They need to turn theirs up,..most wont cuz you gotta deal with various feedbacks and reverb.

I will say this...the guitarist/vocals has issues cause he is new at singing. He does good when he can clearly hear himself. Our PA has some fierce feedback issues though, which horibly limits the volume.

On stage there is no discussion of volume...its only when we practice. We played a benafit set last month and I tore it up. We used house PA though. Still, I couldn't hear anything, but never dropped a beat.

not an uncommon problem. on stage at small venues too. one drummer i know has a kit with calfskin heads ,that he uses for small venues. it pulls the volume down a little and gives better control. ------ for practicing.----maybe a reasonable balance would be for some increase in the amplified instruments and some decrease in your volume. one way of doing that without affecting control and sensitivity is to cut damping pads for your drums. you can go full bore with those mfg. foam ones( they are too much, usually), or cut your own from a variety of materials. those thin pliable styrofoam packing sheets can work. canvas,tea towels, cut up old bed sheets from a range of materials; satin, smooth cotton, flannel,silk. ---go to a fabric shop and get some leftover pieces of a bunch of stuff and try them out. each material will be different. it will take some experimentation but you can get just the right amount of damping with marginal loss of feel. same with cymbals---thin streamers of various materials can soften their harshness , just enough.

have you tried using acoustic panels? cheap styrofoam sheets can be strategically placed.

I know it's not ideal but it sounds like you are in a tight space and rather than get into tiffs, adjustments might be prosperous.

The volume knobs on the guitars or bass dictate what`s going out the jacks, the trebble and bass knobs dictate how sensitive the pick-ups are going to be. The swiches dictate wich order the pick-ups are on or off.

I find if you turn up the knobs on the guitars, you turn down the PA,..if you turn down the knobs on the guitars, you turn up the PA. You don`t want the pick-ups picking up the speaker, much like you don`t want the snare picking up the bass drum or bass guitar !!

Maybe you guys need a sound guy,..a good one will explain the science behind it as he adjusts for you and you can learn from him !! Sometimes they are worth their weight in Gold, others are a waste of time and money. Shop !!

Coming into this project I knew I was a hard hitter. The initial arguments actually made me learn to play softer, which helped with many things. I am a much better player today than I was when I started with them. However trying to pull more off and I start throwing sticks and missing rolls. I believe I am about as "controlled" as I am gonna get.

I have thought about using some sort of muffling to lower my volume. Just never actually done it because I was skeptical if it would help or not. Thanks for that information...I will for sure give it a shot.

The acoustic tiles would be a great idea if we were in a designated practice area. Currently it's the guitarist's living room...not ideal for hanging tiles. We typically do jam in cramped quarters, we gig in cramped quarters...it's what we are used to, and honestly the monitor set up we are using is "rigged" at best. I would like to invest in a better PA all together, but we gotta use what we have for now. We have a powered mixing board with the monitor out ran to a combo vocal amp that has a powered line out (which we use for the front monitor). The powered board powers the mains.

OddBall, I proposed bring in a sound guy (since we all know someone really good), but it was deemed un-nessisary for practice purposes. Plus he is hella busy and none of us wanted to pull him away from that. We are a solid 20 minute drive from his house. I still want to bring him out though.

I`d get him for a couple of practices, learn, thank and pay him and go forward !!

Sounds like a combination of issues. Try the suggestions you've just read, also switch to lighter sticks, rods, brushes but most of all teach yourself dynamics and stick control. Watch old vids of Art Blakey and others for their technique in dynamics.

I would also suggest everyone gets their hearing checked. Since you have trouble hearing (as most drummers do) get your hearing checked, the problem might be you. If they are worried about hearing loss, buy everyone ear plugs.

Your singer needs to understand that what he hears in his head is NOT what comes out. If he feels he's loud, that's his head vibrating, which makes him think he's loud. He should see a vocal teacher and learn control and projection.

1 to 2 level volume at practice is ridiculous. Turn it up to 4 or 5 and put the speakers at the other end of the room aimed at the group, put the speakers on boxes to raise them up to your face level. If you can't hear at live gigs, you need to get your own monitor(s), either speakers or a head set.

Just my two cents here, at a live gig, if the customers have to yell at each other to have a conversation or speak to the bartender, you're too damn loud.

I appreciate all the comments. I do intend to have our mutual friend/sound guy stop out some time soon as we need help working the PA and we knew it long before these issues started popping up. None of us are sound guys, nor do we pretend to be. I also don't turn stuff up to 11...there is a happy medium to be found, and we are about 4 notches below that in my opinion.

The last time we played it was on a huge stage. The only thing ran through monitor was the vox. The amps were too far away for me to catch much of anything...from a players perspective it sucked. The sound guy, bar tender, and everyone there loved it though. Good mix, good sound, plenty of balls to make it to the cheap seats but not kill those up front...it went over well. Usually when we play small venues on our own sound the amps get pushed and they are somewhat near me. I can hear good then. Not saying I haven't lost some hearing, but its not that bad yet. The other two wear ear plugs at practice (which kinda makes me laugh inside being as we are soooooo quiet). I can talk over our practice. However, the ear plugs were used more to get used to them and I get that. singer uses one to block us a little out of one ear, the monitor is positioned so it aims at his other ear...if that makes sense.

Due to the complaints I have switched to Pro Mark 5A nylon tips from 5B Zil Travis Barker signatures. Thanks to the complaints and buying an older kit, I found VDF and have learned more than I can imagine about stick control, dynamics, styles...the list goes on. Yall help much more than you think. So in a way the back and forth has helped me as a musician to a point. Now though, that point has gone too far and it's really driving me nuts. I just wanted to make sure I was not totally screwed up in the head before I talk with these guys.

Thanks a ton for the ideas. I will for sure give them a whirl and see what works best with our situation.

I try to play as much as possible with rods/nylon brushes in rehearsal, sometimes I even tap a back beat with my fingers. I feel that I control the volume of the band to a large part. We are a six-piece rock band with a horn section. I feel that when I "turn down" the others follow me and we have a very reasonable volume at rehearsal. I feel that the drummer drives the band on all levels including volume!