Garbage can snare

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rdfuze

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Hey can anyone help me tame my snare drum that sounds really garbage can like when im recording it , its a ludwig set im using an sm57 on the snare and two u87s on the overheads as well as an sm58 on the hat. Im trying to get it to sound a little more solid. with some bottom. Is it the size snare im using. Im in a medium size room with 11' ceiling and about 15 x 20
Amd im really going for a balls to the wall rock thing
 
What do you mean solid?

New heads?

Tighten the wires, tape the top little by little to shorten the decay sometimes I use silly putty along the edges on top. If the snare sounds go in the room and the mic isn't capturing it then the mic are in the wrong spot 99% of the time. IMO, get rid of the 58 on the hihat and let the 87's capture that since most hats close mic'd sound like doo doo to me.

SoMm
 
You really should try a different drum. You can mess with tuning and damping, but if it sounds like a "garbage can", and that is not the sound you want, you will probably have better luck with a new drum. Anything you do to treat the current drum may make it sound less like a garbage can, but it will still have that quality.

By "garbage can" snare sound, do you mean it sounds like the snares on Metallica's "St. Anger"? That's what comes to mind.
 
Lose the 58. Replace the heads and snares. Carefully inspect the bearing edges of the shell. If it's in good shape, tune it up correctly and then apply what dampening you need to achieve the sound you're looking for. For a heavier rock sound yo might want to tune the snare a little lower than you might expect. Dampening rings can be cut from old heads. Moongels are great. Use two and play with the spacing to really get some different tones out of the snare. Avoid duct tape if at all possible unless you like gummy heads. I reccomend using gaffer's tape if you must use tape at all.
 
Sounds like the drum needs to be tuned. Get the drum sounding good in person then its just a case of capturing the sound to tape(may require tweaking)
 
Just curious, is the snare sound trashy before you record at all in the room or does it sound trashy only after you've recorded? Your answer will tell you where to focus because if it sounds fine to your ears in the room, you're either not positioning your mics properly to capture the sound accurately or you're not using the right mics for the application or a combination of both.

Honestly, I've NEVER been able to easily achieve a great snare drum sound using SM57's and 58's (while not having the attention span/sanity long enough to scientifically play with every variable of proper mic placement in the room to get a basic "true" sound from the 57's/58s) until I purchased a Marshall MXL990 Large Diaphragm condensor mic and it picked up my snare just as my ears heard it in the room. The "recording curve" to a great sound is much less than than the 57's/58's and you'll see them as simple toys after playing with a more accurate LD mic. I haven't regretted that purchase one bit. Overall, the Marshall LD general purpose mics (not the overhead mics- e.g. 991s) or ANY L.D. condensor mic are absloutely a step-up and great for using on recording drums (especially when you apply light compression) and the Marshall's won't break the bank price-wise.
 
awesome advice above. a quick check on your mic placement without having to move anything is: how does it sound in the overheads? if it sounds good there then you know it's the close mic/placement. it's proly your drum though.
 
Garbage Can

Hey, why try to make an apple sound like an orange?

If you want to record something that sounds like you hitting a garbage can, hit a garbage can.

Seriously.

I"ve played garbage cans before. It helps to suspend at least a little of it off of the floor so that the air/sound doesn't get trapped inside and it resonates to the outside room.

You can even tape snares into the garbage can. I've duct taped chunks of metal, etc in there.

Once someone stole my Ludwig snare back when I was super broke, so I used a weak old metal chair on my recordings for a while.
 
One time I put two Skill Saw blades on the garbage can lid and it sounded awesome.

I think though you might have missed the part where he implied he DOESN'T want it to sound like a garbage can.
 
Dang

Sorry, just woke up when I posted that.... A good snare is hard to find...
 
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