Lenny Kravitz' Again snare sound - how?
- Thread starter karambos
- Start date
First of all, me personally, I can't stand listening to that song specifically because of the snare sound. To me, delay like that on snare sounds messy and amature. Of course Lenny's no amature. He does a lot of things his own way and sometimes I think it's great, sometimes I don't like it at all. Just my 2 cents.
Most of that sound comes from the delay, reverb, and possibly a little flange or chorus. Lenny is likely to have put some other sauce on there as well... Now that I listened to it on cdnow, it sounds like they eq'd all the low end out of the delay (which is set at a 16th note). Sounds like a mid to big sized metal snare (5 1/2 - 6 1/2). You can hear the body of the snare on the first hit, then just the high attack sound on the regeneration. Also sounds like they blended in a room mic gated and keyed by the snare.
Now to say you have to use the same snare to get the same sound is pretty silly. Proper tuning and miking? Oh yeah, I don't disagree with that at all, but there are plenty of drums you could use to get that sound.VOXVENDOR said:
Most of that sound comes from the delay, reverb, and possibly a little flange or chorus. Lenny is likely to have put some other sauce on there as well... Now that I listened to it on cdnow, it sounds like they eq'd all the low end out of the delay (which is set at a 16th note). Sounds like a mid to big sized metal snare (5 1/2 - 6 1/2). You can hear the body of the snare on the first hit, then just the high attack sound on the regeneration. Also sounds like they blended in a room mic gated and keyed by the snare.
VOXVENDOR
New member
saxman72 said:
Read your above statement and well see who is "silly". I never said that is the ONLY way to get it, I just answered the original question of how to get that sound...
If you don't think using the same snare that Lenny used (if it was a real one) is a reasonable variable to consider when trying to mimic a sound, then you need to learn a tad more about sound.
Sure there are other ways to achive it, but to say my answer is silly, is just plain SILLY!
Dude,
Ok, you're right. You didn't say that it's the ONLY way to get that sound, but you really didn't provide a useful or helpful answer either.
Of course if you had the same drum, tuned it the same way, miked it the same way (in the same room), and effected it the same way, you could get that snare sound. BUT you still don't need the same snare. You could call up Lenny and ask him what drum they used, go buy it (or even borrow the exact snare), set it up in your studio, and you'd still be a long way from getting that sound.
Of the hundreds of snare drums out there, there are only a handful that are so unique that the sound can only be recreated by the exact same drum. If you take a 6.5x14 maple snare from Pearl, Yamaha, Tama, Premier, and whoever else; put the same heads on them and tune them the same, they're all going to sound just about the same. Biggest difference might be shell thickness. Will they sound EXACTLY the same? No, but most of them will be pretty darn close... By the time you mic it, eq it, mix it and put effects on it, you'll get the same useable results with any of the drums.
Listen to that song. It's Lenny's treatment of the drum that makes it unique. There's nothing special about the snare drum itself. A good drummer with a couple of snare drums who knows how to get a varietly of sounds out of his drums could get pretty close to that sound.
BTW Vox, I didn't disagree with any other part of your post. I just didn't think it's fair to suggest that he has to have the same drum.
Ok, you're right. You didn't say that it's the ONLY way to get that sound, but you really didn't provide a useful or helpful answer either.
Of course if you had the same drum, tuned it the same way, miked it the same way (in the same room), and effected it the same way, you could get that snare sound. BUT you still don't need the same snare. You could call up Lenny and ask him what drum they used, go buy it (or even borrow the exact snare), set it up in your studio, and you'd still be a long way from getting that sound.
Of the hundreds of snare drums out there, there are only a handful that are so unique that the sound can only be recreated by the exact same drum. If you take a 6.5x14 maple snare from Pearl, Yamaha, Tama, Premier, and whoever else; put the same heads on them and tune them the same, they're all going to sound just about the same. Biggest difference might be shell thickness. Will they sound EXACTLY the same? No, but most of them will be pretty darn close... By the time you mic it, eq it, mix it and put effects on it, you'll get the same useable results with any of the drums.
Listen to that song. It's Lenny's treatment of the drum that makes it unique. There's nothing special about the snare drum itself. A good drummer with a couple of snare drums who knows how to get a varietly of sounds out of his drums could get pretty close to that sound.
BTW Vox, I didn't disagree with any other part of your post. I just didn't think it's fair to suggest that he has to have the same drum.
Someone needs to edit their post, and get rid of the embedded html?? The message formatting has gone to hell!! 
Rather than trying to go into long tech talk, I think a lower pitched snare, combined with loose snare adjustment, and some gated reverb, slap back echo, would do the trick.
Rather than trying to go into long tech talk, I think a lower pitched snare, combined with loose snare adjustment, and some gated reverb, slap back echo, would do the trick.
CrowsofFritz
Flamingo!
This post is over 8 years old! 
You won't get a response from those members noa.
You wouldn't get your answer even if they responded because nobody said they had the same snare.
You won't get a response from those members noa.
You wouldn't get your answer even if they responded because nobody said they had the same snare.
R
RAMI
Guest
