Help Me Tune My Snare

EIK

New member
I have always hated tuning my drums.
I'm never quite happy with the way that they sound. Right now I'm trying to focus on getting my snare drum to sound good. It's a 6x14 maple drum with die cast rims.

I made a page where I put up some soundfiles and a picture. Hopefully someone out there can help me in getting this drum to sound as good as it deserves.

http://soam.home.acedsl.com/Snare.html

Thanks!

EIK
 
Thanks, I've seen that page before. I was hoping to do a more "hands-on" approach though. I'm hearing the bottom head too much. I am also trying to get "more crack". I'm thinking maybe the bottom is head is too tight. If that's the case then I have to get new lugs. The snares should also maybe be looser.
 
Well, the snare I have here is a bit different than yours. It's a Pearl 14x6 bell-brass full-floater. Right now it has a clear Emperor on the top, a clear Ambassador on the bottom and a light-guage 20-strand 2"x 12" strainer. Yeah, the strainer ends are actually sitting on the head! The top head is torqued down as tight as the lugs will allow, and the bottom is a little looser, not much. It's down a 5th pitch-wise. The strainer is just tight enough to hold it flat against the head.

It has a pretty good "kank" to it this way, but I like it better with a coated top head. It's pretty ringy with clears top & bottom. I'd rather have too much ring than not enough though.

YMMV :D
 
The strainer ends sit on the head of all my snares I believe. I think they came that way. I could be wrong though.

Speaking of strainers, does mine look about right? I'm thinking it might be a bit too tight?
 
I don't know what you consider "fairly hard", but if I pull on mine like that in the center it tweaks the ends.

It's pretty loose I think, but I like it that way.;) Just enough tension to hold it flat against the head.

The original strainer for this drum went past the edges of the head. When it broke this short one was all we could find at the time, and it seems to work fine.
 
Question:

Are you micing the bottom head?

Have you experimented with any of the suggestions you have mentioned? (ie bottom head too tight, etc)

It may be difficult to get a good "crack" out of a 6x14 maple snare. A drum like that will tend to be more "throaty". Just something to think about.
 
Quote: "I don't know what you consider "fairly hard"

Well If I pulled it any harder it would probably hurt and leave a mark on my finger for at least a minute. I'll try loosening it up.

Re: micing the bottom head.

No I'm not micing the bottom. I just have a 57 on top which is how I usually do it.

I haven't been able to loosen to bottom head because I changed the hoops, and now the tension lugs seemsa bit too long. If I loosen the bottom head it looks like the tension lugs will fall out. I'll try putting on the old hoops which are made out of wood. I changed them because they looked a little warped. It's actually a pretty nice drum, a Yamaha
Anton Fig.

Re: "crack"

I think I should be able to get more "crack" than this. The sound files should work now...but I'm gonna change the hoops, so maybe I'll just upload new ones ones I've done that. Hopefully I'll get it done by tomorrow.

Thanks,

EIK
 
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