I want to do something different with my snare sound

[RedDog]

Lately I like the Testament snare from Formation, but maybe it's a little too military for me. I love the wire sound in there, but it's not suiting the style of this new song I'm working on. I've been wanting to try new snare ideas, but "Play around with ideas" doesn't cut it. I think I'm looking for a snare that "chop"s, or maybe pops.

I really don't want to sound like another sturgis fanboy (oh but I'm gonna). WtF is he doing with his snare nowadays?

Well. No. Scratch that.

What the fuck are you guys doing with your snare nowadays?

Discuss(ted)

 

[egan.]

Record a snare drum. Then it will be different. You can control amount of the sound of the snare by blending bottom mic to taste.

 

[RedDog]

I've got access to snares and such, I'm not looking for a new snare sample. What I'm interested in is what you guys are doing with your snares in processing. I'm all out of ideas.

 

[26]

top and bottom eq'd to taste and sent in a bus. first (lightly) comped with api as it has the most options to change the character in terms of smooth highs and a certain kind of snap that i can't get from other comps (also important: fiddle with the manual output). then saturation (psp in my case). then softube cl-1b.

 

[crillemannen]

Get a great snare with a ring when you record. Usually tune more ring/sustain then you think because the mix will kill most of the sustain. Although not all snares can be tuned that way. It is the combination of tuning it quite low and still get some ring from it.

If it don't have the right smack in the mix then i try to add smack snare sample and blend it with the real snare. Nowdays i get a great snare sound from the mono ambience i record, it adds allot of body. And with the AudioT. ATM 450 on top snare, you only need to cut in the mids and add a little bit of body and you're done.

 

[jeid]

Snare is something I continually battle with in my mixes. For a while I was getting it ok, but now I'm very unhappy with the snare sounds I'm producing. Even on nice snare drums that are tuned nice, I seem to be able to make them sound shit fml! I do realise that I was probably over compressing though. I wasn't bothering with bottom mic for a while either, but I'm using that a lot more now.

Yeah, erm... cool story bro.

 

[AntonioPetrole]

i had ALOT of trouble with my snares just until recently and it was all because of a stupid mistake i always make. I would always mix my songs to where it was just almost clipping, but when you do that it gives the snare no room to breathe and come out right. That and not programming at 127 velocity

 

[RedDog]

Get a great snare with a ring when you record. Usually tune more ring/sustain then you think because the mix will kill most of the sustain. Although not all snares can be tuned that way. It is the combination of tuning it quite low and still get some ring from it.

If it don't have the right smack in the mix then i try to add smack snare sample and blend it with the real snare. Nowdays i get a great snare sound from the mono ambience i record, it adds allot of body. And with the AudioT. ATM 450 on top snare, you only need to cut in the mids and add a little bit of body and you're done.

Mono ambience..... this is good news. Blended in heavily compressed? A ringy snare. For the extra snap? Wires loose or tight? This is also good news. I love the input!

 

[nch3966]

ya i tune snaress lowww! when ever i go to good studios its the same its really low tuned

 

[Empathy]

I've been using the TSE 808 plugin in front of my snare reverb, makes for some awesome results on really snappy snares.

 

[crillemannen]

Mono ambience..... this is good news. Blended in heavily compressed? A ringy snare. For the extra snap? Wires loose or tight? This is also good news. I love the input!

I tune the snares quite lose. You need to get experience to be able to hear exactly when the snare sounds "the best".
if you tune it to low it will become useless and will probably lose the tuning if the skins are new.

It should pop when the drummer strikes the snare, with a nice little ring/sustain.

 

[RedDog]

I read somewhere about blending in a tom sample for thud. Think I should sample the snare with the wires disengaged. Unfortunately I won't be around the gear to do so, anybody else have any successful experience with this?

Can't wait to try these ideas out. Hopefully, I'll be able to share some samples with you guys in the near future.

 

[LSAE]

Duplicate the snare track and pitch it down a few semitones, add some nice reverb and blend to taste. compress via bus. gets you a huge snare

 

[shreds]

This not actually an idea for a snare itself, but sometimes it brings great color to sound if you send your snare to that good and neutral reverb and then add some distortion or maybe even guitar cab -plugin to chain after your verb.

 

[Morgan C]

I read somewhere about blending in a tom sample for thud. Think I should sample the snare with the wires disengaged. Unfortunately I won't be around the gear to do so, anybody else have any successful experience with this?

Can't wait to try these ideas out. Hopefully, I'll be able to share some samples with you guys in the near future.

In Flames - Soundtrack to your Escape's snare sounds like the wires are disengaged. If that's something you like, go for it.

Honestly, it seems the more of the snare sound I DON'T get from the close mic, the happier I am with it. Sometimes the snare sound as a whole will be awesome, but the close mic is just this shitty sounding little pop.

I really struggle with snares, the snare and vocal and bass sound pretty much define a mix IMO, and the vocal sound comes more from the singer than the mixing.

 

[shreds]

In Flames - Soundtrack to your Escape's snare sounds like the wires are disengaged. If that's something you like, go for it.

Honestly, it seems the more of the snare sound I DON'T get from the close mic, the happier I am with it. Sometimes the snare sound as a whole will be awesome, but the close mic is just this shitty sounding little pop.

I really struggle with snares, the snare and vocal and bass sound pretty much define a mix IMO, and the vocal sound comes more from the singer than the mixing.

In Flames has quite a rough sounds in every album. Which is always cool. Try to destroy your sweet samples/ miked signal more.