how's my snare?

  • Thread starter Thread starter stupidfatnugly
  • Start date Start date
Er... I hear your snare all over the sound field. Maybe you overused reverb or put too much room on it. The thing is that is should sound at 12 o clock :D And it need more attack (top snare) Now it;s all bottom, a lot of ring. Just my opinion, hope it helps.
 
It just doesn't seem to work well with the rest of the tune.

How did you mic it?
 
Just in case, your other tracks sound beautiful. I'm, having a good time. Just a question, on "Inspired" did ya use a quena sample? That's a typical folk instrument from Peru and some parts of Bolivia.
 
killthepixelnow said:
Er... I hear your snare all over the sound field. Maybe you overused reverb or put too much room on it. The thing is that is should sound at 12 o clock :D And it need more attack (top snare) Now it;s all bottom, a lot of ring. Just my opinion, hope it helps.
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this is my first attempt at recording the snare with my baby bottle condenser mic on top and an sm57 on bottom.

I actually cheated the bus' pan, for the reverb aux track, to the left on one and to the right on the other just to see. I think that's what you want me to fix.

I've tried to get a brighter, clearer sound out of the top one but, no luck with either the baby bottle or the sm57. the brighter clearer sound is coming from the bottom mic, however.

any suggestions?
thanks
 
killthepixelnow said:
Just in case, your other tracks sound beautiful. I'm, having a good time. Just a question, on "Inspired" did ya use a quena sample? That's a typical folk instrument from Peru and some parts of Bolivia.
Click to expand...


no. just a piano and string sample.

don't even know what that is. you're probably talking about the pan flute and it's just from my keyboard xp-80

thanks for everyone's constructive criticism!
 
stupidfatnugly said:
this is my first attempt at recording the snare with my baby bottle condenser mic on top and an sm57 on bottom.
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You are either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. :D There is no way I'd have a nice condenser on top of a snare unless I had a HUGE budget that could pay for the mic when the drummer bashed it.

Also, just as a tip, switch the two. Put the BB on bottom and the 57 on top. Make sure your polarity is kosher between the two and the OH's.
 
stupidfatnugly said:
this is my first attempt at recording the snare with my baby bottle condenser mic on top and an sm57 on bottom.
Click to expand...

:eek: A condenser receiving all those dynamic frequencies. :eek:
Hope your "baby" is still in good conditions, don't ever try it again. SM57 is the guy for that purpose.

Your snare goes in one track panned to sender. bus the track to an stereo auxiliary input. Apply reverb to taht auiliary track and mix it to taste. I don;t know if I'm being to bold but you can also do the NY Paralell compression trick:

Bus your snare to an auxiliary channel. Insert a compressor with a high ratio 10:1 or so. Insert EQ and rise the high frequencies. The mix this channel with the original signal (bring up the auxiliary until you barely heard the sound and stop)

Luck.
 
uh oh,

can you ruin your mic by the sounds you record with it?

I don't have to worry about hitting it, b/c I'm just recording the snare by itself.(no other drum kit with it)

I know how to reverse polarity with a delay aux track but not sure how to do that with 2 mics.

I'm freaking out now, do you think my baby is toast?


PROFANITIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!
 
Sounded like a over FX'd snare. Might go better dry. Or retrack like all the experts say.
 
sh*&%&^*&

I got to know if I ruined my mic.

how will I know if I did?

how would it damage it? somebody at guitar center told me to record my snare with it.

:(
 
stupidfatnugly said:
I got to know if I ruined my mic.

how will I know if I did?

how would it damage it? somebody at guitar center told me to record my snare with it.

:(
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It's fine. People use condensers to record snare all the time. The two things to worry about are it getting hit, and the wear and tear on the capsule. I'd be far more concerned about it getting hit.
 
stupidfatnugly said:
I got to know if I ruined my mic.

how will I know if I did?

how would it damage it? somebody at guitar center told me to record my snare with it.

:(
Click to expand...

Plug it in and test it out. Simple as that. If you've damaged the diaphragm you'll know.

Don't listen to the attendants at Guitar Center about microphone selection and placement. They have no idea what kind of room you're in, the way the drum sounds, the size of the drum, the material it's made of, and all the other variables that influence mic selection on your drums. I'm honestly stumped as to why they told you to use a Blue Baby Bottle on the top of a snare drum. I'd think that the 57 on top and the Baby Blue on bottom would work much better. Personally I'd keep the Baby Blue away from the snare entirely.

I doubt you're going to get the sound you want out of what you've tracked. Sometimes the best thing you can do is re-track the song using a different mic and a freshly tuned drum kit.
 
I just tested some vocals out on it and it seems to be fine.

thank you so much for telling me that stuff to calm me down. I have an anxiety disorder that is a bitch.

so do an sm57 on top and one on bottom and figure out how to tune the drum?

I know how to tighten it but not tune it so much. I think the drum is made of some kind of metal (not wood) what does that say about mic selection?

I've always enjoyed this quote: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -B.F.
I'm a libertarian
 
Again, I wouldn't sweat using a condenser on a snare. The most common mic used on a snare in pro recordings is a KM84 (yep, it's a condenser). It will shorten the life of your capsule some, but I'd be more worried about hitting it.

Too, the best part and most "sensitive" sounds coming from a snare are on the underside. This is why most people put a condenser there first.
 
Dude, that sounds terrible. The whole song. Why would you record a snare seperately? It sounds like there's a kick in there. Why not record the drums as a complete kit? Start all over. Tune the snare to sound more like a snare and try it with one mic - the 57. Forget about the underside mic until you can get a clean snare sound from the one mic on top.
 
I don't have a complete set and I was using just samples but I didn't like how robotic it was.

I think the snare is the one thing that you can really tell is sampled when it is.

if it shortens the life of the capsule, maybe I should just have a seperate condenser for drums and one for vocals. what is the capsule? can you have it serviced when worn out?

I'm just experimenting here but I can't get a clear sound. what should I try in order to get a clearer sound with just the 57? any tuning tips or threads you know of?

Greg, thanks for telling me the song sucks. Honestly, no sarcasm, no passivity, I appreciate your honest critique. :)
 
stupidfatnugly said:
I don't have a complete set and I was using just samples but I didn't like how robotic it was.

I think the snare is the one thing that you can really tell is sampled when it is.

if it shortens the life of the capsule, maybe I should just have a seperate condenser for drums and one for vocals. what is the capsule? can you have it serviced when worn out?

I'm just experimenting here but I can't get a clear sound. what should I try in order to get a clearer sound with just the 57? any tuning tips or threads you know of?

Greg, thanks for telling me the song sucks. Honestly, no sarcasm, no passivity, I appreciate your honest critique. :)
Click to expand...

The song sucks because of the snare sound and the timing flubs all over the place. It would be fine with tighter playing and something that sounds like a well recorded snare.

Do you know how to tune a drum? If not, do a google search on drum tuning. There's as many opinions on tuning as there are drums. Just learn the process and tune it the way you like it.
 
Tune your drums and get them sounding great before you even think of touching a microphone.

If you're recording a shit drum, you're going to have a shit drum in your mix. Simple as that.
 
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