Trying to get the perfect snare sound... which snare should I buy???

[pisces7378]

I have been playing the drums since the 5th grade (over 15 years). I have had three drum kits. I have probably owned at any given time, at least 3-5 different snare drums. But I have never known ANYTHING really about snare drums. Well, I need to learn, and I need to learn FAST!

I cannot get a good drum sound AT ALL in our live room (i.e. my basement). And I know most all of the reasons why, and can simply not do too much about it. (Concrete paralell walls, cieling, and floor, drums are not of an extremely high quality [CB-700 set...yuck], blah blah blah. Please don't attack my recording methods in this post. That is another thread altogether, which, BELIEVE ME... I have already posted a million times.

The point is, I am also tired as fuck of a drum kits' sound in general. Kick drum, snare, high-hat, smashing cymbals bleeding all over the place, rumbling toms... Yah yah yah <yawns> bores me to tears. I want to scale things back in my recordings. I am a one man band for this project. I am in a real band where I play the guitar and sing. But this one is all just me. I have, as I said, also been a drummer for years, and I am VERY into the subtlties of jazz. I love slow, smooth brushes dragging across a rough white snare head with a soft foot steping on the hi-hats to keep the beat.

Anyway... the point is. I want to buy a new snare. But I have no clue which snare to buy. I don't know if I want a metal or a wooden shell. If metal, which kind (brass, steel, ???), if wooden, which (maple, or ???). Ludwig, Pearl, Grover, ??? I know that the number of lugs is often advertised as a good selling point. 11, 12, 13,??? Deep, shallow, standard size, smaller diameter, ???

I am basically going to be using an AKG C451-B small frame condensor mic to record myself playing soft jazz-like drum parts over my acoustic guitar driven songs. Which type of snare is best at home in this environment? Please any details are greatly welcomed? Why wood, steel, brass, picalo, deep.... etc. I mean some things are obvious. But I have about $300 for this snare. What do you guys think?

Thanks!

Mike

 

[drummerdude666]

it depends on a great many things - 80% of the noise you get from you drum kits is down to your skins you put on them - so if u replaced the head then that might save you over £100 buying a new one - but if you are looking for a new snare then ther are many many many options. i think id need a bit more detail into the style of music you want to play and the sound you want to get from it - 80s style gated reverb type thing? modern rock dry sound? jazz...if jazz is your cuppa tea then itll need to be metal id advise as then when useing brushes it'll pick it up better. also then a lot depends on how you tue then actual drum. we'll work on the pluss and minius of each make etc and all other issues later but ill need to no style of music etc etc.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I'm no drummer, but the same principle applies when someone says "I'm looking for the perfect mic...."

Define "perfect".........!?

Perfect in one context is completely horrible in another................


The other thing - and I've seen it MANY times -- is the player themselves totally dictates the sound of a kit. I've heard 2 drummers play the exact same mic'd kit - one right after the other -- and you'd swear it was 2 different kits, in two different sounding rooms......