Drum screens – cage free or free range?

Wow- chill out. Sounds like you have a bit of a complex about being excluded or not trusted within the worship team. I can only wonder what may have happened to you personally for your perception to be so clouded. Drum screens dont have to stop drummers playing with feel and sensitvity, it would be your own choice to abandon those skills within your playing. All a screen does is give you the option of getting a powerful sound from the kit , if and when the music requires it, without overpowering the room. Simple really.
Regards, JJ

I agree. Even for dance gigs, my band will never use screens. If the drums are “bleeding” into my vocal mic, I’ll turn it off between phrases! The musos need to FEEL and COMMUNICATE to get that groove – more so even to worship together. No screens please, we’re musicians. But 90% of church musicians are amateurs – so in that case why not use screens and capos and simpler chords and even backing tracks. No dogma needed for situationalists.

my only beef is that the plastic is usually transparent.

I agree with Max. I have been playing drums in worship for 20 years and have been cage free, free range and completely caged. I have also played electronic drums but that is when I have had the most trouble with no volume in the mix.
Most churchs I have played in have been with just a drum shield but no top or back. This helps a lot with staging volume and had keeps you from blasting people brave enough ( or holy enough ;-) ) to sit in the front row but still allows for communication. It also allow the sound guy some control over the house volume.

But I also lead on guitar. In a small church you can end up grabing any warm body to sit behind the kit. Most of the time I just pray that they can keep some kind of time. To demand that these guys have the range of skills required to play to the house is a great way to run them off and be drummerless. I teach what I can and have them use Hot Rods and play behind a shield. ;-)

Unfortunately all drummers don’t have your sensitivity.

After rehersal one evening with a drummer who seemed to be determined to break the glass on his cage , I was left with sore ringing ears for the next twenty- four hours.
Ironically he had on ear protection and the rest of us didn’t.

We have a screen and a roof on the kit at our church. It gets hot, you feel cut off from the band and congregation, it’s not pleasent if you had a curry the night before and if the stage lights are in the wrong position all you can see is your own reflection as you desparetly seek to get a glimpse of life outside the cage!! Not comfortable playing in shorts, vest and equipped with towel, sweatbands and lashings of water each Sunday morning, i take my fan along and set it to blow on my face so as i look like i’m free falling, minus a parachute. Once your in there though, you don’t have to share your sweets unless the bass player sees you popping one in, but if you tell him it’s a fisherman’s friend you may get to eat the lot.
Let’s not get beat up about it. For some situations it’s ideal and others not so. If i had to choose between enjoying a really good mix in my ears every time that i play behind a screen or the feeling of inclusiveness and the raw live sound in amongst the band, it’s got to be being with the band every time.

Sorry I found the points he made amusing, couldn’t tell if he was half joking or serious!

IMHO i think he has over thought the idea of drummer be excluded. With all the amount of gigs i have played without a drum screen and being able to bash about is truely awsome. However, church is not a gig environment so adjustments have to be made. Either with the sound, or the playing.

This is what i dissagree with him on – Good drummers like me ;-) can adopt to being responsive to the acoustics of the room, and for some, they prefer, which is absolutely fine. But in no case whatsoever do i feel that drummers should “ADOPT” to something that they wouldn’t be comfortable with. For example its like saying to a guitarist to pluck and not strum because its too insensitive.
I naturally play drums strongly, and this is the way i do it, a jazz drummer would be totally different. It really depends on the drummers style of playing and to find out what the drummer is most comfortable with, if he really likes to hit drums and would be too loud in church then electronic kits or drum screens are a good idea. If he is a light player that likes to be sensitive then he can do that.

I am an experienced drummer with 12 years experience (played with bands like supergrass, the zutons, jamiroqui…) and to get the best of my ability i like to be forcefull and full of energy which actually helps in the energy of most high tempo worship songs, in which i am perfectly happy behind a screen because i can be myself.

I understand with churches that have drummers that are different and cannot satisfy all of them but just wanted to make the point that nothing is more important than how the drummer feels and is comfortable with.

