Snare on Drum Machine

[PhilMckracken]

What to do to get a nice, meaty, punchy sound. No ringing, no flap etc. When using a drum machine, certainly one first finds the sampe that works best or is closest to his or her idea. But...what to do when you want to take that basic snare sound and get more drum, less snare and...what is the recommended compression for snare tracking/mixing.

I ask these questions becuase no matter which sample I have been using, I am wholly dissatisfied with my snare sound. Bass drum seems to be easier, get some thump going and viola! Snare...well, some difficulty there.

NOW, THEN...once you have a good snare sound, where to put it in the mix. How then to make it sit nicely in the mix.

I believe the answer to all of these questions is listen, Listen, LISTEN...

But still, some tips from those with experience can be helpful and therefore, this thread.

 

[TexRoadkill]

NOW, THEN...once you have a good snare sound, where to put it in the mix. How then to make it sit nicely in the mix.

The beauty of midi is being able to audition samples on the fly. Listen to different snares while the song is playing and find one that seems to fit well in the context of the song. I usually find that the snare that works in the song is very different from a snare sound I would pick by itself.

Other than that, using EQ and compression until it sounds good are the main tricks. If you want a snappy snare use a slow attack and a faster attack for a smooth snare.

 

[crosstudio]

what drum machine are you using because some sound better than others, and some have more editing ability than others.

although the sequencer sucks, the Ensoniq/EMU ASR-X drum machine/sampler has some really great drum sounds, and it's sample filtering and sound-fx are pretty darn good.