Members WillyRay Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Well... my air conditioner is broken. The compressor is running, but the blower in the furnace room is not. Yesterday it was 90 in my house. The dog kept lookin' at me like, "What the hell?" Anyway, I've noticed a strange effect on my drums. When I practice in my house under these conditions my drums really sound weird. The tempos drag, the dynamics are sloppy and there are little beads of moisture that show up, seemingly out of nowhere on the snare. When I take the drums some where else, with proper air conditioning, they sound fine. Damnedest thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FitchFY Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Heh heh heh... ah, Silly Willy. If I know the stage is going to be hot, I give my drums a tiny extra tension right before I go on stage since I know they'll loosen up, combined with the extra beating they'll get since I'm on stage and in a rock band. Conversely, my high school drumline ended up doing a show in Washington, DC in the middle of February one year, and the whole line sounded great - all the drums were nice and tight. Heat and moisture is flat out bad for more or less all wood products, drums included! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rockbeat Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Originally posted by WillyRay Well... my air conditioner is broken. The compressor is running, but the blower in the furnace room is not. Yesterday it was 90 in my house. The dog kept lookin' at me like, "What the hell?" Anyway, I've noticed a strange effect on my drums. When I practice in my house under these conditions my drums really sound weird. The tempos drag, the dynamics are sloppy and there are little beads of moisture that show up, seemingly out of nowhere on the snare. When I take the drums some where else, with proper air conditioning, they sound fine. Damnedest thing. Obviously you have a problem with the batter heads you are using. The excessive heat is making your current heads stretch out. The lack of adequate rebound characteristics which result is the most logical explanation for the dragging tempos and sloppy dynamics. As for the moisture build-up, it could be condensation created by the friction of the expanding head actually surpassing even the ungodly temperature of the room. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillyRay Posted July 31, 2006 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Love this forum... post a mystery-question, and get good solid advice almost immediately! I'm gonna go get some ice-water... /willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members manoeuver Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 the one plus to a really hot practice space:If you're already drenched in sweat, you're not gonna hold back anything from your playing to keep from getting sweaty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 We lost power here a couple weeks ago after a storm and didn't get it back for 2 days. Some things I noticed with no TV and no AC: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the DW Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Try this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillyRay Posted July 31, 2006 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Originally posted by the DW Try this: Oh yeah... This is a situation where the Best Western towel isn't going to help, and the DW e-Towel really comes in handy! /willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the DW Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 The only thing better would be to have a couple of girls in bikinis fanning you with palm fronds!!! I'm sure your wife wouldn't mind, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members manoeuver Posted July 31, 2006 Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Originally posted by the DW The only thing better would be to have a couple of girls in bikinis fanning you with palm fronds!!! I'm sure your wife wouldn't mind, right? or a robot pouring ice water down the walls... probably a green robot. those are the less evil ones, I've found. Maybe iced tea... unsweetened. Fewer ants that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillyRay Posted July 31, 2006 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2006 Originally posted by the DW The only thing better would be to have a couple of girls in bikinis fanning you with palm fronds!!! I'm sure your wife wouldn't mind, right? Right now, in my house, if I could get girls in bikinis fanning us with palm fronds, I'm sure she wouldn't mind at all! /willy ps. It's too bad there isn't a smiley with an egg frying on his forehead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillyRay Posted August 1, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 1, 2006 Blessed relief! The man came, I paid him 400 dollars, and I have a new blower motor. 80 degrees and falling! /w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members manoeuver Posted August 1, 2006 Members Share Posted August 1, 2006 Originally posted by WillyRay Blessed relief! The man came, I paid him 400 dollars, and I have a new blower motor. 80 degrees and falling! lucky so-and-so.I have a box fan blowing hot air on my leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JSimms Posted August 1, 2006 Members Share Posted August 1, 2006 Originally posted by WillyRay Oh yeah... This is a situation where the Best Western towel isn't going to help, and the DW e-Towel really comes in handy! /willy Goddamn it. You guys crack me up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the DW Posted August 2, 2006 Members Share Posted August 2, 2006 Originally posted by WillyRay Blessed relief! The man came, I paid him 400 dollars, and I have a new blower motor. 80 degrees and falling! /w Hallelujah!!! So can I have my e-towel back now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted August 2, 2006 Members Share Posted August 2, 2006 My drummer leaves his drums in the garage, our temp here ranges from -30C to 37C, so yep, his drums sound like {censored}. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members havanasand Posted September 15, 2006 Members Share Posted September 15, 2006 My advise to anyone that has their drums in a garage or basement is to invest in a de-humidifier, especially if you want to keep the integrity of your hardware and C's intact. Mine pulls about 1/4 to 1 gallon H20/day depending on the wx and humidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted September 15, 2006 Members Share Posted September 15, 2006 I love it when an old post comes back for a visit! I notice that when I play in a really warm place that I tend to drink more cold beer than I would in a cooler place. Weird. Totally unrelated and counter-intuitive heat/humidity thing to think about: Most of the time when it's hot and humid, if you're watching a baseball game or golf, you'll hear some uninformed joker saying something to the effect that the extra moisture in the air is making the air heavier and restricting the flight of the ball. The truth of the matter is that water vapor is lighter than air, so when there's a lot of water in the air, the "air" is less dense, and baseballs and golf balls will actually fly further. Of course, if the grass is saturated, the ball won't roll as far, and when it's hot and humid, a hot and sweaty athelete is likely to lack the energy he has on a cool and dry day, but that's another story. What does this have to do with drums....hmmmmm.....let me think about this (....Old Steve racks his brain to figure out a way to segue back on topic.....). When it's hot and humid, and the air is thinner, there's less air resistance on your sticks, so you can play faster! :thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillyRay Posted September 15, 2006 Author Members Share Posted September 15, 2006 Originally posted by Old Steve [...] When it's hot and humid, and the air is thinner, there's less air resistance on your sticks, so you can play faster! :thu: Ah, yes, but the thinner air is a less efficient medium for your sound to travel through, so you may be able to play faster, but you'll sound quieter to the audience. /w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted September 15, 2006 Members Share Posted September 15, 2006 Originally posted by WillyRay Ah, yes, but the thinner air is a less efficient medium for your sound to travel through, so you may be able to play faster, but you'll sound quieter to the audience. /w True, but also remember that the decreased wind resistance on the sticks will also allow you to hit harder with the same effort. So that balances out the volume thing. I'm going to go carve some dimples into my drumsticks like a golf ball, that'll increase my speed even further. Much easier than actually practicing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WillyRay Posted September 15, 2006 Author Members Share Posted September 15, 2006 Originally posted by Old Steve True, but also remember that the decreased wind resistance on the sticks will also allow you to hit harder with the same effort. So that balances out the volume thing. Look Steve, you can play faster or harder, but not both. Can't have it both ways, man. Originally posted by Old Steve I'm going to go carve some dimples into my drumsticks like a golf ball, that'll increase my speed even further. Much easier than actually practicing! NOW you're talking. /w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted September 16, 2006 Members Share Posted September 16, 2006 You guys are playing with fire. Attempting to play through these conditions can cause unpredictable thermal transients; even catastrophic climatic events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.