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[Bertotti]

I'm curious how are you all balancing the acoustic and WD sound? Does one seem to drown the other out, does everything need to be miced or can you do acostic and the WD through a cab?

[WaveDrummer]

Good question.

I'll tackle this in two parts.

Part One:

I've done gigs with the Wavedrum where my kit was not miked, and in those instances there is a bit of guesswork when it comes to balancing the sound between the two. If I have a decent monitor next to me I try to blend the volume of the Wavedrum with the acoustic volume of the kit so that it sounds good to me first. I want to be comfortable when I'm playing and not be distracted by the mix. I will, however, seek the opinions of others in the band to make sure things sound balanced to them as well.

I've found that with a lot of technology that drummers might use, it's all too easy for other musicians to dismiss the devices if they can't quickly adapt their own ears to what's going on. If something is too loud, or if they're unable to hear a critical part that's being played, they will often blame it on the gear itself, or the drummer. Most musicians simply don't want distractions on stage. If something is being used that they are unfamiliar with, it often doesn't take much to dampen their enthusiasm for it.

This isn't always the case—some are more adventurous than others—but I have certainly run into it. My point in all this? Try to make everyone happy. If it's not perfect to your ears but others are encouraged by it, be willing to comprise a bit when it comes to blending a Wavedrum into a drumkit or other percussion set-up.

[WaveDrummer]

Part Two:

Playing with mics on the drums is a different ball game, in some ways.
One thing that many people often confuse, when it comes to miking acoustic drums, is the issue between volume and fidelity.

A properly miked-up drumkit is always going to sound better than an acoustic kit in any live performance setting. Period.
Many times people—other musicians, soundmen, etc.—wrongly believe that miking a drumkit is just a volume issue. It isn't. It has more to do with projecting an even, balanced sound to the audience and being able to compete with guitar, bass or keyboards that are always going through some sort of amplification which gives a fair amount of directionality to their sound. Acoustic drums will disperse pretty rapidly, even in a great sounding space. Once you start competing with amplified instruments, all sorts of frequency cancellation issues start to arise that can reduce much of what the drummer is playing to a less-than-ideal end-product.

A properly miked-up kit will counter those imbalances to create an overall more musical sound. Most people still don't understand this. It is not about just volume. It's about blended the entire kit so that what the drummer hears behind the kit is what the audience hears.

I'm endlessly amused when even very experienced soundmen say, "I'm just going to mic the kick and snare drum." Well guess what? It would make a lot more sense to mic the toms because the snare drum is a lot louder acoustically and, trust me, the snare will bleed into the tom mics anyway. And if there are any overhead mics, the snare will certainly bleed into those and be heard.

Tom-toms on the other hand will have a hard time competing with anything! Think about the way toms are angled. The sound comes off the heads, which are always facing the drummer and almost never really facing the audience. But try to convince most people of that and they think that the drummer just wants to be LOUDER by miking the toms.

No. We just want the sound to be balanced.
So where is all my rambling going?
Using a Wavedrum with a kit that is miked-up properly is the way to go for optimum impact and overall quality. Since the Wavedrum has to be amplified, again we are faced with a balance and fidelity issue. If the drums are miked-up as well, then everything gets the same "forward projection" and it becomes possible for the Wavedrum to blend seamlessly into the full kit.

The good news is that a lot of companies currently offer very affordable, complete packages for miking drums. For as little as two-hundred bucks you can get some surprisingly good sounding mics.

I've always been fond of some of the CAD mic packages. For the money, they're hard to beat. But many other companies also have some cool things to offer. Sennheiser, Shure, Audix...there are lots of choices out there.

OK, that was more than I intended, and perhaps I strayed a bit off topic, so in summation...

It's not too difficult to work a Wavedrum into an acoustic set-up, but given the choice, blending it with a drumkit that is miked up will ultimately be much more rewarding for both player and listener.

Back in the fall of 2010, I was part of a video session for Korg where I got to incorporate the Wavedrum into a full kit in the context of a full band—guitar, bass and keyboards. We performed a variety of feels and grooves to demonstrate the Wavedrum, both VOX and LAG guitars, and some Korg keyboard products. We also captured some cool footage with just Wavedrum and acoustic guitar.

So far, only very small snippets have turned up in a couple of keyboard demos. Very small snippets. I hope that more of it gets released at some point. Good stuff.

OK, I'm think I'm done!

[Bertotti]

Thanks for the reply. Very thorough and answered all my questions! Thanks!



How are you liking the oriental? I still haven't picked up a 2nd WD and haven't decided which I would want. I like the red but hate the white. Red and black would have been much better. I guess I am hoping they just get rid of the special run and package it in the original silver color as a WD2 or some such thing.

[Kaden]

[Bertotti]

So how do you like the Oriental? Is it that much more then the original? I know it's mostly a personal preference thing. I am thinking of ordering one soon. as soon as I put together a kick. I am tempted to go with a beginners edrum set just because it seems it would be easier to integrate then an acoustic set and the added bonus that if one of my kids picks it up it makes for a more harmonious practice time.

[stevesmithfan]

My kit is miked up. I like my Wavedrum slightly lower in volume than my acoustic kit.

[Bertotti]

How much of the taps and thuds of the head and rim can you hear from the physical interaction, like when it is off. I doubt it is to noticeable over the acoustic sound but am curious from the layers or audience perspective not from the record perspective.

[Kaden]

As much as we all love the huge dynamic range of the WD, there's a lot to be gained from a bit of compression on the output signal. My wavedrum is integrated into my hybrid electro-acoustic kit, with the WD and TD-8 submixed and compressed a bit before amplification. It significantly eases the challenge of getting the electronics to play nicely with the acoustic drums, with the added bonus of tightening up the WD's perceived response curve.
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Make. Write. Play drums

[stevesmithfan]