random question to people who record and keep snare tracks

Haha, dude- what's the deal with people feeling stupid doing surgical EQ cuts? Sure you can reduce some ringing in advance, but I always tune the snare, I always use moon gels, and I always notch out the offensive ringing frequencies. I think it's bizarre that people are acting like surgically EQing your snare is off-limits somehow. What's the deal, people?

+10

i notch EQ like a champ. im willing to bet so do the pros. especially when they are getting productions they didnt record themselves and have no control over what happened during tracking.

the truth kit.... that got me chuckling... !
 
because im producing engineering and mixing

someone else tune the shit

I think i remember you saying something about you liking mastering your own stuff because you want it your way.

Drum tones should be the same man.
If you know hows to tune you know how to tune how you want and what you think fits the song.

+1ing
drums being part of the engineering process.
 
Sorry dude, but tuning drums is part of the engineering process. If you want to get good sounding drums without sample replacement, get used to tuning.

+1 to that...

Get used to a Tama Tension Watch... write down the numbers you get on the meter...then check it every 30min at first and just tune it up to the tension number again if it gets out of tune!
 
I fucking hate snare drums, real or sampled or commercial its the hardest part of the mix to get right. And then you master it.

But yeh I always have the same issue as you Joey. You don't really notice it a whole lot in the mix, especially after a bit of a compression, but I definitely want to get better raw sounds. I made this thread:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/580979-dry-snare-sounds.html

Which might help you out.. what heads were you using in that clip?

Also I've been thinking about backing the mic off quite a bit, since I get fuck all bleed, that's not a problem. Hopefully will get that done tomorrow and post results.
 
These ringing and resonant stuff in the close mic at the snare top is normal I'd say. Atleast I also always have those in the close mic on top.
Sometimes I also start to find those and eq them out very narrow, but mostly in the mix you don't hear that ringing stuff if you leave it in.
 
i sure don't have that much noise anymore.
Hd dry+tuning+moon gel FTW.
will post a clip for you.
 
MOONGEL. MOONGEL. MOONGEL. MOONGEL. MOONGEL. MOONGEL.

I CANNOT live without it. if there's no moongel, put a wallet on the snare and make the fucker track the whole album like that. seriously.
 
Most of the time, my snare trigger is enough of a damper.
The trick is to put it right under the mic. Same goes with moongel anyway.
Maybe I'm just stating the obvious but it doesn't make sense to put it away from the mic.
snare-sm57%20copy.jpg
 
Jp..moongel + tama tension watch FTW... saved my ass today again! will post clips if i get the chance...
 
yeah..put the moongel under the mic.. defo.
Or whilst tapping the drum press down lightly with your finger round the edge of the drum to see where the ring is. then put the moongel there. but having it under the mic REALLY helps. so obvious. but great.
 
although.. i had someone with a evans hydraulic on snare the other day.
shit had less ring than an hd dry.
 
Do you guys tend to 'skim' the snare mic across the surface of the drum, or try to get it elevated and point down at the center? It's always the distances and directions that get me. What I tend to lose most is body, and there's always ungodly hat spill that makes the snare track almost unusable.
 
my post processing advice to get rid of hh bleed is :

use 2 tracks,
- 1 with a spl transient designer w full attack and no release. and boost the highs.
thats where you get your attack cracky stuff. (but use a gate to filter out anything else before transient designer does his work. otherwise hh, crashes etc. will be overemphasized)

- 1 with spl trans w no attack an full release. thats where yo udont want to boost highs that much.

this way you can minimize the "ugly hh bleed". you pretty much only boost highs on the attacks,
not the sustain.


what i do lately to preserve dynamics in my snare tracks : attack is the real one, (as described spl trans on full attack, norelease) but sustain i use samples... imho the most natural way, still have really clean snares for my mixes.
 
Do you guys tend to 'skim' the snare mic across the surface of the drum, or try to get it elevated and point down at the center? It's always the distances and directions that get me. What I tend to lose most is body, and there's always ungodly hat spill that makes the snare track almost unusable.

Kind of in between for me- not total "skimming", but definitely not aimed too squarely down at the drum. Maybe like 30 degrees? As for hat bleed, if the hat is raised above the snare height enough (if it's not, make the drummer raise it), it works best for me to try to put the mic directly between the hat stand and snare as much as possible, to try to get the hat into the mic's rejection zone. The height of the hat compared to the snare also might play a role in how much of an angle you place the mic...meaning if you can get a noticeable improvement in bleed by tilting the mic higher/more towards the actual hat cymbals, then go for it.