Michael "Elvis" Baskette snare sound

[Adee]

I love Baskette's productions and just wondering what is his snare process and how to get the sound like, shall we say, Trivium - Silence in the snow snare sound. Sound heavy compressed but very punchy and "prominent".

 

[MartijnPaauwe]

I think Josh Wilbur mixed that one, screams 'Slate Snare sample' to my ears, probably with analog compression

 

[mva801]

Yea Josh Wilbur mixed it. I HATE his snares. They sound so clipped and unnatural. I feel they're way over the top.

BUT if you're after that sound it shouldn't be too hard. Try layering a few samples, definitely a room sample in there. Probably eq out a bunch of mids, eq in a bunch of top and bottom, compress fairly hard. Clip it.

 

[Adee]

Yeah, thats true - Elvis was a producer. Anyways I like the snare a lot. I know what you mean mva801 saying that you hate it. Sound is far from natural but I like it a lot Thanks for your reply guys. I'll play with settings when back to the studio

 

[BassTard]

Yeah, it's really extreme - sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it...

I'd go for EQ pre Comp, and a combination of different compressors.

• Something "crisp" SSL-, API- or 1176-like (lowpass the sidechain, rather fast, high ratio (4:1 / 6:1) not overdone, maybe parallel).
• Add something "smacky" (with a fat tone around the 150 to 250 range). Slow attack, 2:1ish ratio or soft-knee or vari-mu, be a fair child...
• Maybe even add some upward compression for some sustain and "bottom".

Don't be shy about EQing. Boost some real low end, use sub-enhancing or low-pass-parallel-distortion. Also, watch this:


Freeware recommendations:
"Crisp" compressor: VoS Thrillseeker LA or Audiocation AC1 or (real extreme) Klanghelm DC1A2 - in negative mode (be careful)
"Smack" compressor: Vldag Molot3 or Digitalfishphones Blockfish or Klanghelm MJUC Jr.
Upward compression: Breebaart Red Phatt

Have fun!

 

[Jordon]

There are some kick and snare/snare room samples that he and his engineer Jef lean on that have been passed around. One is called "CLA Kick" and one is called "TLA Snare." I was handed these samples by a reputable engineer I worked with, and they work in damn near every mix. Before Jef started working with Elvis full time, he would periodically mix out of our room, and he was a large proponent of room samples and properly selected snare samples (all of which he would make sure were aligned sample-accurate to the natural drum). On top of that, a heavy reliance on a great Neve console, a lot of saturation on the direct mics and a ton of compression on the kick.

 

[JeffTD]

Compare the first few seconds of Gojira's Mouth of Kala and Trivium's Pull Me From The Void; the decay on the snare is similar enough that I'm willing to be they're the Z4 samples of whichever Slate snare he's using on the record.