wood snare for recording

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phosphene
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Phosphene

Phosphene

Horse Diaper
I finally bought a pearl export set for my little studio and the snare sucks, so I thought I'd ask you guys for your opinions on a good wood snare. I've already ready some threads about this topic, but wanted MORE input. I've been considering: Pearl (but what model, I dont know--chad smith?), Gretsch, Pork Pie, DW Pacific (heard they are good, but made kinda cheap?), and Ludwig. I do NOT want a piccalo for my first good snare. I'd like a 5 incher by 14".

I've read that the wood has very little affect on the sound, but what about the 8 lug versus 10 lug snares? What about the 6ply, 10ply, 40 ply snares?


One of the problems with my snare is the it looses alot of articulation when played at low volumes.

Anyway, give me some specific models within these companies to go after and let me know what to stay away from. I'd like to stay around $300 and under. Let me know what more info I need to give to help you guys help me.
 
maybe you need to upgrade the snare wire and heads?

Phosphene said:
One of the problems with my snare is the it looses alot of articulation when played at low volumes.
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that sounds like an issue with the snare wires to me. i'm not a drummer so take it for what's it's worth.
 
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TravisinFlorida said:
maybe you need to upgrade the snare wire and heads?



that sounds like an issue with the snare wires to me. i'm not a drummer so take it for what's it's worth.
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I've got brand new Remo coated Ambassador on top, but the bottom head is a Pearl head which I do need to change.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
maybe you need to upgrade the snare wire and heads?



that sounds like an issue with the snare wires to me. i'm not a drummer so take it for what's it's worth.
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Ditto that. New bottom reso head, crank it until you think it's going to tear, then crank it a little more. Replace the stock snares with a 42 strand, or if you can afford it, some sweet Canopus wires. Play with the snare tension until you get what you like.

I find that when I lay off a little on the batter head tension, I get a better snare response.

One other thing you might want to do, if it's an inexpensive snare, is take some sandpaper to the bearing edges and the snare beds. Widen the beds ever so slightly, maybe make them a HAIR deeper, and that may make a world of difference to the snare response.

Of course, if your snare is metal, ignore the above paragraph :D
 
I am a big fan of the Pearl Free Floaters. You can get the 5 and 61/2 inchers all day long on ebay for less than $200.

However, for your first real snare, I would suggest a Ludwig Supraphonic. It's metal, but it is the most recorded snare in history for a reason. They are pretty cheap on ebay as well.

BTW, if you are strapped for cash: The Ludwig Acrolite is the same shell as the supraphonic bit with only 8 lugs instead of 10. They tend to go for around $80 and are a really good sounding drum. The reason they are so cheap is because there are millions of these things. If you were to look in all of your neighbors basements, you would probably find 8 of them within a block of your house.
 
Farview said:
I am a big fan of the Pearl Free Floaters. You can get the 5 and 61/2 inchers all day long on ebay for less than $200.
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A second for the FF. Also, I have a Greatsch Maple snare that was about $200 new on ebay, and it sounds pretty good as well.
 
NL5 said:
A second for the FF. Also, I have a Greatsch Maple snare that was about $200 new on ebay, and it sounds pretty good as well.
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What is the model of the Gretsch? I know they have some lower end stuff, but I wanted to get something mid-grade if possible.
 
I have a Black Panther Birdseye Maple that has great tone (my 2nd favorite snare) and I also have a Pearl free floating maple shell that is very nice (my 3rd favorite) - so I would agree with each of those recommendations.

However, if you want to stay in the Pearl line - they have a Maple Piccalo that is just about the nicest sounding, adaptable snare I have ever owned.

I don't recall the model number, but they have a maple, steel and brass model all 13" x 3". The Maple can be very warm & fat if you tune it down a little and when you tune it up, it has a great snap while still keeping some warmth (ie: wood sound). In my humble opinion it is almost the perfect recording drum. I've owned my for several years and I think they were about $160 retail at the time. I think they still make the model, but I have not checked in a while.

I personnally am not a fan of steel shells - in particular in a recording situation and more specifically, if the room is not a great sounding room. Steel snares tend to be hard to control in a small recording environment (unless you muffle the crap out of them).
 
wood snare drums are VERY similar to acoustic guitars in that they're very susceptible to air pressure, humidity (or lack thereof), weather, temperature, etc., etc.

i've seen some great $500+ snare drums that sounded GREAT the day before sound like crap for no apparent reason. i have one wood snare that seems like it's happy about 1/2 the year and wants to take the other half off. my buddy's got a really nice Dennis Chambers snare that he LOVES "when it works" (his words). it's very tempermental, apparently.

so understand that oftentimes it's not the snare itself, but some outside influence that could be affecting why the snare sounds like a soggy paper bag instead of that fat CRACK you were getting out of it yesterday.

for that reason alone, i find that recording metal snares is just plain easier. i second the suggestions about the Supraphonics. the tuning range is spectacular, they're as sensitive as you'll need it to be, and they're all over the place (and therefore cheap). plus, metal snares just aren't as tempermental IMO.


cheers,
wade
 
Russtopher said:
One other thing you might want to do, if it's an inexpensive snare, is take some sandpaper to the bearing edges and the snare beds. Widen the beds ever so slightly, maybe make them a HAIR deeper, and that may make a world of difference to the snare response.
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All one could expect from this is to throw the bearing edges out of balance. Please don't sand bearing edges and snare beds to reshape them. Even on a cheap drum it will just make it sound cheaper. If you want more snare response then you want a sharper bearing edge, not a rounder flatter unevenly sanded edge. If the snares aren't responding properly it's most likely because the drum is not in tune. Learn to tune the drum well before doing anything else.
 
Gamelan said:
All one could expect from this is to throw the bearing edges out of balance. Please don't sand bearing edges and snare beds to reshape them. Even on a cheap drum it will just make it sound cheaper. If you want more snare response then you want a sharper bearing edge, not a rounder flatter unevenly sanded edge. If the snares aren't responding properly it's most likely because the drum is not in tune. Learn to tune the drum well before doing anything else.
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My bad, I should have better typed out what I meant. I wasn't referring to reshaping the bearing edges themselves. On budget wood snares I've seen a lot have rough edges, burrs in the wood (for lack of a better term), etc. Sometimes lightly running some sandpaper around the edges helps to clean it up.

As far as the snare beds, I disagree. I've had decent success with widening the beds just a hair with sandpaper and to my ears, got a slightly better response. Did it make a luan snare sound like a Craviatto? Of course not :D

As always, YMMV.
 
Farview said:
I am a big fan of the Pearl Free Floaters. You can get the 5 and 61/2 inchers all day long on ebay for less than $200.

However, for your first real snare, I would suggest a Ludwig Supraphonic. It's metal, but it is the most recorded snare in history for a reason. They are pretty cheap on ebay as well.

BTW, if you are strapped for cash: The Ludwig Acrolite is the same shell as the supraphonic bit with only 8 lugs instead of 10. They tend to go for around $80 and are a really good sounding drum. The reason they are so cheap is because there are millions of these things. If you were to look in all of your neighbors basements, you would probably find 8 of them within a block of your house.
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I replaced my stock sonor snare with an acrolite on similiar advice and it is much much better, i still need to change out the reso head and tune it up, but striaght from the packaging it is much more responsive and tight than the stock snare.

Daav.
 
thanks everyone for their help. On the actual snares, I think mine is a 20 strand metal wire. What's up with a 42 strand snare? How much are they and are they worth the money for more of a snare sound? What about canopus wires?
 
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