Andrew

I’m wondering what the true point is with drummers complaining about being in a sound booth. Are they not getting that full ‘look at me’ feeling that can come from such a dynamic and powerful instrument. The only reason for a sound booth is leakage into multiple miking environments. If you want increased control over how much you are hearing the drums, this is the best solution. In-ear monitoring is a given for this approach to drumming.

Hey guys,

I have been playing in a worship band for going on 5 years now and i have never used a drum screen in my entire time doing it. It has been discussed but:
1) They look terrible and often distract people from the worship because of how they look! It was difficult enough having people get over having drums in the church at all let alone without a big ugly perspex screen in front of them.
2) It may be different for all dummers but i was playing in my church about 4 months after i started playing drums so i developed sensitivity really quickly and have had it ever since, i can manage most without even having to change sticks let alone muffle the drums with a screen!
3) I think if people are worrying too much about needing a screen then they are not focusing on the worship at all which defies the point of having any band members at all!

Also i know a lot of people would reccommend an electronic kit but i know from personal experience it nevers has the same feel or sound as an acoustic kit which can be more of a problem than just learning to be sensitive and use dynamics with an acoustic kit.
If your drummer doesn’t quite have the musical sensitivity that you want then have band practices and teach him/her! Just play different songs and tell them when they are playing too loud/quiet and the senstivity will come by eventually.

I hope this helps anyone thinking about getting a drum screen, i think at the end of the day it is a personal church decision in that all churches are different acoustically and so some have more problems with drums than others and different drummers have different styles but that can be said about any kind of musician.

God bless

I’m not a drummer I’m a guitarist, and whilst drum screens are technically great for me because it brings down the overall stage volume level (and off course we get to hear more of God’s chosen instrument – the humble and holy Telecaster) I hate them – there I’ve said it!

I completely understand the pastoral and sound man arguments for bringing down the overall volume levels but here’s the thing for me. First, for many drummers caging them in seems to send them a message that because they are now completely sound proofed they can play exactly the way that feels best – which is generally pretty loud. OK the front of house gets the right volume but often the drums are playing at 100% intensity and the rest of the band congregation are playing and singing the song at 50% and it just simply doesn’t match. We are no longer a band. We are 5 individuals who just happen to be playing the same song at the same time. So where will this lead? Maybe put all the musicians in glass boxes – kinda like a band aquarium. There’s an interesting idea…

Second, you simply can’t communicate to each other behind cages unless we all learn to lip read. So maybe it comes down to the type of church you are in and the type of music you play. For instance if your songs are very tightly arranged, everyone conforms to exact well known parts and the songs always start, build and stop in exactly the same way then caging with in earing etc works.

If on the other end of the spectrum however you are making community worship music where its expected or likely or possible that the interaction of the congregation will change the way you play from moment to moment as you reflect and help and uphold their expression, then isolating each musician with covers, cages, boxes, in ears, solves a problem but doesn’t really help find a solution. For that we need to be able to hear and see the congregation, we need to be able to communicate and express our worship all together. So taking that to its logical end maybe we should do away with the stage all together and get on the floor with everyone else? i dunno..

In reality I recon most of our churches are a bit of each spectrum depending on size, background, culture, musicality, demographic etc but in these days of wanting great music in our churches we seemed to have sacrificed sensitivity and the wild card of interaction for consistency and the need to rock out all the time.

So for me I recon it comes back to valuing musical sensitivity and listening skills. I love the loud stuff I just don’t love predictable noise and I recon congregations can cope with loud and heavy if it’s also matched with shade and beauty.

