Snare drum sound

Nola

Nola

Well-known member
Can anyone tell me what's going on with this snare? i.e. how they got that sound. My snare samples are all really annoying with a harshness and a lot of the wire sound. Is this a close mic? The crispness on it is nice to my ear and almost sounds gated on the sustain. Wondering if anyone can help me emulate it. Thanks!

YouTube
 
You sure the half-open hat with it isn't just throwing you? I bet the snare completely solo is nothing different/special.
 
Probably a loose wire snare with a gate, and longish plate reverb also gated. They maybe had a bottom mic on the wires that was gated with the top mic. Would have been done with close mics or there would have been too much spill from other drums to get the gates to work.

All that was a guess but thats how I'm start.

Alan.
 
Steenamaroo said:
You sure the half-open hat with it isn't just throwing you? I bet the snare completely solo is nothing different/special.
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Dang, good call I think that is it. I'm hearing that open hat where I'm expecting the snare hit and mistook it for a weird sounding snare. Lol.
Does the hat sound gated to you? It seems to lack normal sustain and almost seems timed to the pulse.
 
My ear isn't tuned for drums, but I think the drummer's just closing it.
Sounds like the pressure is let off as the snare hits, just for a little sizzle, then it's clamped back down again.
 
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I think Steenamaroo is correct. This snare really doesn't sound that special outside of the hats. I took the cleanest hit (that still has a hat hit fallowing it) and duplicated it.



Then I tried to duplicate it as close as I could... however it's not possible because A: No idea what snare drum was used and B: No idea what actual processing was going on. and C: Unless I own the actual physical snare, the tuning is never going to match.



Dropbox will kill these links eventually because they suck, so sorry about that. Keep in mind the original also had some bass drum decay in it giving it the illusion of some low end but the original actually sound pretty bare to me under 180hz.
 
Guitargodgt said:
I think Steenamaroo is correct. This snare really doesn't sound that special outside of the hats. I took the cleanest hit (that still has a hat hit fallowing it) and duplicated it.



Then I tried to duplicate it as close as I could... however it's not possible because A: No idea what snare drum was used and B: No idea what actual processing was going on. and C: Unless I own the actual physical snare, the tuning is never going to match.



Dropbox will kill these links eventually because they suck, so sorry about that. Keep in mind the original also had some bass drum decay in it giving it the illusion of some low end but the original actually sound pretty bare to me under 180hz.
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Wow, thanks for doing that. How were you able to isolate it like that?
Now I have a clear reference when working in drum software, so this will help a lot.
 
The beginning of the song has that snare roll coming in, there is one decent hit without the hats playing over it and that's what I cut out.
 
He is just opening and closing the hat, like in the part that starts at 1:55. There you can here what he is doing with the hat, without the snare going too.
 
When I studied the snare sound for the OP I did not listen to the hi Hat at all, I thought we were talking about the snare sound not the combination.

Just Saying LOL

Alan.
 
Thanks, guys. I don't see the option to manipulate the hats like that in drum software. Just add a high hat hit in time with the snare, but it doesn't sound quite the same. I can't figure out how to open then close it in time (sounds like it is gated to end right on the beat?) via programming.

Follow up question: any tips on how to get that bass tone? It's a bit loud in volume, but I like how it cuts through the mix. Are they bumping the mids to do that? Any tips on how that EQ would look?
I'm having trouble with the low end in some songs and using this as a guide track since the genre is similar.
 
Usually there are samples assigned to different notes for various degrees of open hat, and closed hat,
but also there's usually some parameter you can control to automate opening and closing.

It's probably one of the big giveaways of programmed drums, I would guess, when the programmer doesn't automate that.
Going on memory but I think you'd want to be opening the hat partially for the hit that coincides with the snare, then very quickly closing it again.
 
Nola said:
Thanks, guys. I don't see the option to manipulate the hats like that in drum software. Just add a high hat hit in time with the snare, but it doesn't sound quite the same. I can't figure out how to open then close it in time (sounds like it is gated to end right on the beat?) via programming.
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Not sure what drum software you are using...but no matter, you should be able to edit in the DAW's MIDI Drum Editor.
It's an open hat followed by a closed...but like mentioned above, there are various degrees of open hat, so you have to find the one that works.

I have probably about a half-dozen open hat choices...and maybe 3-4 closed types...plus a few more.
I think of all the kit pieces...I have the most hat choices set up in my drum map, since there are so many ways to work a hat...more than any other kit piece, IMO...and I'll use most of them in every MIDI drum track I sequence.

Think like a drummer. :)
 
Thanks, guys. I'll tinker more with the drum articulations.
Any input on that bass guitar question above? It might have gotten buried but probably isn't worth a second thread to ask.
 
I have nothing to listen to it for bass at the moment, but as a rule for me if I want a louder more defined bass sound I carefully cut low end in the EQ and turn up the volume. Don't worry about the lack of low end EQ as the increased volume adds to it, also cutting the low on the bass guitar clears room for the kick drum.

Alan.
 
Both questions: Snare is probably a deep wood snare and it sounds like the tuning is low and the snare wires a little loose. There are two hihat tracks one playing straight 16's and one playing the snare hits open/close effect. The hats for this are heavy and recorded separately and recorded very loud.

The bass is a P-Bass with round wound strings. There's a bass pedal of some sort on it and lots of compression. Also recorded very loud. I don't hear a speaker involved with the bass.

And all of the drum sounds have a layer on them from Slate or some other programs
 
witzendoz said:
I have nothing to listen to it for bass at the moment, but as a rule for me if I want a louder more defined bass sound I carefully cut low end in the EQ and turn up the volume. Don't worry about the lack of low end EQ as the increased volume adds to it, also cutting the low on the bass guitar clears room for the kick drum.

Alan.
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Thanks. How low do you cut? Currently, I HP at 80hz. There is still a lot of energy around 100hz. I was leaving that for low end, but now thinking maybe cut it and boost the volume.
Does anything go with bass?
Funny thing is I used this same bass on another song and it fit better. I guess the other instruments are building up in this one.
 
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