Vents in a snare drum

G

gdavi1

New member
I own a mapex phosphorus bronze precious metal snare and i am thinking about having vents cut into it.

I was thinking about two of them at the size of 2" in diameter.

By having these vents professionally cut into the snare i hope to achieve louder volume from the snare.

Just a few question about vents:

1)Do they really make the drum louder?

2)Do they effect the pitch of the drum?

3) Is 2 vents with a 2" diameter a good size and amount?



thanks you guys
 
The vents make the snare less sensitive and sound more like a tom. Some people like that.

with what it would cost to cut the vents professionally, you might as well just buy the snare you want. If you want a loud snare, get a Pearl Free Floater.
 
Vents 'dry out' the drum, allowing moving air to escape rather than dance around inside the drum. You hear more head and less shell. The result might be louder but at the cost of subtle dynamics.

I think you'd kill the resale value by doing this, and be stuck with a one trick pony.
 
Firstly, you will affect the natural resonance (tuning) of the shell itself and in all likelyhood, not in a good way. Secondly, you will affect how the resonant head reacts against the snares themselves.........that's two technical reasons why you shouldn't do it.

Ask yourself this............if multiple, large vents in snares is such a great idea, why haven't all the major manufacturers being doing it for the last 3 or 4 decades or more;)

:cool:
 
stopstartstall said:
QFT. It practically takes your head off with a rimshot.
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Hey! ...... what?............ Oh, nevermind. :D

Cutting large vents in it will make it sound more like a frame drum and less like a snare. What a previous poster said is correct, it will cause your snare wires to be less sensitive.
You won't get that CRACK what you'll get is a DOINK
 
Hey, there's nothing wrong with that advice, makes sense to me. Of course, as said if you want a louder drum, buy a louder drum...
 
i dont see a problem with doing this if the vented snare sound is what you're going for. otherwise, get a free-floater or a piccolo. or tighten the hell out of your heads.
 
i don't know about on a metal snare, but a friend of mine had a 10" OCDP 21 ply with 2 1" holes in it and it cut through everything! super nice sound, obviously a soprano snare so super tight, but still had some snare sound to it. he also had a legend 13" free floater he drilled some 3/4" holes in and it was amazing as well. here is a sample of the legend snare:

the song has the drums sequenced on pro tools but it is a sample of his actual kit.

myspace. com / exitmilpas (i cant post links yet, too new)
 
A thick shell (eg: 21 plies) will always have a higher pitch which in a snare can kind of equate to it's audible penetration. The point is, that for snare wires to work, they need the reso head to respond appropriately to the batter head and this can only happen truely effectively if the air cushion inside the shell is controlled.......the bigger or more "vents" in a shell basically "deflates" the air cushion limiting the reaction of both the reso head and the snares..............the fact that some people like the sound doesn't mean it's a good thing overall.

OCDP........:D
 
ausrock said:
A thick shell (eg: 21 plies) will always have a higher pitch which in a snare can kind of equate to it's audible penetration. The point is, that for snare wires to work, they need the reso head to respond appropriately to the batter head and this can only happen truely effectively if the air cushion inside the shell is controlled.......the bigger or more "vents" in a shell basically "deflates" the air cushion limiting the reaction of both the reso head and the snares..............the fact that some people like the sound doesn't mean it's a good thing overall.

OCDP........:D
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that is definitely true. one of my all time favorite snare sounds is the one used by Thomas Haake of Meshuggah. from what i understand, he built it himself but it cuts and sounds great. i'm more into a tight cutting higher pitched sound personally. not a thud like rattling snare sound.
 
If you're using muffling, like bar napkins, duct tape, moongels or a sofa cushion, remove it. Instant volume increase. Same thing with heads, go with at most a medium weight two-ply.
 
I'm curious......

ausrock said:
A thick shell (eg: 21 plies) will always have a higher pitch which in a snare can kind of equate to it's audible penetration. The point is, that for snare wires to work, they need the reso head to respond appropriately to the batter head and this can only happen truely effectively if the air cushion inside the shell is controlled.......the bigger or more "vents" in a shell basically "deflates" the air cushion limiting the reaction of both the reso head and the snares..............the fact that some people like the sound doesn't mean it's a good thing overall.

OCDP........:D
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In my experience here in the US, if a drum is made with a 10 ply shell, it is built like a tank (with extra armor). I have never heard of a 21 ply shell. Is that a "lingo" that I'm not familiar with? Are there drum shells that are made that thick? That would be over 1/2" thick by my measure. What am I not understanding? I'm not being a wiseass, I am asking seriously. Also there's enough of the "Tim Allen Tool Guy" in me that if there is a drum shell that strong and massive............................. I wanna have one. ;-)
 
QUOTE........."In my experience here in the US, if a drum is made with a 10 ply shell, it is built like a tank (with extra armor). I have never heard of a 21 ply shell. Is that a "lingo" that I'm not familiar with? Are there drum shells that are made that thick?"

Like oversize/multiple vents, it's another fad people are going through:p. The easy way to make them is to take two "standard" shells, and cut a section out of one to reduce the diameter so that it will fit tightly inside the other.

The thing is, that there's so many drums/snares on the market, that manufacturers are all trying to find something just a bit different and when they do they let their marketing gurus loose to convince the consumers just how much they need the new bit of gear.


QUOTE........."i'm more into a tight cutting higher pitched sound personally."

Don't fall into the trap of letting personal preferences get in the way of what is right for each specific song. Hearing the same snare sound song after song is just as bad as too much cowbell :D

:cool:
 
Rimshot said:
I wanna have one.
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Saluda (cymbals) sells 20, 30, and 40 ply maple snare shells on ebay. Edges cut. If you've got an old snare in a closet that can be raped of lugs, hoops, & throw, all ya need is a drill & some beer.
 
the band just cranks there amps.

i decided not to cut vents and instead i just bring a sm57 to every show.
 
Thanks.........

MidiPunk said:
Saluda (cymbals) sells 20, 30, and 40 ply maple snare shells on ebay. Edges cut. If you've got an old snare in a closet that can be raped of lugs, hoops, & throw, all ya need is a drill & some beer.
Click to expand...

I actually own over a dozen good snares that I use for different applications. I'd like to try a very thick shell to see if there really is a benefit to it. (You'll also need some much longer bolts to fit the lugs to the shell, especially with a 40 ply)
40 ply???!!! What is that about an inch thick? That would mean that your 14" snare drum will have the same reverberation chamber as a 12" picolo snare, right?
 
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