Bass drum mic creating havoc with my sound

[Phil Starr]

I was largely sticking to one point for clarity. I don't know exactly where this drummer puts his 'back line' but if it's behind the kick mic it's just daft, but the solution as you pointed out is to let peace reign and to talk things through. At the very least the drums should go through the PA.

I personally like the sound of a good kit way better than any miked through the PA drum sound. I also like to keep it simple and would rarely mic up a kit unless I really had to, but my current drummer who is also a pro sound engineer likes his processed kick sound, and there have been drummers on this forum who have said they just use their kick as just a trigger and put a sampled kick sound through the PA. No accounting for taste but it can sound good done well and isn't wrong as such, just different.

So yes I'd do it your way but working with a drummer who likes to always be miked up I'm learning to adjust, accept that it's his way and listen to the overall sound we achieve.

I'm also asking if it's possible that if the OP is using a Fiver and has a particularly bassy eq set up to sound good at home and used unmodified at the gig. If so it seems likely that he has boosted bass in the kick drums lower resonance which is causing the problem and making the drummer think his kick can't be heard. Sort of volume war at 40-60Hz