Sound Performance Lab Gain Station 8 2383 - Manual (Page 22)

22 GainStation 8
Drums/snare drum
Exercise caution when setting levels to avoid clipping. Drums
are notorious for fast, powerful transients that can easily add
10 dB to the average level. In addition, few drummers (or any
musicians, for that matter) are so disciplined that they don‘t
play louder during a take or concert than they do during sound
check. Experiment to see whether or not you like the sound of
the tube stage and in what proportion. It‘s definitely a good idea
to use peak limiting to protect converters and/or other equip-
ment and prevent unwanted distortion (see “Limiter”, page 20).
In FET mode, the limiter may be more audible than you‘d like it
to be when used on drums.
Bass drum
Here pretty much the same applies as for snare drum. The peak
limiter may tend to accentuate the attack or “click” of the bass
drum, which can lead to undesirable sound variations with less
disciplined drummers.
Toms
Level setting is not quite as critical with toms. Moderate use of
the FET limiter will provide pleasant yet effective leveling.
Overheads
Using the tube stage on overheads can give the entire drum set
extra punch and presence—don‘t worry if the 18 dB LED illumi-
nates brightly in this case. Higher tube gain levels will increase
the punch and loudness effect. The FET limiter is an additional
creative tool on overheads.
Application examples