How to remove harmonics/ring from snare?

[Dexter_prog]

I am making my first mix/recording/etc of a song by The Duskfall. I am now mixing drums and I think my snare has some annoying ring or harmonic (I don't know if "ring" is the proper word). How can I remove this? It's at the very end of every hit. Here's some samples with and without effects (reverb and EQ) of the snare only and also the whole drumkit:

Snare only:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1643345/The Duskfall - Source (drums - snare + fx).mp3
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1643345/The Duskfall - Source (drums - snare - no fx).mp3

Drumkit
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1643345/The Duskfall - Source (drums - mix + fx).mp3
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1643345/The Duskfall - Source (drums - mix - no fx).mp3

 

[mick thompson]

open up a 30 or 31 band EQ before your reverb and dial back the dB at around 500Hz to remove the kind of "honk" sound its producing - it should help a little

 

[Dexter_prog]

Yeah. After posting this I tried some EQ as a friend of mine sugested and I think I managed to get rid of it. I cut at 600 more or less:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1643345/The Duskfall - Source (drums - mix + fx) no harmonic.mp3

By the way, what do you think of that snare? Is that reverb sounding good?

 

[GarethSE]

Gate it hard and use a short reverb to construct a fake tail for it, then combined with OH's and Room Mics it'll sound flawless.

As for the sound of the mixed snare, I'm not digging it much. try a boost at 200hz and use a comp at 4:1 ratio, -5 Gain Reduction after it to slam the boost back down and lower the verb.

 

[BLUElightCory]

Is the ring all that apparent when combined with the rest of the instruments? A lot of the time a bit of ring/resonance can make the snare sound bigger and more natural in the mix - there isn't a good snare drum on earth that doesn't exhibit some natural ring. I'm not listening on great speakers but it doesn't sound like the snare ring would be much of an issue in a full mix.

 

[Dexter_prog]

Gate it hard and use a short reverb to construct a fake tail for it, then combined with OH's and Room Mics it'll sound flawless.

As for the sound of the mixed snare, I'm not digging it much. try a boost at 200hz and use a comp at 4:1 ratio, -5 Gain Reduction after it to slam the boost back down and lower the verb.

Hmm, like this?: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1643345/The Duskfall - Source (drums - mix + fx) edt.mp3

I am new to compressors so I don't know if I am doing things right. When you say "-5dB of gain reduction" you mean to set the threshold as -5dB?

Eq has a 6 dB boost at 190Hz (as you suggested) and a 4 dB boost at 4kHz

Is the ring all that apparent when combined with the rest of the instruments? A lot of the time a bit of ring/resonance can make the snare sound bigger and more natural in the mix - there isn't a good snare drum on earth that doesn't exhibit some natural ring. I'm not listening on great speakers but it doesn't sound like the snare ring would be much of an issue in a full mix.

No, I could not hear it in the mix, but I thought it might lead to unwanted noise if I left it as is. I didn't know it could lead to a bigger sounding snare. I should try with and without it when I record the rest of the guitars.

 

[GarethSE]

hm
have you got room mics or anything?
if so, slam the fuck out of them, like 8:1, -15 gain reduction, something ridiculous, and turn them the fuck up

and by gain reduction i mean the amount thats actually getting taken off. when i advise comp settings i tend not to say "threshold: blah blah" cos what works for one drum wont work at all for another, aiming for the same amount of gain reduction however, does.

the snare sounds kinda muffled still dude. try a high shelf at say.. 7-8khz. you may need anywhere from +2 to +5. just fuck about with it and try and get some more air in there.
btw, if you havent got room mics, turn all processing off and then export a wav of the entire drum track, import it on a new track, put a nice room reverb on it, 100% wet, and process that like a room mic track. compress the fuck out of it, high-pass at 200hz or so, turn it upppp. It won't sound quite the same, but it'll be better than nothing.

 

[mick thompson]

Hmm, like this?: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1643345/The Duskfall - Source (drums - mix + fx) edt.mp3

I am new to compressors so I don't know if I am doing things right. When you say "-5dB of gain reduction" you mean to set the threshold as -5dB?

