the snare sound on abba's dancing queen

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powpowmeow

New member
sounds like it's really compressed. it sounds great. love the snap.

anyone know the gear they used to get that snare sound? i don't even know who produced that track. that's probably a good start. figure out who produced it, and then figure out what kind of compressor(s) they were fond of.

long shot but i figured hey, maybe someone knows the compressor they used on that snare.
 
If you watch this you get to hear the snare out of the mix, I don't think it's got much of anything on it.

By the way, listen to the vocals, no autotune back then, just people that can sing.

Alan.
 
Never listened to it for the snare before.. Yes I like this stuff :rolleyes:
The snare and kick are pretty close in pitch.
 
Yeah, like this thread quickly went to shit. :D
In the original post, the snare sound was desireable, and the poster wanted to know how it was achieved.

To the op, there are plenty of threads on this subject over @GS.

:D
 
Went to shit my foot.

That snare sound is created in one of two ways and I fail to see why ears and experience isn't good enough to re-create that sound:

A deep low tuned wood snare OR muffling the shit out of it OR POSSIBLY head selection, I doubt you are going to get your snare that dead with head selection though. Ye good old towel over the top or leather wallet taped to the top head is most likely what yielded that sound.

Since we are talking 70s if I had to guess compression I would guess 1176 or DBX.

Gearsluts is a wank fest. A quick google on this topic yielded threads with speculation and blind fandom of the band with little substance of the actual recording process.
 
I agree on GS. Every kind of anal slut with money for fancy shit, talks, and talks, and talks, over there. I hate the place. I doubt half of them have done ANY music in their lives. They just try to outdo each other in gear, then talk about it
But there are some quite knowledgeable people there too.
Let it be known that I am NOT a member.

Any ways this thread has rapidly turned into a "that snare sucks" thread. Whatever. :D

My drummer had that sound. I wasn't fond of it.

He used a 8 inch maple shell pearl. As good a hitter as he was, it always sounded bad.

He let me experiment. I cut it down and turned into two 3 inch piccolo snares after we got some more hardware.

The hardest part was getting the bevel right.

But the new snare (s) sounded great!
:D
 
The sound of that snare worked in its context. I'm happy with the sound of anything that does the job expected of it.
 
RFR said:
Yeah, like this thread quickly went to shit. :D
In the original post, the snare sound was desireable, and the poster wanted to know how it was achieved.
Click to expand...

I don't think the thread went to shit...I mean the OP was asking how...and we're basically telling him that.
You need to get a wood snare, tune it low, and then deaden it down a lot. :)
 
RFR said:
Any ways this thread has rapidly turned into a "that snare sucks" thread. Whatever. :D
Click to expand...

Wait what gave you that impression?

The snare doesn't suck. Quite the contrary, it's a great representation of the 70s sound people are accustomed to.
 
Guitargodgt said:
Went to shit my foot.

That snare sound is created in one of two ways and I fail to see why ears and experience isn't good enough to re-create that sound:

A deep low tuned wood snare OR muffling the shit out of it OR POSSIBLY head selection, I doubt you are going to get your snare that dead with head selection though. Ye good old towel over the top or leather wallet taped to the top head is most likely what yielded that sound.

Since we are talking 70s if I had to guess compression I would guess 1176 or DBX.

Gearsluts is a wank fest. A quick google on this topic yielded threads with speculation and blind fandom of the band with little substance of the actual recording process.
Click to expand...

thanks bud.

i love that snare sound man.

maybe im hearing mastering compression. i duno, the snare pops like it';s compressed to my ear.
 
It has a lot to do with the way it's played as well. Those rimshots bring out more of the crack of whatever snare they chose.

To be honest, those compressors are just a shot in the dark. It's my understanding though that they are some of the most commonly used of that era plus I googled around a bit.

The guess in terms of shell composition is from experience. I would be very surprised if that was a metal shell snare.
 
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