How to get the DFHS snare-smack?

JoeJackson

Member
Oct 9, 2007
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Germany
Hey folks...

Lately I listened to a lot of DFHS-stuff to check out, if I should buy Superior 2.0, buy an old copy of dfhs or stick with Addictive Drums. It seems, that especially DFHS-snares (and a few Slate-Snares) have got this uber-huge smack and presence in nearly every mix I heard so far.

Taking bulbs stuff for example: his snare never gets buried, always has a thick attack but on the other hand isn't overbearing at all. (Same goes for Andy's Snare on the last Chimaira).

Now ... somehow it is possible to achieve that mighty smack with real drums or Addictive Drums for example, isn't it? Just turning it up does not solve the problem :D

Please gimme some tipps on processing the snare itself and maybe on "ghetto-mastering" ... I always fear, that I'm cutting the snare out of the mix by clipping a few dbs on the master-bus.

I'm using izotopes ozone in the intelligent clipping-mode and I use two instances - with both of them I clip 0.5 - 1 db max.
 
have you tried parallel compression? buss the snare out to a subgroup or whatever, and smash the living daylights out of it...at least 12db of compression, if not more
 
Can someone point me to a website with detailed informations on transient designers? Any (free) plugins to check out? I'm working on an intel mac.
 
I think you might be looking for parallel compression...

Also... augment the AD snare with a Sneap snare sample or some other CRACKy sample.

Slate drums rule, I gotta say.
 
+1 for BitterSweet!!! I've been using it a lot lately on snare and toms and holy crap, sometimes I don't really need much compression after using it. It really brings the smack out. Sometimes I use it before the compressor, sometimes after...even sometimes I'll have one before and one after a compressor. Really cool plug, but as a tip just watch yourself because it is easy to overdo it sometimes haha.

~006
 
I have been doing my EQ pre compressor. I'll boost wherever i hear the most crack, and then slap a comp on after it, and I find that this helps some. Attack time is you're most important thing here, get it right, and you'll get that sound. Transient designers can definetly help if you are having a hard time with just a comp, but i personally don't like relying on them.
 
I don't really use samples so to get more 'smack', I cut around the 500-700hz range to kill some of the ring (i don't liek them rings) and sometimes boost 3-5khz to get some presence. You have to be careful not to bring out cymbals too much though.
 
That snare had a LOT of post processing outside AD. What I remember using was a transient designer for more attack (with a ~50 ms length), Short reverb, CurveEQ (Some cuts in the mid-highs and boost @ +10kHz), multiband compression and… well, can’t remember if there was something else. Anyway, my tip is to try every trick you’ve learned until you reach the sound you like – at least that’s what I do.

Btw, kick is Chimaira’s + some compressing, nothing else.