I'm depressed - no magic snare bullet

[Alexi]

on my last recording session i taped a microtech gefell m300 to a sm57.

i mixed the m300 in for the sparkling crack.

worked pretty well...

 

[earworm]

i hated my snaresound for years,
now i got a 201 on top, bright and strong soung,
i don't put much compression on it anymore, the less the better i found out,
a mic on the bottom can help alot, certainly if u give the bottom one extreme eq settings, and leave the top mic kinda un-qued...

i always cursed my hihat cause it bleeds trough my snare mics so hard,
the 201 is hypercardioid but didn't solve the problems as good as i thought it'd do....but in my ears it works better than a 57...

alot depends on the preamp u run the mics trough i found out lately...
it took me years to get a half-decent sound, i'm still struggling to get a real good and solid sound.....

recording is magic and weird, can be super dissapointing but when it finally works its like an orgasm, but longer

 

[paddyponchero]

Its something more than the mic, theres no way an sm57 should sound that dead. Start with your snare, what kind of heads have you got on there, are they tight enough, what state are your snares in, are they tight enough. Have you got an 'o' ring or tape on the head to dampen overtones which may be killing your sound.

The snare sounds like someone eq'd, gated and compressed the balls out of it I've never heard that sound from a 57 through even the crappiest behringer desk.

 

[ez_willis]

LinK? I'm not finding one. If they have one I'm ordering it today.

There's one on Ebay here .

'Buy it Now' price: GBP 135.00 (Approximately US $248.34)

 

[Supercreep]

Its something more than the mic, theres no way an sm57 should sound that dead. Start with your snare, what kind of heads have you got on there, are they tight enough, what state are your snares in, are they tight enough. Have you got an 'o' ring or tape on the head to dampen overtones which may be killing your sound.

The snare sounds like someone eq'd, gated and compressed the balls out of it I've never heard that sound from a 57 through even the crappiest behringer desk.

True, I've goosed it in every possible way to try and improve on it. A good deal of the sound is also coming from the c1000s OH mics. Evans coated heads. New snares. A moongel to dampen the ringing. Maybe I need to just start from scratch here.

 

[xfinsterx]

True, I've goosed it in every possible way to try and improve on it. A good deal of the sound is also coming from the c1000s OH mics. Evans coated heads. New snares. A moongel to dampen the ringing. Maybe I need to just start from scratch here.

Are you recording in a small carpeted room?
If at all possible try moving the kit to a larger room with wood, tile, linolium, anything other than carpet on the floors.
Then try to incorporate a couple of room mics as well as your overheads
(if possible).
That should open your snare right up.

 

[Supercreep]

Are you recording in a small carpeted room?If at all possible try moving the kit to a larger room with wood, tile, linolium, anything other than carpet on the floors.
Then try to incorporate a couple of room mics as well as your overheads
(if possible).
That should open your snare right up.

I'll say!! The room is 9.5 X 13.5 or something. I don't have the option of recording in a different room, unfortunately.

I could lay something underneath the kit, though.

 

[tmix]

SuperCreep options

Supe,
Try this (it works for me).I have a brass snare and a good maple and it works well with both.
Put something reflective under your snare stand like a clipboard or small piece of masonite on the floor. Take your C1000 and point it straight down toward the floor/ masonite. Place the capsule about one inch in front of the snare (as far from the hat as possible/ possibly equal spaced from hi tom) and put the diaphram anywhere from about a 1/2 inch above the rim to about 1/2 inch below the rim.
You can adjust the height to adjust the crisp vs punch factor. It also gives you more a clearer body sound that is not stuffy sounding.The overheads will give you the stick sound if any is missing . (but typically it isn't.)

Tom

 

[Supercreep]

Supe,
Try this (it works for me).I have a brass snare and a good maple and it works well with both.
Put something reflective under your snare stand like a clipboard or small piece of masonite on the floor. Take your C1000 and point it straight down toward the floor/ masonite. Place the capsule about one inch in front of the snare (as far from the hat as possible/ possibly equal spaced from hi tom) and put the diaphram anywhere from about a 1/2 inch above the rim to about 1/2 inch below the rim.
You can adjust the height to adjust the crisp vs punch factor. It also gives you more a clearer body sound that is not stuffy sounding.The overheads will give you the stick sound if any is missing . (but typically it isn't.)

Tom

When you say in front of the snare, do you mean between me and the snare? Is the capsule looking down at the snare, or is it outside the rim looking at the floor below? Is this in addition to the 57, or intended to replace it?

 

[tmix]

When you say in front of the snare, do you mean between me and the snare? ?

No I mean toward the furthest point away from you as you are playing.

Is the capsule looking down at the snare, or is it outside the rim looking at the floor below? Is this in addition to the 57, or intended to replace it?

The capsule is looking down at the floor (or reflective surface) outside the rim. No other mic is needed. By adjusting how far above or below the edge of the drum, the mic capsule is will determine how much head sound to shell sound you get. It also helps (being slightly off axis) that the transients (initial hits) are not so loud compared to the body of the sound, so you don't have to compress it as much. (If at all).

Give it a try, it works very well for me. (I am a recording drummer myself).

Tom

 

[skipwave]

I like a 57 on top and an AT3032 omni on the shell (within half an inch of it and a few inches from the res hole). Sometimes I put an unused old hh or accent cymbal on the floor beneath the snare for some added reflectiveness, my floor is carpeted too.

Great suggestions from all. I will be trying a few of these myself. Thanks everybody.

 

[DJL]

LinK? I'm not finding one. If they have one I'm ordering it today.

Did you order/get it yet?

 

[Supercreep]

Did you order/get it yet?

No, this thread makes me think I'm just not miking it correctly. I'll try some of these suggestions and then I'll check it out. $349.00 is a little steep just now. But like I said, if I can't get what I want out of these 57s I'll give it a shot. I can't tell you how amazed I was when I dropped that d112 in to replace the 57 on the kick. Damn.

 

[DJL]

No, this thread makes me think I'm just not miking it correctly. I'll try some of these suggestions and then I'll check it out. $349.00 is a little steep just now. But like I said, if I can't get what I want out of these 57s I'll give it a shot. I can't tell you how amazed I was when I dropped that d112 in to replace the 57 on the kick. Damn.

Yeah, I have a D112... some other nice kick mics you might want to checkout are the MD421, M88, and ATM25... it's nice to have a few flavors to pick from for different projects.

 

[Yareek]

Yeah, I really like the M201. Ever since I figured out what to use it on (I can't believe it sat on the shelf for my first to recordings), it's really nailed down the snare. It's much more "open" than the SM57 plus with less bleed.

I also like just a bit of a large diaphragm condenser for underneath the snare, out of phase, with a low-cut to keep bleed from the kick down. With the M201 and my new C4's, though, the condenser is much more optional than it was with the SM57 and C3000 overheads.

Give it a shot, and if you don't like it, a million people will want to buy it from you.

- Jarick