Novice question---better sounding snare

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Ctrl_Alt_Dlt

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My brother and I recorded a song. At the time, the top snare mic sounded good. Why???---this was our first time recording, hence total novices! It all sounded good. I didnt hear much differences with mic placements...but I do now! This mistake wont happen again.

Anyways...now since I am mixing and editing, that top snare just sounds super horrible. It has an extra ringing sound to it that is just annoying. The bottom snare mic sounds alright, but its catching a lot of the snare sound, hence its thinner (sounds paper like).

This is what I have to work with now because my brother wont be able to re-record it due to distance.

If you could provide me with some tips on how I can reduce/cover the annoying ringing sound, that would be awesome! I have other recordings that has a better top snare sound. If EQ doesnt work, then I might consider replacing each snare hit with the other snare recordings.

Thanks!
 
Can you hear the ringing prominently in the mix? A lot of times what you hear with the track solo'd doesn't show up in a full mix.
 
Ctrl_Alt_Dlt said:
My brother and I recorded a song. At the time, the top snare mic sounded good. Why???---this was our first time recording, hence total novices! It all sounded good. I didnt hear much differences with mic placements...but I do now! This mistake wont happen again.

Anyways...now since I am mixing and editing, that top snare just sounds super horrible. It has an extra ringing sound to it that is just annoying. The bottom snare mic sounds alright, but its catching a lot of the snare sound, hence its thinner (sounds paper like).

This is what I have to work with now because my brother wont be able to re-record it due to distance.

If you could provide me with some tips on how I can reduce/cover the annoying ringing sound, that would be awesome! I have other recordings that has a better top snare sound. If EQ doesnt work, then I might consider replacing each snare hit with the other snare recordings.

Thanks!
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Try Drumagog.
 
IF YOU HAVE RINGING IT COULD BE THAT YOUR BOTTOM HEAD IS TO TIGHT ALONG W/ YOUR SNARES TRY LOOSENING BOTT. HEAD JUSTA LITTLE AND BILIEVE IT OR NOT A 6" PIECE OF DUCT TAPE OVER THE MIDDLE OF YOUR SNARES MIGHT HELP (ITS WORKED FOR ME IN THE PAST) REMEMBER GLUE (ON TAPE) REACTS TO HEAT SO IN A BACK & FORTH MOTION WITH YOUR FINGERS RUB TAPE TILL YOUR FINGER TIPS GET HOT THIS WILL ASURE GOOD ADHESION. there's aalloott of vibration under there & it would suck if tape let go JUST WHEN THINGS WERE GOING SO GOOD! Stick with a top mic if your getting desired sound & listen to your sound tech ,thats his job...RIGHT? C'MON YOU GUYS GIVE ME TUFFER QUESTIONS!
 
EQing and compressing is the last thing you want to do with tracking drums. I find that a lot of mixing engineers get so tempted to change the sound of a drum completely in a song.

But tuning, as most will say here, is essential to get the best sound out of your drums first hand. It will be the closest thing you will get to a "natural" sounding drum.

It sounds to me that you have your top head tuned higher than the bottom.

If this is the case, you'll want to either tighten the bottom head (but not too much or it'll snap!) Or tune down the top head.

If you don't want to do that, then simply cut out a square out of printer paper, or construction, depending on how much muffling you want, then place it on top of the top head. You may tape it down if it moves around a lot, but usually this doesn't happen if you stick it close to the rim. But keep in mind, that if you DO use tape, that adds extra uneeded weight to the head, causing even more muffling, and maybe even too much. A lot of people recommend using tape to muffle a head when I disagree, electrical tape on the other hand, is sort of an exception, back when I took drum lessons my teacher told me that to eliminate high frequencies just take a strip of electrical tape, make some loops (to where it looks kinda like a series of waves) then tape it to the edge of the drum. I found it works and is more efficient than just flat out.

But you will find that depending on the mic and equipment you have, certain frequencies that are not audible to the human ear are amplified when transmitted, thus giving you that "eww" sound you hear. So it's best to just adapt to what the mic wants by tuning your snare to where that frequency is reduced.
 
Greg_L said:
Don't make blanket statements that aren't even close to the truth.
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You must have misunderstood me, I meant that just plain recording drums without a care in the world and relying solely on EQ and compression is a bad idea. Getting the sound you want when you hear it raw and fresh is the first thing you want to do.
 
Ninja_Drummer said:
You must have misunderstood me, I meant that just plain recording drums without a care in the world and relying solely on EQ and compression is a bad idea. Getting the sound you want when you hear it raw and fresh is the first thing you want to do.
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Okay yeah, that I totally agree with.
 
Frequency limiting. And I agree with what Greg L said: unless you can hear annoying ringing when everything else is mixed in, don't worry about it. What I want to know is, why is everyone so against ringing snare drums? I like hearing the snare drum ringing in the mix. Dry snare drums sound artificial and dead, even if they do work for a particular mix.
 
Ctrl_Alt_Dlt said:
..This is what I have to work with now because my brother wont be able to re-record it due to distance... Thanks!
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If in fact it is too much it can be balanced down with a sharp notch eq. Boost (or cut) and sweep carefully around the note to find the prominent center, remove some of it.
It's likely in the overheads too.

What I want to know is, why is everyone so against ringing snare drums? I like hearing the snare drum ringing in the mix. Dry snare drums sound artificial and dead, even if they do work for a particular mix.
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For my tastes where it can be troublesome is if it's prominent- and you don't get some variation in a string of songs..
 
NCdan said:
Frequency limiting. And I agree with what Greg L said: unless you can hear annoying ringing when everything else is mixed in, don't worry about it. What I want to know is, why is everyone so against ringing snare drums? I like hearing the snare drum ringing in the mix. Dry snare drums sound artificial and dead, even if they do work for a particular mix.
Click to expand...

I hate ringing snare drums. They sound cheap to me. I don't want the snare choked, but I want to crack, not ring, in the mix.
 
Ctrl_Alt_Dlt said:
... This is what I have to work with now because my brother wont be able to re-record it due to distance...
Click to expand...

If that's the case the best solution would probably be to cut and paste snare hits from some other tune - I'm doubtful if you'll take away a ring with eq, but might as well try that first.

Snare tuning can go off when you play, and that could have happened and gone unnoticed when the recording was done.

A conductor once told me he wanted the snare "crisp like lettuce".
 
Also, be sure that you strike the snare at the center of the drum so that there aren't any unbalanced frequencies that give you that ring.
 
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