How do you give the Snare crack without fizz?

XxSicRokerxX

Gabriel R.
Nov 25, 2010
1,032
5
38
Orange County, CA
I'm sure most of you know what i mean. When you turn up the gain theres a snare fizz/buzz around the 5khz region. It completely kills that SNEAP Style crack you're looking for.

Now, I know a few options:

Turn up the Attack on SPL Designer and reduce the Sustain.

or

Using a comp such as cla-76 use a long release.

Obviously, Yes i know you can reduce the bottom snare mic but even sometimes that doesn't cut it.

Are there any other options? How do you guys do it
 
I have been adding a transient designer type plug-in, built-in Envelope Shaper in Cubase, to the snare for a while now and doing exactly that, turning up attack and turning down the sustain.
 
I agree with Trevoire520, i often find that i can get a nice natural sounding crack by targeting the 1-2k area before hitting the comp, i actually prefer this than going over into the pressence range. You can be quite generous with the amount as well, just be sure to compensate by attenuating a tad bit on the higher octave. Alternatively you can blend a sample 30-40% with the crack you want and just balance them out.
 
Sample is the easy way, but we talk about engineering so put sample isn't fun:p

Now, fun way is to mult your snare various amount; and use those mult for attack, body, sustain...etc.
 
Transient designer (i use dominion), Compression (I use either the SSL E-Channel, or an 1176 style plug-in), and EQ (boosting around the 1-2k range as Trevoire520 suggested) should do the job. Maybe try blending some different types of samples. Some samples might sound like complete crap, but when u blend them with another sample, you may find that sound you're looking for.
 
Never heard of 1-2k in the snare, or even reducing the guitars in that area. Good advice, will have to experiment later.
 
What usually happens is I take Voxengo Span and put it on my Rhythm Guitar Bus and look to see where there are already dips in that range (whether it's mic'd up guitar tracks or ampsim+impulses). If there's only one fairly decent dip, I boost that frequency area on the snare. If there aren't any, then yeah, I will reduce the most bothersome range there to make some room for the snare.