Another Snare Mic'ing Thread

northsiderap

northsiderap

New member
Here's the dilemma:

I mic angled down on the snare its:
http://northsiderap.com/3dRenders/MicFrontAngle.jpg
BONK hats BONK hats BONK hats BONK hats BONK

OR

When I mic under the hats its:

http://northsiderap.com/3dRenders/MicUnderHatAngle.jpg
HATS Snap! HATS Snap! HATS Snap! HATS Snap!

I've tried mic'ing towards center, rim, and even high, middle, and low on the shell with no really good results.

I've done SM57s, A few different AKG dynamics and a few different small diaphragm condensers. Even threw a few large diaphragm condensers in there. Cheap condensers make the hats worse it seems, so I settled on a vintage small diaphragm Vega cathode follower tube mic, and it sounds warm like morning coffee with buttered toast. Same placement problems though.

I've tried 3-4 snare drums there too, and only the very brightest snappiest snares make me really happy. I like my dull thud snares though, and I want to use them.

I'm just looking for that nice snap! sound with a single mic. I'd even like to roll up the highs to emphasize the snares a little without washing in the hats too much.

Any ideas?
 
Could be the tuning of the snare. When it sounds like bonk then i usually use both a top and a bottom to make it sound balanced. Micing the shell will give you a better balance but wont give you alot of control on the snap which is somewhere there in the bonk.

Try keeping the angle a little more twoards the center or pull the mic in a little about an inch. Sometimes the edge can be kinda bonky. Maybe a little dampening (A LITTLE). Try even putting the mic parellel to across the head of the snare. Not angled just straight across. You might get a little more tom noise but the snare sound might even out a bit.

Danny
 
How to add that snap !!!

You need to place a second mic, underneath aiming up at the snares. So you have two snare mics. We did this on my last album and you can adjust the "snap" to your hearts content.

Now, you will most likely need to adjust the phase by 180 degrees. I believe that you can do that in post-production with software now-adays. I don't think we actually did that for mine, which I believe is a problem with my snare not standing out enough. The two signals were out of phase and thinning out the overall snare track. I am definitley going to check out this specific issue when I re-mix the album at home.

A big problem, is that my 10inch tom always brought out a lot of buzz from the snares, rolls were kinda funny at times :-) So you will most likely need to use a gate or something for that. Since you want the "snap", gating it so it is always there when you want it, and not there when you are not hitting the snare.

Good luck !
 
Yeah, I might add that you can try a tighter-pattern mic like the Beyer M201 to help isolate the sound.

If you really want both the attack and snare sound, you'll have to use two mics. If you only want to use one mic, you have to compromise.

Personally, I find that some of the snap gets through in the overheads, so I can close mic the top head and get away with it. I'm using two mics on my latest project, an M201 on top and a Rode NT2 on the bottom. I find that together they work really well. Sum them to mono and double check the phase, though.
 
I recently just recorded some songs and ended up completely tossing the top snare track (SM57 through UA2108) and just going with the overheads and bottom snare (mic'd with a Senn MD441 into a UA 2108).

The songs this was for are fairly heavy rock ... slow core-ish ..... which made the results that much more suprising to me that I was able to get away without the top snare but its very present and very detailed and with a little judicious compression also has a lot of pop.

Nice and crisp and not too much sizzle.

Something to try.

-mike
 
Thanks -

Thanks for all of your excellent suggestions.

So for now I'm going to experiment with a bottom mic. Hopefully it won't get too much bass drum.

I just *CANT* mix in another snare mic track. I'm already using six tracks for the drums.

1) BD
2) SD
3) OH - Stereo
4) TOMZ -Stereo (pre-mixed)
 
I have found that when using the traditional top mic'ing technique (with an SM57), pulling the mic further away from the snare will give a brighter sound. Moving the mic closer to the snare will give a duller sound. I haven't heard anyone else mention anything like this. Does anybody else agree?
I'll keep it aimed at the same spot (the center of the head) and just move it in or out until it sounds right. I'm certainly no expert, but I thought it was worth a mention.
 
metalhead28 said:
I have found that when using the traditional top mic'ing technique (with an SM57), pulling the mic further away from the snare will give a brighter sound. Moving the mic closer to the snare will give a duller sound. I haven't heard anyone else mention anything like this. Does anybody else agree?
I'll keep it aimed at the same spot (the center of the head) and just move it in or out until it sounds right. I'm certainly no expert, but I thought it was worth a mention.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's probably got something to do with the proximity effect of the skin and diaphragm (at least with the SM57 and most mics).

I remember when I wanted more of a snare sound a couple years ago, I pointed a mic almost straight down at the hoop about an inch or two up. I got more snare, but a lot of ring too. It was a neat sound.

You might try putting the mic behind the hoop and inch or two and an inch or two above and pointing it at the center. You'd get more snare/shell sound, but more bleed. Also, move your hihats to the left or up if you can.
 
cutting anything down below 400hz? Youll be cutting off alot more than bonk if you do that. I think frequencies below 400hz are some of the most important frequencies. Maybe is specific bonky spots but thats really hard to find.

Danny
 
To get rid of the hat and other stuff you need to gate the track then add some reverb during mixdown. That is the only way to get a big and snappy snare sound without too much hat in the mix.
 
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