Making a snare track sound great -Sound Forge - PC

Subject:Making a snare track sound great Posted by: madmax Date:12/19/2003 11:11:38 PM Can someone please help me? I can make the rest of the kit sound hot, but the snare ALWAYS leaves something to be desired. I'm trying to get a TIGHT modern rock sound out of it. It's not the snare or the mics. I'm using top of the line snares, mics, etc. But it always sounds bad. I'm looking for EQ advice, and also plugin-chain ideas. I have most of the more common plugins, and would gladly purchase any others necessary to make this sound fantastic. Here's a link to a very short sample of what it sounds like. Thanks a million in advance. http://66.70.247.59/public/snare.mp3
Subject:RE: Making a snare track sound great Reply by: Rednroll Date:12/20/2003 1:44:37 AM Most of modern rock music I notice that the snares have snare samples that are mixed together with the original. The only effects needed for a snare might be compression and sometimes a little plate reverb. You should be looking more at your micing techniques. For my best sounding rock snares I have always used 2 mics. On top of the snare I use a dynamic mic, usually a sure beta58,sm58 or sm57. On the bottom of the snare I place a condenser mic and then flip the phase, here I usually use an AKG 414. The idea here is to capture the deep throw with the dynamic mic and then capture the crisp snap with the condenser and mix them together. Just remember to flip the phase of the condener before mixing them.
Subject:RE: Making a snare track sound great Reply by: Greg_M Date:12/20/2003 8:56:26 PM Madmax, Most snares I've worked with need a little help with eq to get a good snap. They all seem to be a little different, so you have to play with the eq until you find the frequency(s) that work. They also need some reverb with 10-12 ms predelay. The other thing I usually do is use the "New York drum technique" with the whole kit. This involves putting a send on each drum track and routing to a stereo auxiliary track with more eq and a compressor. Then mix the aux track back in just under the main drum track. Make sure you pan all of the drums so each has its own spot in the stereo field. This will help define each of the drums. There is some good info on drums in Bobby Owsinski's book, "The Mixing Engineers Handbook". Hope this helps, Greg
Subject:RE: Making a snare track sound great Reply by: CopyRon Date:12/21/2003 6:54:10 PM Madmax, Before you get to mic placement and EQ, you have to make your snare sound great, that sample I heard, hardly sounds like a snare at all. Is that the way it sounds in the room? If so, get some drummers to help you tune the heads and snares untill you have a good sound. Once the snare sounds great, you can probably just hang an SM57 over the edge, about an inch or so away from the top head aimed at where the drummer hits it, hopefully in the center of the head, put your head phones and gently move the mic untill you get the best sound you can, now you can tweak your EQ, I usually find the boxy tone and attenuate that, add some fatness to the bottom end, and some sparkle to the top, add some careful compression and then a nice reverb with some pre-delay.

Subject:Making a snare track sound great

Posted by: madmax

Date:12/19/2003 11:11:38 PM

Can someone please help me? I can make the rest of the kit sound hot, but the snare ALWAYS leaves something to be desired. I'm trying to get a TIGHT modern rock sound out of it. It's not the snare or the mics. I'm using top of the line snares, mics, etc. But it always sounds bad. I'm looking for EQ advice, and also plugin-chain ideas. I have most of the more common plugins, and would gladly purchase any others necessary to make this sound fantastic. Here's a link to a very short sample of what it sounds like. Thanks a million in advance.

http://66.70.247.59/public/snare.mp3

Subject:RE: Making a snare track sound great

Reply by: Rednroll

Date:12/20/2003 1:44:37 AM

Most of modern rock music I notice that the snares have snare samples that are mixed together with the original. The only effects needed for a snare might be compression and sometimes a little plate reverb. You should be looking more at your micing techniques. For my best sounding rock snares I have always used 2 mics. On top of the snare I use a dynamic mic, usually a sure beta58,sm58 or sm57. On the bottom of the snare I place a condenser mic and then flip the phase, here I usually use an AKG 414. The idea here is to capture the deep throw with the dynamic mic and then capture the crisp snap with the condenser and mix them together. Just remember to flip the phase of the condener before mixing them.

Subject:RE: Making a snare track sound great

Reply by: Greg_M

Date:12/20/2003 8:56:26 PM

Madmax,

Most snares I've worked with need a little help with eq to get a good snap. They all seem to be a little different, so you have to play with the eq until you find the frequency(s) that work. They also need some reverb with 10-12 ms predelay. The other thing I usually do is use the "New York drum technique" with the whole kit. This involves putting a send on each drum track and routing to a stereo auxiliary track with more eq and a compressor. Then mix the aux track back in just under the main drum track. Make sure you pan all of the drums so each has its own spot in the stereo field. This will help define each of the drums.

There is some good info on drums in Bobby Owsinski's book, "The Mixing Engineers Handbook".

Hope this helps,
Greg

Subject:RE: Making a snare track sound great

Reply by: CopyRon

Date:12/21/2003 6:54:10 PM

Madmax,
Before you get to mic placement and EQ, you have to make your snare sound great, that sample I heard, hardly sounds like a snare at all.
Is that the way it sounds in the room? If so, get some drummers to help you tune the heads and snares untill you have a good sound. Once the snare sounds great, you can probably just hang an SM57 over the edge, about an inch or so away from the top head aimed at where the drummer hits it, hopefully in the center of the head, put your head phones and gently move the mic untill you get the best sound you can, now you can tweak your EQ, I usually find the boxy tone and attenuate that, add some fatness to the bottom end, and some sparkle to the top, add some careful compression and then a nice reverb with some pre-delay.