Snare Drum-the ultimate challenge?

[nightshadecrisis]

so i think its common consensus that the weak links in recordings are drums and vocals(atleast for home studio purposes). however, theres alot you can do for vocals it seems, and i think that the drums(in particular the snare) are the most challenging things to record.

I have a pearl export series kit, with a melee of cymbals, and have had no problems on any of them EXCEPT for the snare. it always sounds really pingy and has a high harmony that totally ruins the feel of the music that i do. i have tuned it myself countless times and it sounds the same. i have gotten it tuned professionally a few times; i change the heads habitually, and it sounds the same. does anyone have any suggestions for what i might do to change the sound? its only when i pick it up over the mics(sm57 for snare) that i really hear this ping, and it sounds ok by itself. could this have to do with the mic placement? do i need a new snare altogether? is it the mic pre's im using(art V3 2channel)? any suggestions would be wildly appreciated! thanks


evan

[bjoneill74]

Try a different snare drum.

I'd suspect that if you put your ear down where the mic is and hit that drum (which I strongly recommend you NOT do) you'd hear that ring the way the mic does. Have you tried dampening it with something? That again isn't ideal in my mind, but in a pinch could very well control some of the ringing you are hearing.

You can play with different mics and mic placement, but 57's are usually great on snare.

In my experience, Pearl Exports are entry level kits.
There's a place for them though. I'm sure at some point or another people would want to record that sound. If the rest of the kit sounds ok to you and the snare is what is bothering you.. Then I'd tray changing the snare.

I have had my best success for some reason when recording Yamaha kits.. even their entry level kits sound good.. though the players have all been competent too.

Better mic pres would yield better results, but I doubt the pre is causing this ping you are describing.

good luck experimenting

[PDEES]

similar to Evan's query, bwr to receiving files from bands who recording at crappy studios. I have an entire cd where the drums were recorded and they are weak, snare sounds as evan described. I slapped waves rbass and the kick is much better, but what to do about the snare? I have upper and lower snare tracks.

[nightshadecrisis]

thanks for the replies. i suppose the follow up would be: what kind of snare drum has a good sound with a cheap price tag? whats the best bang for the buck?
thanks alot
evan

[jjhuntfox]

I had the same problem with the same kit / snare. I got a pair of Evans? heads (From GC) that have the itty bitty littl holes in them. Just changing the top made it tighter. I then did something unorthodox. I put another identical beater head on the bottom. Very dry and tight. You may want to add more / wider springs on the bottom of the snare. After the new heads it all came down to tuning.

Hope this helps..

John

Oh, There are a few really expensive DW snares that sound oh so good. I went to a V Club kit and I'm still evaluating it and how best to use it.

[where02190]

what kind of snare drum has a good sound with a cheap price tag?

None, unless you get lucky.

If you want to deaden the rign, try a deadringer. If the offending tone is a bent pitch sound, you're not tuning the drum properly.

Drum tuning is definitely not easy, and takes time ot learn how to hear and feel the voice of a drum. Start with only a top head, get it tuned and stretched properly and sounding decent. Now put the bottom head on, without the snares, and stretch and tune it.

I sugest you ptu the ehads on and let them sit for 24 hours in order to stretch at a medium tension before fine tuning.

Once the drum sounds good on it's own without snares, reattach them, making sure they are centered. Don't put too much tension on the snares, this adds pressure to the shell unevenly, and can cause problems.

%7 is a fine mic for snare. Position is key, and there's not one perfect position for every drum, you need to experiment.

[nightshadecrisis]

yeah im looking at a few DW snares, with frightening prices...and the lower priced ones ive found on Ebay im somewhat skeptical of. I may just have to bite the bullet. any other good snares out there for cheap?

thanks
evan

[nightshadecrisis]

i guess you get what you pay for in most situations. though there are some exceptions:

1.sm57s
2.the oktava deal they had at guitar center
3.and of course sizzler. a HUGE dinner for under 10 bucks? oh man!

sorry this post was becoming a bit off topic.
ill be buying a new snare in the next week so suggestions are welcome! thanks for the replies
evan

[kevykit]

I've been a drummer for a long time and done a lot of sessions. I 've used $100 snares and $1,000 snares, and many times the cheaper ones sound better! Good tuning and good heads help. An SM57 is a fine mic for snare, but a really high quality mic pre and good compression and EQ can help a lot! Some people really like a slight ping in the tone, as long as it's not the dominant sound. Often, it sounds too ringy if soloed, but in context with overheads & room mics it's fine. If the ring really bothers you, try the least amount of dampening possible. My favorite product for this is Moon Gel, little rectangles of sticky gel you can place on the head and move around easily to get just the right amount of dampening. If you want to try a good cheap snare, I'd suggest a Ludwig steel shell or Acrolite. They have a classic kind of "snary" sound that works for almost anything. Hope this helps- Good Luck!

Kevin

[Oz-boy]

have to agree with kevin on this one 'moon gel' is da business!!
it's perfect for dampening the ring & what it doesn't do that tape or rings will do is kill the bite/attack which i always find is a problem with other methods of dampening.

another thing to try is the angle of the mic in relation to the drum head.
the more the mic points down onto the skin the more attack ... the more across the skin the more tone ... playing around with this can make a huge difference.

on a more unorthadox approach, a friend once took out half (4 of 8 i think) of the tuning lugs and retuned the snare with just the remainders .... obviously you'd take out every second one so that the tension is evenly balanced around the rim .... this gave one of the fattest, thwackiest snare sounds i've ever heard ... very dead, very 70's

didn't the beatles use tea-towels (dish cloths for you yanks) over the skins .... whatever works

oz