Chiff and Fipple Forums

Any tricks for tuning drones in a noisy room?

On the weekend, I played at a reception for about 100 people. When I arrived in the hall, there were already about 50 people chatting, so I couldn't hear my drones very well and couldn't tune them. After the speech, I played a few tunes, and of course, there was silence for that, broken only by the sound of my untuned drones. I had to improvise with a quick adjustment to the bari and bass but it was not ideal.

I have a guitar tuner which works on the vibrations from the guitar, not the sound of the strings. This works well in noisy pubs, etc., when I can't hear the string. But the pincer of the tuner is too small for the drones.

Does anyone have tips for tuning drones in a noisy room (other than getting everyone to clam up for a minute)?

Find a corner where two walls reflect the sound back up at you and hope for the best. Or slip out to the Jacks and tune there.

I don't know how to find it now, but once upon a time I SWEAR I saw a photo of Fiachra O'Regan in a festival tent with his drones resting on/over his shoulder like Highland pipes. From the looks of it, he was tuning them.

I have tried this method in crowded rooms since, and it works. Looks a little -- okay, a LOT -- unorthodox, but when I put them over my right shoulder they're right next to my ear, and I can hear them reasonably well. It may not be perfect, but it gets me close.

Because I detach the chanter first and put my thumb over the bag-neck opening, it's pretty easy to do one-handed once you switch the drones on; I imagine you could hold a tuner with the other hand if you're talented that way and put it down to adjust.

Of course, if you have a stop switch you're in business!

Just go in the bog & tune em up. Nice an quiet with normally good acoustics. Worked for me every time

"Tuning up in the loo" option is a good idea if you have time. However, my experience with event organisers is usually something like "The juggler has been taken to the ER with a suspected concussion. Can you go on NOW?" That actually happened once!!

That's my experience as well. Though it wasn't a juggler, it was a minister having a seizure.

The other thing I run into is that the weather in the bog is usually pretty different from the weather in other places. And then there's the part about having nowhere to sit ... at least not in the ladies' .....

Oh, so many reasons to buy V Pipes for live back up, or at least in ear monitors

Have you tried earplugs? Even a simple set of foam earplugs might cut the ambient noise enough to let you focus on the closer drones, especially if you lean toward them a bit (the inverse square rule, and all that). Don a brimmed hat like The Keenan for extra focus.

I once played an entire St. Paddy's gig wearing 40 dB earplugs. It was so noisy I couldn't even hear the floor monitor at my feet, so I gave up. The plugs let me hear just enough of the player next to me above the noise to function. But the overall experience was admittedly bizarre.

I've touched the drone switch at the opening of my ear canal.
Desperate tuning calls for desperate measures.

I tell the organizer beforehand that I need a quiet room to tune my instrument - this has rarely been a problem as there is nothing special about this demand, really - other musicians or show acts of whatever kind need a room for dressing up.
In the very few cases when it was necessary (like, the tuning changed on stage) I have politely but firmly(!) asked the people for just two minutes quietness - usually the talking stops immediately because of the surprise, and before they start wondering what's going on and asking why, the tuning is done... I only need 20 seconds...
It can be trained to feel the vibrations of out-of-tune drones through bag and elbow, it does however take a good while and plenty of concentration.
And lastly, in absolutely desperate situations - if I can't hear my drones, no one else can, either. I have played whole gigs without any drones (for various reasons) and no one ever noticed there was something missing.

I've used someting like this before with reasonable success - not on Uilleann drones but I imagine the principle is the same.

http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/catalog/ ... w/id/19854

Cathy Wilde wrote: but when I put them over my right shoulder they're right next to my ear,

Ah, that was you, the piping Lady!
I have seen you on ebay some time ago.

scnr
Thomas

Stethoscope. I thought everyone used them...

Thomas Wiedemeier wrote:

Cathy Wilde wrote: but when I put them over my right shoulder they're right next to my ear,

Ah, that was you, the piping Lady!
I have seen you on ebay some time ago.

scnr
Thomas

!!!! Now where the heck did I put my perky pink hat?

Does anyone still have that photo? We should make a sticky of it. Piping Lady should be the board avatar.

MichaelLoos wrote: And lastly, in absolutely desperate situations - if I can't hear my drones, no one else can, either. I have played whole gigs without any drones (for various reasons) and no one ever noticed there was something missing.

Indeed!