Some time back I played at the wedding of a muso friend. We were in a little old small Anglican church and the band was underneath a balcony which seemed to amplify, not deaden the sound. So what did the drummer do for the hymns and the really soft songs? He put down his sticks and played with his hands! He adapted… the rest of the band could match his volume, we played TOGETHER and the sound was just beautiful. (some say mainly because i stopped playing guitar)

In response to Grahams comments considering a electronic kit. First of all I am a singer. Our drummer has an electronic kit which I will say has received a lot of positive feedback, especially those with any type of hearing sensitivty i.e, elderly, those with hearing loss or hearing aids, those that sit in the front vs. those in the back etc..
However, all I hear is the sound of the rubber pads. From a singers point of view it does provide the tempo/beat of the song but our drummer (a college student) seems to like it as does the congregation. Just takes a little getting use to from the platform.

Tim J’s comments show a lack of technical ability on the part of the pa operator. The speed of light can be easily (and relatively cheaply) turned into the speed of sound by using a short delay on the channel that causes the problem. Large rooms with multiple speaker configs. tend to use this as standard. A cheap digital delay will fix this BUT may create a new set of problems with the overall sound in the room.

The band is obviously playing in the corner. This is a problem, especially for the drums. If you put a kit in the corner of a room you are inadvertantly using the boundary effect. This is simple physics. A digeridoo (how is that spelt??) is used by putting the noisy end into a cleft in the rocks. This acoustically amplifies the sound, just like the horn on an old phonograph. The corner of the room does the same thing.

People like to hide drummers in the corner. The following is real life experience as discussed many years ago at a seminar called “Worship for non-musical Pastors”. The traditional church perception is that drums are too loud. Always. Forever and Amen. This has probably been re-enforced by the experimental use of the youth group band instead of the organist (or acoustic guitar and two flutes). Said band has been champing at the bit to be involved and so play at full tilt. Hearing impaired people have their hearing aids on full and their precious remaining sense of hearing is damaged. It’s just like feedback being fed into in ear monitoring. Painful. The minister is then faced with the choice of no more youth band or no more hearing impaired in the church. Compromise leads to the drummer (always perceived as the loudest) being hidden in the corner of the room hence doubling his volume and making it more difficult for him to be sensitive (for sensitive read quiet!).

Some sound people are brilliant. unfortunately most pa people in church have no idea as to the way that sound actually works in a room. They just have training in how their particular sound system operates. This includes trial and error (or outside advice) on how to avoid feedback. If something is loud then you put it at the back to hide it, don’t you? Nope. Put the drummer in front of the backline and they tend to enjoy hearing what is going on musically…

How about an artical on acoustics for worship bands. This would give us all a better understanding of safe sound levels, legal requirements (volume in some churches is damaging to your health), why not to cover the mic with your hand, why it is a bad idea to have a mic slung over a guitar amp that is in front of the foldback and why drum cages can be a sticking plaster solution that trades excessive volume caused by incomplete drum technique for a rigid and inherantly uncommunicative musical worship experience.

Andy and Pastor Chad nailed the argument. I hope that we worshippers who play instruments can understand our ministry from the perspective of a tone deaf pastor or the person relying on the deaf loop. Historically musical style has been a source of both unity and division in the church. Rats! Yet another paradox for us to deal with…

MarkB

Just a follow up remark – yes, as Wendy says, Pastor Chad absolutely hits the mark. I should have read his comment first, because he says it all. If you havn’t read it yet, scroll up about 60cm and read! (he comes just after Andy)

Sorry to disagree with some, but we like our drummer’s room. What can I say. There are lots of approaches to serving God’s people. We don’t all have to do it the same way. We want unity not external conformity.

In my mind communication is the key.

Ultimately, we will make whatever sacrifices we have to as a band in order to communicate and inspire and encourage the congregation to engage fully in worship. Some congregations like the lights up bright and the music smooth, quiet and controlled because they are more comfortable and sing out more that way when they see everyone around them and they can hear how they are blending in with the congregation around them. Others want it dark and intimate so they aren’t distracted by people moving around them, and they want it loud so they can sing at the top of their lungs and not worry about distracting people because they are so off key. Scripture says we should make a loud noise, but also “be still and know that He is God.”

