I recently discovered after subbing with someone for approx 6 years why I didn't get their gig when they fired the regular drummer cuz he won't get vaccinated:
you play too loud...even in the soft parts...

then I got this...I subbed on a gig with total strangers who told me they loved the way I played one reason being that I DON'T play loud.

funnier still...both these gigs were at the same venue a week a part (I hadn't figured out I hadn't gotten that one gig yet...I actually played 2 more gigs with them)
band #1 was always a blast...in 6 years no one said JACK to me about being "loud"...wherever the gig was we blew the people away...but I guess that doesn't really matter.
their NEW drummer wears hair extensions,is on oxygen,plays a set of "Breakbeats" and B8 cymbals...here's the kicker...this group plays "some" original material which I wrote charts for.
the NEW drummer I've been informed WON'T learn new songs...

I should add that the 2nd band is LOUDER than the first which released me for volume...
anyway...

 

[JDA]

If I were you I wouldn't leave the house or answer the phone from any of them.
Oxygen and dreadlocks?

 

[Roch]

I've had a guy give me the side eye because of my volume and another guy tell me to hit harder, so, I think depends on the circumstance and each individual I play with..As we get older and tone down our song and venue selection, I see a need to tone it down and I'm ok with that..I like the challenge..

 

[old_K_ride]

If I were you I wouldn't leave the house or answer the phone from any of them.
Oxygen and dreadlocks?

yeah...for real...I knew that about her...I've seen pics now on Fbook and there she is with 2 tubes in her nostrils...

 

[JDA]

The "louder can't hear you" really ticks me off. I've come up with some good comebacks but not a great one.
I don't know why one particular guy does that to me. It may be the sticks I use (is all I can think)
I've solved that, But no way am I quieter than who plays with him also.

I just ignore him and nod my head "uh-huh uh-huh"

 

[notINtheband]

On our last gig, my first with this artist, the band leader commented, “You know how I know you are a pro? Because you play soft when it’s warranted.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant at first, but I later found out their other drummer not only hit too hard for the situation, but he never played ghost-notes.
Turns out it was the ghost notes the band leader was referencing. (He didn’t know the nomenclature so he called it playing softly).

 

[Roch]

The "louder can't hear you" really ticks me off. I've come up with some good comebacks but not a great one.

I played with one guy for a few years who always told me to play louder but, as far as I was concerned, and many other guys agreed with me, he was going deaf and played way too loud..He had this MesaBoogie and riffed through every song..He was on my right and interestingly the dance floor was always empty in front of him...the bass player and I used to joke about it...

 

[Vicey]

I think if you play with enough people, you're eventually going to be given contradictory feedback. I've been told that I play too loud and not loud enough by different people. If I keep at it, I'll eventually get both complaints from the same person.

 

[Talktotommy]

You may be responsible for adapting your level to a particular venue/setting/stage volume but after that it’s really on the others or the engineer to make it blend.

 

[Loud]

so I recently discovered after subbing with someone for approx 6 years why I didn't get their gig when they fired the regular drummer cuz he won't get vaccinated:
you play too loud...even in the soft parts...

then I got this...I subbed on a gig with total strangers who told me they loved the way I played one reason being that I DON'T play loud.

funnier still...both these gigs were at the same venue a week a part (I hadn't figured out I hadn't gotten that one gig yet...I actually played 2 more gigs with them)
band #1 was always a blast...in 6 years no one said JACK to me about being "loud"...wherever the gig was we blew the people away...but I guess that doesn't really matter.
their NEW drummer wears hair extensions,is on oxygen,plays a set of "Breakbeats" and B8 cymbals...here's the kicker...this group plays "some" original material which I wrote charts for.
the NEW drummer I've been informed WON'T learn new songs...

I should add that the 2nd band is LOUDER than the first which released me for volume...
anyway...

Your text is too loud. Use a smaller font.

 

[Sinclair]

so I recently discovered after subbing with someone for approx 6 years

First of all...six years is a long time to be a sub. What that implies to me is that you bail them out every time their regular drummer can't make it. You're always there for them even though they come up with all this crap...You play too loud...you need to hit harder... your vaxed, you're not vaxed.
Seems the only way you'll ever get called for the gig again is if this new guy leaves his dreadlocks in a paper bag on the bus, or can't fill his oxygen tank before the gig. Screw em.

Up your value by simply telling them you can't make it the next time they call. Maybe what they need is to scramble to find a drummer and suffer through a gig that sounds like crap.

That or start your own band and you give the orders. "Guitarist!! brush your teeth before the damn gig and turn you solos down. Singer... stop posing for your girlfriend and sing in tune. Bassist...open your eyes once during the show ..I'm trying to lock in with you!"

 

[bbunks]

I’ve spent most of the past 2 years working on burnin’ at lower volumes and paying attention to dynamics. I grew up playing unmiked and having to fight guitar amps, so this has been a real eye opener.

To the band that didn’t give you feedback, the other way to look at it is that you could ask. No one wants to give critical feedback, so I always ask: tempo ok? Dynamics ok? How was that last song?

 

[old_K_ride]

I’ve spent most of the past 2 years working on burnin’ at lower volumes and paying attention to dynamics. I grew up playing unmiked and having to fight guitar amps, so this has been a real eye opener.

