Isolating Percussion Instruments

On stage or in a recording studio drums tend to overwhelm almost every other instrument. The inherent nature of percussion instruments makes for loud and powerful sounds that easily drown out guitars, keyboards, brass instruments and vocalists. Some drummers have tried electronic drums, or V-drums, but have come to find the artificial sound too mechanical for their liking. To solve tricky recoding and live performance drum issues consider using high quality sound baffles and drum shield enclosures to maintain the natural sound of real drums while tempering the volume so other instruments can be heard clearly.

There are several ways to isolate a drum kit but perhaps the most effective is to build a drum enclosure system. Using superior acrylic and Plexiglas panels that provide acoustic separation between the drums and other instruments on stage or in a recording studio, you help reduce drum bleed into vocal or instrument microphones and lower the stage volume so everyone can hear themselves better and thus play better. Drum enclosure panels are usually made form ?" thick acrylic and can be found in various sizes and configurations from 2' to 5.5' in height. You can also find special extenders that allow you to create a taller enclosure for larger drum kits and percussion ensembles.

Another way to isolate drum and percussion instruments is to use Plexiglas drum cage enclosures with SORBER sound baffles. Made from 1.5" thick fiberglass encased in heavy trunk cloth, SORBER baffles easily and effectively contains sound and control reflections. Studio engineers often will build a drum enclosure with SORBER sound baffles on the bottom of the acrylic panels to create a standard line isolation barrier that tempers the sound of bass drums, cymbals and snare drums so the percussive beats don't interfere with guitar players and singers.

For large drum kits, or percussion set ups that are raised on a platform, you can use height extender panels to effectively enclose the reverberation and reflection being produced by the drums. Available in various sizes you can ad anywhere from 12" to 18" of height to standard drum shield panels. Height extender panels often come with "H" channel and hinge so you can easily attach the extenders to existing drum enclosure panels and conveniently fold down the enclosure for touring.

With high quality acrylic and Plexiglas drum shield panels, appropriate height extenders and sound baffle equipment you'll be able to achieve drum isolation on stage or in a recording studio for your drums without having to revert to artificial sounding electronic drums or asking your drummer to change his technique.

For a great selection of sound isolation equipment including drum shields, portable vocal booths, amp enclosures and SORBER sound baffles visit ClearSonic.

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