General Snare Eq Tips?

[broken81]

well i know there is a tom eq tips thread and Joey posted some nice in depth stuff about compression and eq and how to use plugins in the chain. Maybe we can get the same thread for just snare.

Yes I'm struggling with my snare sound still.....

 

[Jaymz]

Im trying to get mine to cut through without dominating the mix just by increasing the volume. Ive got a nice high end EQ boost which makes it much more cutting but I want it to blend in

 

[Torniojaws]

I love strapping CamelPhatFree into a snare. It really brings it out with balls and clarity, and you don't even have to put the snare loud for it to work well.

 

[botus99]

If anyone has TransX from Waves, that plug does WONDERS on snares. Instant snap! As far as EQ'ing it depends on how the snare is tuned. I usually high-pass it at around 80hz-100hz and scoop a bit of 500-800hz.

 

[Where She Wept]

I'm really diggin' a slight boost at 150hz,it gives more body. And sidechaining the gate to a trigger is godly.

 

[joeymusicguy]

i boost 200 hz by 6 or 9 decibles on every mix

 

[Nebulous]

I don't know how many people would agree with this, but what I've discovered I like on my snares is to boost 120Hz and under, sometimes starting lower, with a medium Q as well as any "fixing" EQ needed, then compress the shit out of the snare. Sometimes I'll even send it to a tom style buss compressor. It adds a really nice chest thump to the snare, though it would be easy to go overboard with it.
That with a bit of high shelving usually has me happy.

 

[Ermz]

I usually do subtractive EQ first. Take out any overly present rings, or hollow/cardboard elements. This usually entails cutting low mids. Once the sound is at a point where all audible issues have been 'neutralized' I start with the boosting EQ.

I tend to low shelf at around 200Hz, and can at times do a medium boost at 150Hz. The high end is usually shelved to bring it up to a brightness that suits the mix... then bell EQs are used to boost whichever range I think works for the style.

 

[slinky_]

My eq´ing process is pretty similar to Moonie´s, cutting the ringing and annoying frequencies first, then the boosting.

I usually cut around 200-900, ofcourse there is some nice sounding body too so you´ve gotta be careful. What I do is I sweep around the mids with a high Q ~10db boost and find the annoying frequencies and then cut them.

I boost the highs either with a high shelf or a parametric EQ with a low Q.

 

[Aaron Smith]

Subtractive EQ first for me, too. I'll throw a Q10 on there and find the first, most obvious ringing tone, and go -18dB with the smallest Q setting. Then find the next ringing tone, and repeat. It's not uncommon for me to get rid of more than 10 of these little ringing tones. Usually some of them I will reduce only -5db or so though...only -18dB when they're super obvious. From there it's normally just a little bit of broad reduction in the low mids, and sometimes some more focused reduction in the 2k-8k range to get rid of some of that overpowering hissiness that comes out especially when compression is applied. As for the reverb, I'll normally roll off around 11k as I feel like that super high stuff makes the reverb sound fake.

 

[CJWall]

i boost 200 hz by 6 or 9 decibles on every mix

lol. i thought I was the only one!

 

[AudioPhile777]

I try all the methods that are post in threads like this...

 

[Nebulous]

I think there seems to be a pretty general way to go about snare EQ. I just didn't realise that so many people also boosted the low/low mids on them.

 

[zmetallica]

i usually just cut everything and boost in 1-6db, rarely go past that unless i am stuck with a really bad take with bad tone. i usually try to stick with boost/cut with about 3 db.

with the snare I boost about 1db around 5khz while cutting some mids at about 2db, though every snare take is different cause of the type of snare, mic position, sound you wanna have in the end, etc.

 

[2012]

It really depends on the snare used. They can vary so much that there is no one magic frequency that will work on every snare.

These are all good starting points. Use your ears and sweep a few bands of parametric EQ around. Figure out what qualities of the snare are good and which you'd rather do without.

The next time you are tracking, you may be able to adjust your mic placement (and drum tuning!) to achieve a little more of what you're after without EQing so much.

 

[Moonlight_Seeker]

Sexy topic yeah. CamelPhat2 + TransX = happier seeker.

 

[beyond dead]

i boost 200 hz by 6 or 9 decibles on every mix

wow thats huge! i guess ur not shy with processing! but the results sound good!

i find using a comp with slower attack is useful in bringing out the smack, then compress with a faster attack after to give more punchiness

 

[006]

Anybody post the link to the thread Josh is talking about with Joey's snare tips? At work, no time to sift through pages of search results

 

[Joshua Wickman]

Wow Old thread!!

Here is the thread with Joey's tom tips....

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/production-tips/307384-general-tom-eq-tips.html

And one with Snare tips...

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/297549-snare-drum-comp-eq-etc.html

 

[006]

you. rock.