In our situation, I love the fact that we have the full nuances of the drumset at our disposal. Our drummers can play quietly with brushes and we can turn him/her up. Or they might really crack down with big heavy sticks and we can compress it a bit and have some control but get that sweet sound at whatever volume we want. I would venture to say that much of the music on the worship recordings many of us are imitating are made with the drums in an iso booth in the studio. Unless you are in a huge room with a huge stage that is well treated acoustically, you can’t have that same snare crack sound. You have to choose. Do I get the sound I want, or do I play at the right dynamic level to fit the band. Drum shield/room gives us both.

As far as communication with the band is concerned, our drummer has a “talkback” mic, and we mic our congregation as well, so both the drummer and I can actually hear the congregation much better now than we could before with the live drums blaring in our ears. And my drummer can speak in a normal voice and I can hear him/her just fine too.

If the guitar or piano were that loud, I would consider “shields” or “cages” for them too. The reality is, though, that the only instruments on our stage that I would recommend that you definitely wearing hearing protection for extended practicing or playing is the drums.

On a lighter note… we always call it a shield – to protect our drummer from angry old ladies with their tomatoes or knitting needles!!!

I don’t like them either but I’m sorry , you sound like a child. Your complaints are based on a lot of assumptions. Every building and it’s sound needs are different. But I’m not going to address those. My main disappointment with this article is the lack of perspective on the ultimate goal of a drum set in a church. It is too help create the most advantageous opportunity for people to worship God. I don’t doubt you have the ability to control your volume and mix perfectly as to create the most beautiful mix of drums and other instruments for the audience… ok maybe I do doubt it.

On the other side… I understand the issue full well regarding drummers. I am part of a church that is transitioning from a primarily traditional style to a more contemporary expression and I hear about it weekly. You have to be able to know who you are leading in order to lead them well. If a drum cage helps… then by all means use one. If you can eliminate the drum cage… do it as well. But if you’re a drummer, suck it up. No one’s hiding you under a bushel.

Hi,

I have read over this article and I’m really enjoying the input. I am a 16 year old, electric guitarist/bassist and learning drummer. I am part of a small rural church, which meets in an A frame style building (hate A frames, worst sound ever!), and we are considering a drum shield.

Personally, I think the main issue (at least in our church) is the wide range of ages that gather Sunday morning. Let’s face it, if you have youth night, and you get 30 or more teenagers in a room with a loud rocking band we don’t care much about the “perfect drum mix”. We want to go a little crazy and worship god with or craziness (that’s just what we do). The same goes for Sunday morning. (However most Sunday morning worship songs are not “crazy” orientated) When you have a group of middle aged, to elderly people (who may not be enjoying the music in the first place because of the styles they grew up with) they may be more prone to “pick out” little flaws in our music making, particularly if you’re playing with the youth band. (Our church has a youth band, and a older contemporary/hymn type worship group who share Sundays)

Am I saying we should separate ages? No, we NEED the previous generations to guide and teach us, I am merely saying that you’re never going to make everyone happy, and as a musician, I know this is true.

Mixing and sound may play a big factor in people ability to worship, but let’s face it we do not go up on stage to “perform”, merely to lead god’s people in worship. If people are coming to church expecting a performance of the highest quality, they are coming for the wrong reasons. Anyway that’s my two cents worth….

Also, long life to the telecaster! Down with the tambourine! ;)
For those who may be interested, check out: “You love Never Fails” Jesus Culture on You Tube….awesome :)

Q

I’m no drummer but in my 25 year experience of being involved in leading worship I have had the priviledge of playing with both young and old drummers, experienced and less-so. This may come as no great surprise, but I find that timing comes first for the drummer, followed by sensitivity. As a worship leader I would much rather my drummer had good timing, as there are alternative solutions for managing sound levels. My son is a drummer, has great timing and a wonderful feel for worship, but very little control over his volume. He is also only 17, so all that will come in time and training. Now when I was 17 I didn’t play the piano/keyboard with anything like the ability I have now.
So in my view there are two solutions for drummers: invest in the more expensive electronic drum kits; or use drum screens (but not with backs or roofs!) to introduce volume control.
By the way, some of the drummers I have played with have also been too quiet, so it works both ways.
The point here is about giving everyone the opportunity to get involved in leading worship. So those who advocate better technique alone are being exclusive.

