I actually did a science fair project on db levels for percussion instruments just over a year ago. If I remember right, I think I was able to hit 128-134 on my snare with double rim-shots. If I also remember right, the threashold of pain starts around 170, when sound can actually damage or break the eardrum.

By doubling the amount of sound, you only push it up 3 db levels, so 2 snares dosn't make it that much louder. I think that a full line might be able to push 140 or so if everyone was doing rim-shots and such.

Other odd facts if anyone cares... Cymbals are actually one of the lower db level instruments. A Marimba can reach 122 or so at the higher and lower extremes on the keys. Mid ranged notes arn't very loud because of the bell curve of frequency-db ratings.

When you hit a drum, the opposite side is louder... aka, for basses, if you hit with your right hand, the left side is slightly louder.

Oh, and for everyone's record, Rimshots aren't louder because of the hit. At the extremes of note pitch, db's get louder than in the middle. By taking the pitch up, you'll get a louder drum than normal. The way a rim-shot works is by taking vibrations from the rim and the batter head, and producing an opposite effect to the other. By doing that, the head resonates at a smaller intervle, whichi s a higher frequency, therefore increasing the pitch. Because of an increase of pitch, the same amount of force produced by the stick is transfered to a higher energy range, producing more db levels. It is about 6-10 db's higher than normal.

In Lamen's terms, Higher pitch = louder. Rimshots make it a higher pitch.



As a side note, I discovered something at the same time. Our band is a 1 'A' band, and has about 40 members. We bought SFZ snares a while ago, known for their rimshots & pitchs. We also tune our drums fairly high, to get a crisp sound out of the drum. Our drumline is about 1/3rd of our entier band. By using sfz's with higher pitch, one snare playing at about F can over-power our entire band. For field season, we had to play at about 4 inches at our F parts, and the judges were still saying the snares were too loud.

If you're having problems with drumline/band sound levels, just lower the pitch of your snares, and increase the pitch of the basses. Finding a decent sound at that pitch is different, but if you can find it, you hardly have to change your playing at all.

Just remember that you can get hearing loss if you are exposed to a high volume frequently and over a long period of time. Even if the volume is way below the pain level.