Help with my snare sound?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gherkin
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Gherkin

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Hey all!

I'm new to recording, and am currently using two SM57's. One on the snare, and one on the kick. They're going through an Alesis Gigamix8FX. (Yes, a PA head, not a mixer... it has a two track output going to my computer's line in. :cool: )

How would I be able to get more 'crack' out of my snare? What would be the best mic placement for this? How much reverb?

The snare cracks like crazy until I record it. :confused:

There's a small sample here: http://home.iprimus.com.au/aomara/Drums/Gherkin's%20Drums.mp3

- Aidan
 
How close are you micing the snare? The direction of the mic is important too. They say if the mic is close (an inch) at the edge of the skin then you'll pick up the ring and body. If your pointed at the contact point of the stick you'll get the attack. Keep that in mind and find a good balance. The only problem you don't have now is the missing bottom snare sound. You might lose that when you get closer and you might need to use that other mic on the bottom of the snare.

You might need some kinda preamp to heat things up. Even a behriger mic100 tube di would help and thier dirt cheap. I mention that cause you sound like someone who is running a very tight budget. I've been there, once I recorded a whole demo with two decent dynamic mics and three crap ones. It sounded like poop for the three months it took to mix it but I pulled it off.

If you decide to mic the bottom of the snare rev. the phase, the Mic100 is good for that too.
 
I'm not sure there's anything wrong with the tuning or mic placement. The drums sound good from what I can hear through the fuzz. Sounds to me like trouble with the recording gear. Everything sounds distant and there's a lot of floor noise. Maybe a tad too much verb. I think you need a decent mixer (not a P.A. head) with some decent pre's and then a good sound capture card. Standard computer sound cards don't have very good D/A converters for the most part. It should sound very "in your face", but it doesn't.
 
I'm actually digging the lack of crack on this drum track. For me the hard part isn't getting an insane crack but a noticable thickness. This clip sounds very lo-fi though...I agree with what PhilGood said about the D/A converters. It may be time to upgrade your gear! Consider buying a soundcard with better D/A converters. It sounds to me like you're well on your way to having drum tracks that people envy.
 
Thanks everyone!

It's nice to know that you guys think I'm on the right track.

The sound card I'm using is absolute crap. No doubt about it. It's not even a real sound card... Onboard junk. Eurgh. :rolleyes:

However, I'm planning on getting an Alesis MultiMix16FireWire mixing board, an Audix D6 kick mic and a pair of decent condensors sometime in the future. Do you think this is a good choice of gear, or should I be considering something else?

- Aidan
 
That sounds fine to me. I checked on the Alesis mixer, and it's pretty nice if you want a mixer as well. Some people like to people to actually grab the faders. Also, for the same price, there's the presonus firepod, which I own. Nice pre-amps. I would read some of comments after mine for more input on the
Alesis mixer, since I have never used. Also, the mics you mentioned sound fine. The D6 is a great kick mic, and all you need is two decent condensers for OH's, since you already have two sm-57's. Go try out the Alesis mixer as well and talk to other members on the board about it.
 
Also, I think your snare problem might be the fact that you are not using OH's. Try putting one of the 57's up as an OH and close mic the snare as well. Then record and mix the both together to your taste. That may solve your problem.
 
FattMusiek said:
I'm actually digging the lack of crack on this drum track. .
Click to expand...
me too! :D I mean it. maybe not what Gherkin wants though.. :(
now, lo-fi? no crap! it's 32kbps/22.0khz mono mp3 file ... I only can guess in a "crippled" way how it may sound as being recorded to his computer with what ever card is there before converting to lo-fi mp3. I guess a "golden ear" can hear and recognize 'quality of ADC through 32kbps/22.0khz-file. I can't. :confused:
Gherkin, don't lose (don't forget) your secret Gigamix8FX-technique to get the snare sound you are getting now... you may want it :) later...when you get your new mixer and comp.-interface and what ever else ....

/respects
 
how come no one ever mentions tuning?....crank that bitch up!!
 
Yeah, something I've come to realize lately is that a higher-tuned snare will have a lot more pop when you record it.

We might be able to get a better listen if the mp3 wasn't at 32k bits. Try something a little higher next time.

Once you have the ability to record more mics at once, definitely get some overheads in the mix. 57's will work but condensers are preferred. Read up on different methods for OH placement. Overheads are really what make it sound like a drum set. You'll be surprised how much they add. If you go with condensers, make sure you can supply phantom power to them or else you won't get anything out of them. :D always a little tricky the first time you plug in a condenser.
 
brandrum said:
how come no one ever mentions tuning?....crank that bitch up!!
Click to expand...
The crack's there, and the snare sounds just the way I want it... Until it's recorded.
 
I'm not even close to pro

The whole recording sounds different, like it's got some sorta flange effect.
Are you running a compressor?
 
Bdrum said:
The whole recording sounds different, like it's got some sorta flange effect.
Are you running a compressor?
Click to expand...
No compressor.

I'm using one of the reverb effects from my Alesis GigaMix8FX though.
 
if i'm useing a 57, i'm probably adding some hi's to the end result.
maybe that's just me.

a sdc usually requires less eq, but presents a new set of problems.

someone said something about overs, and for me it's true a large part of a snare i like usually comes from the overs.
 
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