To the band that didn’t give you feedback, the other way to look at it is that you could ask. No one wants to give critical feedback, so I always ask: tempo ok? Dynamics ok? How was that last song?

the only feedback I ever got was that it was great...the groove was always locked down...hell it's a blues gig...the guy who made the decision to not use me anymore used to introduce me as "the Shuffle King"...this whole weird thing came out of the blue for me...it was disrespectful as far as I'm concerned...

 

[Frank Godiva]

My favorite one is

“You got to be the boss, the drummer drives the band”

followed by

“you play too much, hey it’s not all about you….”

like a Ying Yang fortune cookie

 

[drummer5359]

Last week at rehearsal one of the guys said, "Wow, that snare drum is loud."

It was the Noble & Cooley SS Walnut 3 3/8" X 14" snare that I had just bought that day. I didn't strike me as a particularly loud drum. (Although it does have some serious dynamic range.)

The kicker is that the snare I'd been using at rehearsals for the past few months in my Gretsch USA Custom Bell Brass 6 1/2" X 14".

 

[Treviso1]

Once you allow yourself to the be recipient of the beating stick, you will get beaten every time something isn't going well, whether it's your fault or not. Often times, it has nothing to do with your playing, but more to do with you upsetting the applecart. I've seen it where it had more to do with the ego of the band leader(s) than anything about the actual playing. However, there's virtually no undoing it once it's been set into place. Sometimes it is warranted, but often times it is not. When you are in a band with one or several unhappy malcontents and you become the target of their unhappiness, the best thing to do is leave the band because they won't stop until you are gone. I've seen it happen dozens of times with bands that I knew well or with bands that I recorded in my studio.

For example, I joined this high paying country band back in the late 90s after they recorded an album in my studio. There were lots of "problems" with their drummer and they constantly on his arse for everything. The poor guy got to the point where he didn't even know how to hold his sticks anymore. It was horrible. Well, after I joined the band and the honeymoon period ended, the bass player started with me and was constantly telling me that I was speeding up and slowing down. Having played to a click since the mid-80s, I knew that this wasn't happening. But, he kept on with his shite creating problems in the band and I was the recipient of his not true. Eventually, I started recording the gigs and playing them back on our drive home (this was a road band that often played gigs that required 8-10 hours of driving)...anyway, upon listening back, it was obvious that I was rock solid and that the bass was all over the place. He had terrible time and he would come in out of breaks early or late...no rhyme or reason...he just had horrible time when playing on stage with the band. It was the bass player who created the strife in the band and he was the main offender of what he was accusing me for! He got fired after a few more weeks of this and eventually all of his complaining got turned back on him and three guys were on his shite non-stop until he was let go. A new bass player came in, did a great job playing flawlessly.

Years later, upon reflecting back, I realized that it mostly had to deal with power struggles within the band. It had to do with insecurities and egos and the power struggles that come along with this emotional strife, making the working process nearly impossible to fulfill. It was a shame because the guitarist had a serious thing for songwriting and eventually moved down to Nashville where he's had quite a few hits as a songwriter for other artists.

 

[Houndog]

Sounds like you are involved with 2nd rate players .

 

[SwivoNut]

My jazz trio played dinner music at an upscale nightclub on weekends for two years. Just about every night the bartender (and co-owner) would tell us to tone it down. We could never figure out why. We were a completely acoustic group consisting of piano, bass and drums and were not loud by any means. Then one night I read in the newspaper where the state police raided the place and arrested the bartender, It turned out that he was a bookie and was taking bets on horse races at Detroit Race Course (DRC) and didn't want to talk on the phone loud enough that anyone would find out what he was up to.

 

[lossforgain]

Last week at rehearsal one of the guys said, "Wow, that snare drum is loud."

It was the Noble & Cooley SS Walnut 3 3/8" X 14" snare that I had just bought that day. I didn't strike me as a particularly loud drum. (Although it does have some serious dynamic range.)

The kicker is that the snare I'd been using at rehearsals for the past few months in my Gretsch USA Custom Bell Brass 6 1/2" X 14".

Probably the size and tuning that did it. Those have some serious POP!

 

[old_K_ride]

Once you allow yourself to the be recipient of the beating stick, you will get beaten every time something isn't going well, whether it's your fault or not. Often times, it has nothing to do with your playing, but more to do with you upsetting the applecart. I've seen it where it had more to do with the ego of the band leader(s) than anything about the actual playing. However, there's virtually no undoing it once it's been set into place. Sometimes it is warranted, but often times it is not. When you are in a band with one or several unhappy malcontents and you become the target of their unhappiness, the best thing to do is leave the band because they won't stop until you are gone. I've seen it happen dozens of times with bands that I knew well or with bands that I recorded in my studio.



Years later, upon reflecting back, I realized that it mostly had to deal with power struggles within the band. It had to do with insecurities and egos and the power struggles that come along with this emotional strife, making the working process nearly impossible to fulfill. It was a shame because the guitarist had a serious thing for songwriting and eventually moved down to Nashville where he's had quite a few hits as a songwriter for other artists.

this guy...a 21 year old kid...is a tremendous talent with incredibly 4 albums to his credit...what you said about "ego" hit the nail on the head.
my brother,a very good blues guitarist,saw my last gig with this guy.for this gig a phenomenal guitarist with Intl Blues Challenge victories under his belt was on it.
BUT...it was the piano player's gig so he DIDN'T feature the guy except to solo on tunes...I picked up on that "snub" late in the first set.My brother pointed out that the applause,whistles,etc for me when introduced were a little too much so that played into the guy to get rid of me...whatever...he's the star...thanks to all for weighing in...it's been therapeutic!