To Ray Evans – We have a 50′s era church hall with great live acoustics that make drum sounds very live. We’ve experimented with a cage – and it works. However, for our acoustics we’ve also experimented with using lighter sticks since the higher frequencies are the ones that seem to echo the most. This has worked well for us, the sound still carries well, and we can turn down the monitors on the platform. We have also switched to very small near-field monitors for keyboard and sometimes vocals to minimize the on-platform sound. (Best solution we ever tried was personal Bose towers behind the band, but the sound pattern didn’t reach our balcony!) Good luck.

As a worship leader and sound engineer, I’m a little disappointed in the authors attitude on this topic. As worship leaders, and by this I include anyone on stage and the sound techs, we are here to serve God and the congregation. We are asked to lay aside our egos and to help draw people into worship and provide an atmosphere that allows that to happen.

The truth is I’d love to see drummers with no shields, lids, or backs I’d also love to see guitarists with their amps on stage and the bass players to have 8×10 amppeg cab on stage, but the reality is this, most of us lead worship in 150-300 seat facilities and it’s impossible to get great front of house sound with open drums and amps and wedge monitors. We have a 800 and 500 seat sanctuary/auditorium and even in those rooms an open kit does not give us the best FOH mix. Even with drummers that are controlled in their playing. Rooms and band setups often dictate when and where to not use a drum shield. Even Hillsong uses shields. They do it because they usually have 10 vocal mics on stage and as a sound engineer that’s a night mare with drum bleed.

Also if you build your drum enclosure correctly, mic your drums correctly and have a great front of house system you can make an enclosed drum kit sound awesome and only the ‘experts’ can actually tell a difference. Our drummers have learned to love the drum cages because they can play as dynamic as they want and I as a worship leader never have to turn to them and say play the cymbals softer or the snare softer. They’d rather not be in a cage but they understand that for the size of venues we play in and the decibel/ energy level we want in our services, the enclosure allows them to play dynamically and not be a distraction to the congregation.

A general rule for sound is that you need to be 10 db louder than the sound coming off of the stage. If you have open drums, monitors, and amps on stage more than likely the sound is between 85-95 dbs coming off the stage, that means you have to run the sound at 95-105 and that doesn’t fly in most church services. So what happens, the sound guy trys his best to create a mix that uses the sound out of the mains and that coming off the stage. And it sound terrible.

The best thing we did was put our drummers in sound enclosures, took the amps and put them back stage and got in-ears/ avioms. Our sound has never been better and we get a great mix that isn’t distracting. When we starting playing in arenas we’ll stop using the enclosures.

This feels very much like a “horses for courses” issue to me!

Great article.

In the past I would use a shield (cage) and I didn’t mind it so much, but it became a burden. After some time, I asked the sound guy to meet me when no one was there except us and to bring his decibel meter. I played with the shield up and with it down and there was less than 3 decibels difference almost in the entire room – this is less than the human ear can distinguish.

I am proud to say I am now “cage free”. I have also ditched the in-ear monitors and opted for a private wedge. I can hear my dynamics so much better and feel like I am so much more a part of the room and the songs.

Alex, I do not believe that you are a drummer, plain and simple. Morever, you do not understand the basics of acoustic sounds. So to further explain the need for drum cages is pointless. I hope you learn on your own.

hey yall whats up, heres my opinion. When you cage a drum set without mics, its mainly for the sound volume. Mostly because there are young drummers, yet i am myself, that just band and never really had any lessons. but i know how adjust and adapt to the room and its acoustics. but another reason to cage in someone, is because you can mic them and have better EQ’s on each tom, snare and overhead(or whatever you may be micing). and there wouldnt be a bad echo. i personally like being in a cage with a roof and back, but with a mic’d kit.