Eq has a 6 dB boost at 190Hz (as you suggested) and a 4 dB boost at 4kHz



No, I could not hear it in the mix, but I thought it might lead to unwanted noise if I left it as is. I didn't know it could lead to a bigger sounding snare. I should try with and without it when I record the rest of the guitars.

its still sounding pretty dead in the mix - i think you need to smash it up a but more in your comp dude

 

[drew_drummer]

Could benefit from a hi-pass I would've thought. Maybe duplicate the track, hi-pass it at 500hz, and then give it a bit of distortion and mix to taste. I don't think the ring is a problem. Probably a bit less reverb too.

 

[greyskull]

ringy snares make me cry
the cure is evans hd dry heads and moon gel.

 

[mick thompson]

ringy snares make me cry
the cure is evans hd dry heads and moon gel.

what the hell is moon gel? sounds like a lube

 

[TheWinterSnow]

ringy snares make me cry
the cure is evans hd dry heads and moon gel.

The Evans HD heads are great for killing ring. From what I can gather, excessive ring on any drum is the result of tuning it too high. You are supposed to follow the "Lowest Possible Pitch" rule on just about every drum, defiantly the kick so that you don't have to use dampening which causes lack of projection and overall dullness and on toms (nothing worse than toms that sound dull and filled with nothing but harmonics). With the decay is as small as possible, you get very little ring, which you can recreate using reverb.

 

[nwright]

moon gels are drum dampeners from the gods.

 

[Morgan C]

The Evans HD heads are great for killing ring. From what I can gather, excessive ring on any drum is the result of tuning it too high. You are supposed to follow the "Lowest Possible Pitch" rule on just about every drum, defiantly the kick so that you don't have to use dampening which causes lack of projection and overall dullness and on toms (nothing worse than toms that sound dull and filled with nothing but harmonics). With the decay is as small as possible, you get very little ring, which you can recreate using reverb.

I only ever get ring from tuning too low, or tightening the snares too much (this one sounds like its tuned too low). :/


Anyways, this isn't bad. Boost the highs, compress it and you won't even notice it in the mix. That kick needs more work than the snare imo.

 

[mick thompson]

moon gels are drum dampeners from the gods.

thanks nate - curiosity satisfied now

 

[BLUElightCory]

The Evans HD heads are great for killing ring. From what I can gather, excessive ring on any drum is the result of tuning it too high. You are supposed to follow the "Lowest Possible Pitch" rule on just about every drum, defiantly the kick so that you don't have to use dampening which causes lack of projection and overall dullness and on toms (nothing worse than toms that sound dull and filled with nothing but harmonics). With the decay is as small as possible, you get very little ring, which you can recreate using reverb.

Excessive ring is actually just caused by uneven tensioning of the lugs on the drums, but it can sometimes be more noticeable when the drum is tuned high.

And it is not always best to tune the drum to its lowest possible pitch, all drums will have certain spots in their tuning range that they sound best, which is dependent on a number of factors (type of hoop, type of head, drum material, hardware, etc.).

 

[006]

ringy snares make me cry
the cure is evans hd dry heads and moon gel.

This man speaks the truth!

what the hell is moon gel? sounds like a lube

What Nate said, but here's a pic for the thread:

Using a couple to help out a high tom it looks like. You can also use them on cymbals, like rides that kill the drumset with ring when the guy hits the bell.

Excessive ring is actually just caused by uneven tensioning of the lugs on the drums, but it can sometimes be more noticeable when the drum is tuned high.

And it is not always best to tune the drum to its lowest possible pitch, all drums will have certain spots in their tuning range that they sound best, which is dependent on a number of factors (type of hoop, type of head, drum material, hardware, etc.).

This.

 

[AudioPhile777]

Am I the only one who doesn't hear anything wrong with the original snare?

I kinda liked it before all the processed clips...

It could use a little more snap, though.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

If your looking to get rid of SOME of the ring (this doesn't kill it) I got this when eqing:

 

[mick thompson]

Am I the only one who doesn't hear anything wrong with the original snare?

I kinda liked it before all the processed clips...

It could use a little more snap, though.

yes you are the only person! lol