Getting a decent snare sound

M

MaximumMetal288

New member
I've been spending the whole day trying to get a snare sound that isn't crap but its not working. I've tried high tuning, low tuning, and everything inbetween on both heads. I've tried snare off, various muting techniquesm mic underneath the snare, above, really close, really far..... You get the picture. Can someone point me in the right direction for getting a good snare sound, something close to the sound of Neil Peart's snare in "Tom Sawyer" or the snare sound in the band God Forbid's last album "Gone Forever". Right now its sounding like a tom, which is kinda what Neil's snare sounds like, but its crisp and high, not just low and boomy like I have now.

Any help would be great.
 
First off, what kinda snare is it? Second, what heads are you using? What mics and signal chain are you using?
 
okaliee dokaliee....

The snare is a yamaha snare.. I don't know to much about it, I bought the kit second hand off my cousin for recording purposes. I have an Evans head on the top and I'm not sure about the resonant side. The Evans head is pretty new, I don't recall what specific model though, I think its a genera or something of that nature. Mics I have a shure pg48. pg52, pg57, pg58 available, aswell as some peavey mics.. not sure of the model. I have a Yamaha mixers that goes into a Delta 44 which is on Cubase on my pc. I'm not too worried about the recording part, right now I'm trying to perfect my source sound, then the recording should kinda fall into place...
 
Youve either got a bad sounding snare and need to get a different one, or you cant add effects right to get the snare sounding snappy and crisp. (Source should sound good without any effects in the first place)
You should try and get used to listening to the snare in the room the drums are in and being able to tell if it will record well. If you can tell it sounds good in the room and you go into the control room and it also sounds good, your onto a winner. You cant really go wrong. But if you go into the control room after thinking the snare sounded good in the room, then either your judgement of a good snare sound is poor or your mic choice/mic placement is bad.
 
The snare should sound good in the room first. If it doesn't sound like what you want to hear on the recording, you're not going to get that sound. If you aren't very familiar with a spectrum of heads, both top and bottom, you're going to have a hard time figuring out how to get the sound you want. For a quick fix, I reccomend using heavier heads, perhaps with sound control like the black dots or rings. Every drum has different responses to different tunings; depending on how both heads are tuned makes wild differences, especially in the recorded sound. I find that after 13 years of studying drums that I am just now getting comfortable with snare drum tuning. It takes a lot of trial and error.

That said, for everything but the most delicate snare work, I slap some heavy compression on my snare mics (usually a sm57 placed one inch from the rim at a ~45 degree angle pointing towards me from the top of drum). I have a hard time using software compression to get the sound I want, so I will either track with my RNC, or run the raw track through the RNC later. I also often have a Moongel damper pad placed a quarter inch from the rim to kill the higher pitched ring of the drum.
 
Neil's snare is tuned pretty tight. I also tune my snare fairly tight and get a good sound. Remember also mics don't hear the way ears do, so playing around with placement is important. Too close can kill the sound. The sound should be able to develop before it reaches the mic.

The top head should be fairly tight. I crank mine pretty good. The bottom head should be a little tighter than the top head. Loosen your snares all the way and then add them back until the rattle goes away. Then back it off again so you get a little rattle. The snare has to be able to breath or it'll sound choked.

You said the top head was an Evans. I hope it's not a two ply. Two plys don't record well. An ambassador coated or coated CS head works really well. I have found that thinner heads make the drums sound bigger in recordings. Don't muffle it. Tune it well. If you don't like the ring, use a little peice of duct tape and tape it to the outside of the rim then arch it over to touch the head about an inch from the rim. I like a little ring and it gets burried in the music anyway. It adds sustain to the snare.

Oh, and trenttati is right. Recording the snare and the kick with compression makes them sound huge and punchy. Well defined, too.
 
Get the snare to sound good in the room. Try O rings or mon gel if you are going for a very tight sound. A lot of the crack of a snare sound in a mic comes from the overheads.
 
I am recording in the back of my basement, which is unfinished. Its behind the fireplace and roughly 8 feet by 13 feet. Its not an ideal location for getting any sort of drum sounds.

My brothers friend came over and said that the spring for adjusting the snare was all stretched out, so it looks like I'll be heading out to guitar center to get that fixed. Apparently the snare can't get to tight on to the drum, so the spring should help get that more of a crisp, Neil Peart sound.

Here is a song I recorded after my bro's friend messed with the snare. I am happy with it compared to my other stuff, but its still lacking.. and yes I know the playing is NOT top notch either.

Thanks for all the responses
 
sounds like you're loosing a lot of the "meat." have you tried micing the shell of the snare instead of the head(s)?
 
PhilGood said:
Neil's snare is tuned pretty tight. I also tune my snare fairly tight and get a good sound. Remember also mics don't hear the way ears do, so playing around with placement is important. Too close can kill the sound. The sound should be able to develop before it reaches the mic.

The top head should be fairly tight. I crank mine pretty good. The bottom head should be a little tighter than the top head. Loosen your snares all the way and then add them back until the rattle goes away. Then back it off again so you get a little rattle. The snare has to be able to breath or it'll sound choked.

You said the top head was an Evans. I hope it's not a two ply. Two plys don't record well. An ambassador coated or coated CS head works really well. I have found that thinner heads make the drums sound bigger in recordings. Don't muffle it. Tune it well. If you don't like the ring, use a little peice of duct tape and tape it to the outside of the rim then arch it over to touch the head about an inch from the rim. I like a little ring and it gets burried in the music anyway. It adds sustain to the snare.

Oh, and trenttati is right. Recording the snare and the kick with compression makes them sound huge and punchy. Well defined, too.
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I ditto that. Especially the compression. So many people underestimate or don't understand what compression does. I'm not assuming you're in the dark about it, but lots of people just ignore it... To understand it, use it for a while with a proven setting on kick/snare... then remove it. You'll see what the heck we're talkin about and you'll never go without it again!
 
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