Guitar getting drowned out when the drums get loud

[BaylorPRSer]

Hi there.

I play in a 3-piece with guitar, bass, and drums. For some bits, we mix quite well. However, when the drums get loud, he's hitting louder cymbals, snare volume is going up, etc. my guitar gets drowned out.

For example, we cover Under the Bridge by RHCP, as soon as the drums take off after the second chorus, I get buried.

The issue is actually more pronounced with distortion guitar parts.

For example, we cover Shimmer by Fuel. I switch from clean to dirty right when the drums crank up, and sometimes I'm inaudible (this was verified by people in the audience, so it wasn't a monitoring issue).

I'm currently playing through a POD HD500X running direct.

Is the solution simply to take note of the parts where the drums get loud and make sure I have more volume?

I don't want to get in a loudness war with my drummer, so figured it was better to ask here before retooling the POD in this way.

 

[Screamingdaisy]

Is the solution simply to take note of the parts where the drums get loud and make sure I have more volume?

This would ideally be managed by the soundman.

That said, assuming you don't have a soundman, you could have a "verse" sound and a "chorus" sound, with the "chorus" sound being a slightly louder version of the verse sound.

Rather than just pumping more volume, you could experiment with pumping more midrange, or a mix of the two.

 

[74n4LL0]

I had a similar issue in a 4 piece band. When I was using humbuckers I was getting drowned, this did not happen with single coils... So try using EQ as just suggested or a boost to use when needed?

 

[TedEH]

I don't want to get in a loudness war with my drummer

As a former drummer, I'd want to be able to hear what you're playing, and if the audience can't, there's a good change your drummer can't either. Drummer's can't really enter volume wars, because you can't meaningfully adjust the volume of a drum. They're just loud, end of sentence. So either you're audible or you're not.

I don't know the POD, but I assume your clean and dirt sounds are different patches or something? Just turn the dirt sound up. If it's too much, someone will tell you. They certainly weren't shy about commenting already.

running direct

This is one of the reasons I always keep a cab on stage, even if the FoH has a direct sound. You have no reference point for what anyone is hearing. If you've got a cab on stage, and you can hear the cab, and the drummer can hear the cab, and the PA is doing its job of reinforcement, then it's not a guess. You're otherwise at the mercy of the PA, the sound guy, the room, basically everything is outside of your control.

 

[sleewell]

This is one of the reasons I always keep a cab on stage, even if the FoH has a direct sound. You have no reference point for what anyone is hearing. If you've got a cab on stage, and you can hear the cab, and the drummer can hear the cab, and the PA is doing its job of reinforcement, then it's not a guess. You're otherwise at the mercy of the PA, the sound guy, the room, basically everything is outside of your control.

I agree on having a cab on stage.

Problem becomes when they wanna put all the amps in a line right w drums or even in front like if they are backlining 3 or 4 bands. the drummer might not hear that too well if a closed back cab is pointing out towards the crowd that is in front of them. Some sort of monitor for drums is ideal but presents other obstacles.