help with a snare!

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lumpcalhoon

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First thanks for reading! Second feel free to make fun of my question....But I'm trying to get the snare sound from the gin blossums new miserable exp cd...i have addictive drums and easy drummer and TONS of rtas compressors and eqs but i cant seem to get the sound i even used the steven slate set with drummagog and no joy! so if someone could help! Thank you!
 
Try using a bottom mic, switched out of phase. If this heads in the right direction try gating the bottom mic so it only triggers opens with sound from the top mic, however don't actually gate the top mic.

Try adding a short plate reverb.

Of course the snare sound will also depend a lot on the room sound, a fair bit of the snare sound is obtained from the overheads.

Alan.
 
Are you creating your drums strictly in the box, or are you tracking any of the drums live? We've got some videos up on youtube on tracking drums -- they may help you out. Go to youtube and check out the Signature Sound Studio channel and look for "Recording Techniques Recording Drums" parts 1 and 2, and "Drum Recording Techniques 4 Mics." We should also have an article up on our blog pretty soon that gives pretty precise details on mic'ing drums.

Otherwise, to get the sound of that snare, first and foremost have a great sounding snare with a new head and properly tuned. Use top and bottom snare mics (I recommend in phase, unless you prefer the out of phase sound), and either emphasize the bottom mic or the top mic in your mix depending on the sound you want. Definitely EQ. Set up a few room mics (if you can) to pick up the overall sound and play with crazy compression on them. Put a reverb with about a 40sec predelay on it to taste.
 
Signature Sound said:
Use top and bottom snare mics (I recommend in phase, unless you prefer the out of phase sound),
Click to expand...

When you say "preferable in phase", what do you mean? When you mic a snare on the top and on the bottom, they're out of phase right off the bat. So do you mean he shouldn't flip the phase on one of the mics, or do you mean he should flip the phase on one of the mics?

(by the way, "phase" is in-correct. We should be saying "polarity")
 
As a rule when using a top and bottom snare mic, the bottom snare mic is switched reverse phase due to the distance between the 2 mics, the difference in distance the 2 mics are from the top skin (the one being hit) and the fact they are facing each other. However there are not rules if it sounds better with both mics the same phase then so be it. My experience is that reverse phase on the bottom mic is usually better. Yes, polarity is correct but the button is usually referred to the phase button. If you don't have a phase button just wire a mic lead out of phase (reverse pins 2 and 3) just make sure you mark it so you know which one it is.

Use top and bottom snare mics (I recommend in phase, unless you prefer the out of phase sound), Don't know what you are talking about here? You reverse the phase on the bottom mic so it does not sound out of phase?

Cheers
Alan.
 
Yes, I meant to say that you should flip the phase (reverse the polarity) of the bottom microphone so that the two microphones sound in phase with each other, unless the out of phase sound is preferable to your ears. It's an assumed standard, which is why I phrased my sentence that way, I apologize for the confusion.
 
Signature Sound said:
Yes, I meant to say that you should flip the phase (reverse the polarity) of the bottom microphone so that the two microphones sound in phase with each other, unless the out of phase sound is preferable to your ears. It's an assumed standard, which is why I phrased my sentence that way, I apologize for the confusion.
Click to expand...

No problem. Thanx for making it clear. I thought that's what you meant, but wasn't 100% sure. :cool:
 
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