Good way to record Snare

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Ienjoymusic879

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Ok so My mom bought my oldest brother some nice sound equipment so he could make some money to leave and go to college(score). So hes leaving the stuff behind and im takin over. So we do digital recording, We have a mackie mixer, im not really sure what model it is (to lazy to check) but it has 16 tracks and we have an m-delta 1010.
(SOOOOOOOOO to my question)
When i record my snare i want it to sound really hollow(sp?) and raw and just a sound that is really distinct and out there.(sorta like blink 182s snare on the album enema of the state) I use a pg56 to record my 5x14 snare. any suggestions? i think it might be the mic is kinda cheapy but i dunno. i wanted SM57 but they cost more. or it might be the way i have the mixer set, any suggestions on that? well ill shut up now so you guys dont get bored of reading and not answer my questions at all.
Thanks
 
I have no idea what a pg56 is but...
To start off with tune your snare so it makes exactly the sound you're after?
 
Well yeah i did that but when i actully record it, the sound changes so much it just sounds like a click, is there any way to mix it to change that? or a piece of hardware you could buy that sorta brings out its true sound? A pg56 is made by Shure its a little bit lower class than an sm57.
 
You will get most of your snare sound out of your overheads or a room mic. The close snare mic is really just to add a little punch. Most of the snap and air happens a few feet away and the snare tuning and room sound play a big part in that.
 
To carry on from Tex' message - specify exactly what mics you are using when you record drums, and how you place them
 
yeah...

ok I use 2 PG81s for my cymbols i just put my crash and hit hat at same hight so i can get equal sounds from them. and (my) right crash a little bit high then the ride so i can get both of those with one mic. And i use pg56's on my Snare MT and FT and I use a Pg52 on my kick. I keep the pg56s really close to the drum like almost touching so then it doesnt have to be very loud and it doesnt pick up the cymbols(good or bad?) and yeah the pg81's are about 5 inches away from the cymbols. and i dont have a stand for my kick mic (which sucks) so i just put it on a old MT in front of the kick. Thanks Tex for the information. :cool:
 
Re: yeah...

in a limited micing context, your overheads arent really for micing the cymbals... they are for getting an all around drum sound.

anyway, here is my super basic drum kit micing advice... (for what it is worth)

try the two "cymbal" mics a few feet above the kit. see if you like that sound. not happy? try them at head height in front of the kit about 6 feet out. dont like it? try them directly to the right and left of the kit a few feet out. move them around till you like the sound the most. flip the polarity if you have to. if you cant flip the polarity, i would switch to one mic for the overhead. anyway, point is for you to get a nice sound that you are happy with at this stage...

now, throw up your bass drum and snare mic.

snare mic try right at the rim facing the center of the drum at an angle. listen to the track along with the OH mics (or mic). dont like the sound? try micing the shell (point the mic at the shell near the soundhole). like that better? maybe try underneath the snare. you probably shouldnt bother listening to this track soloed. only with the OH mic...

do the same for the bass drum. try your close in position, then try moving it to the middle of the bass drum, maybe off to the side a little bit, and angled a bit. then try it outside the bass drum a few feet or so... do the same thing you did with the snare... (listen to it with the OH).

this might get you closer to the right sound....
 
That's good advice. I would start with trying something even more simple. Take one mic and find a place in the rooms where the drums sound good. It might be above the kit or a few feet in front. Play with the drum tuning and mic placement until it sounds pretty damn good.

Then add the snare and kick drum like eeldp suggests.

After you get some good drum sounds then you can start adding more mics and using stereo OH's etc. Adding more mics creates a lot of difficulties if you don't have much experience so keep it simple in the beginning.
 
close miking

try to keep your toms mics at least from 1 in-ch off the drumheads, aiming the center of the head (tho get the stick/head impact)

About the snare, there is a lot of mic position people are using. The only "rule" I can suggest is to not mic the snare too close of the head. like the toms, at least 1 inch. I usualy place the mic about 3 or 4 inch. from the head. If the mic is too close, you will probabely get a kind of "fake" snare sound.
 
Another approach would be to set up two mics exactly over the snare drum, in the air, and measure the distance in a triangle.
Put a stick in the center of the snare, facing up, then measure 2 stick lengths up for your microphone placement left and right, then make sure the is a 2 stick distance between them, so you have a perfect triangle. Pan these mics sharp left and right.
Now use a third mic in front of the kit, and measure this one exactly 4 stick lengths from the snare, but in hight level with the other 2 mics. Keep this one in central position.
After this put your kick out-of-phase. Also keep this in central position.
When you mix, first get the best possible sound with the 2 overheads, then add the kick, then the front mic as a 'filler' to ensure you capture the sound of your toms and cymbals.
You will find that gives you a fat drum sound while it keeps phasing problems to a minimum.
 
Thank you all so much, it does sound much better i kinda used all the ideas together in a way thanks again:D
 
hey man,

some other tips that have less to do with mic placement:

1. As I'm sure you know... travis uses a vented snare. these sound characteristically very dry and very bright. you probalby don't have a vented snare or the money to buy one, but if you just tune the heads as tight as possible it can sound very similar.

2. using a shelf eq, boost the snare about 3db from 1k up. That'll really bring out the highs. experiment with the gain and the frequency here and just get it as nice sounding as possible. i did this today on my current project's snare and it sounds a million times better than before.
 
alright cool, yeah i dont have a vented snare or the money to buy one :( but thanks for the idea
 
An alternative might be to ADD (not to replace the original) a triggered snare sound... If you can't afford the stuff you want, it MIGHT help... Rent an alesis d4/Dm5/dm pro for one day (only if you have the snare and/or bassdrum on a single track each)...

aXel

May sound kinda artificial, but I love the sound...
 
since you're getting a lot of click....which isn't what you want.......you should move the mic away from the snare. don't be afraid to use distance......don't worry about the bleed too much........when the drums are soloed they sound like they have a bunch of bleed, but when they're all togetehr you still get the seperation you want/need.

that goes for the toms also.............

you can also try a mid scoop........i was just experimenting with that and it sounded to me like it gave the snare more apparent low end...... i think i scooped around 700hz......i'm not sure though.
 
I recently tried a Marshall MXL603 on snare and it worked pretty darn good.
 
snare

Try miking underneath the snare drum. Might not be the exact effect you're going for, but very cool.
 
Ok, so I guess I'm the only one finding this strange:

Ok so My mom bought my oldest brother some nice sound equipment so he could make some money to leave and go to college(score).
Click to expand...


I mean: did he make profit? Well either way...do you sell your mom?

I've gotta get me one of those!!!!:p
 
iof it sounds like a CLICK, that most likely it's clipping the mic really badly. if should definately sound like a snare, not a click. try getting a mic pad?
 
mic. placement

what i would do is tune snare very tight, and place mic.(use a sm57) about 1 inch. off or more if you want more roomy sound, which you might, and place it perpendicular to the drum. I have heard alot of people say to angle it in the past, but the 57 is a straight ahead directional mic. I mean yeah, u will hear it the other way, but i think it sounds better straight on. You can try using that pg(insert number here) crapo mic. on the bottom for a little sharper snappier sound. Just make sure it on seperate tracks so you can mix it in or out later. Good luck.
 
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