| Iv'e seen so many drummers stuff the kick drum with muffling, then shove a mike in it and try get a sound out of it instead of tuning and letting the drum heads and shell create the sound. A good idea to listen out front when the band is playing to hear what your kit sounds like from the front, a drummer friend is useful as long as they know what you are trying to achieve and play to give you a good idea.
I don't use any muffling inside but do use a superkick batter head.
Another, is musos who fluff around between songs, or you count in and they are half a mile away. I like to keep a four second rule between songs and am always preparing a song ahead when i'm playing, it keeps the momentum of a night (and people on the dance floor).
Other people handling my gear, i prefer to load, set up, strike and load my own gear. A lesson i learnt in my younger days when my unprotected snare was dropped at the top of a stair flight and did it's own drum roll (pun) to the bottom denting a hoop. Since that episode i got some road cases, and my 17 year old regularly gigged drums have kept in mint condition.
Musos that forget there is a rhythm section right behind them setting the tempo, dynamics and feel.  |