SNAREs: What Types of Plugins/Techniques make them GREAT?

[deafboy]

I'm having a bit of trouble with getting a great snare sound in my mix (although the samples seem perfectly fine).

Is anyone willing to share some of their secrets on snares?

What types of plugins do you use and what settings give snares that professional sound?

Also, is there a way to give snares that rock energy that you find in rock tracks?

Are there problem frequencies? Are their good frequencies to fiddle with?

What are some weird techniques that I would never have thought of? (For instance, I would never think to run a snare through a CHORUS. Is this a bad idea?)

thanks!

[bobby yarrow]

Assuming you have a really good sample, you shouldn't need to do more than compress it -- sometimes heavily -- and eq it. I usually don't hi-pass the snare. I boost somewhere -- sometimes 700, sometimes 3K, try those.

[dee ess pee]

Professional what?

A good rock snare may sound bad in a techno mix which may sound ok in a gospel mix that sometimes works in a jazz mix. And throw it all out the window when you're doing metal.

[deafboy]

Professional what?

A good rock snare may sound bad in a techno mix which may sound ok in a gospel mix that sometimes works in a jazz mix. And throw it all out the window when you're doing metal.

Well, for starters, what different techniques do you use in those situations?

I'm especially interested in rock.

[declassified]

1. Distortion, but NEVER distort too much.

2. Boost one frequency (as bobby yarrow said). Try boosting the low end and then go up with the boost until it sounds good.

3. Layer the snare with another snare. Use two very different snares that complement each other. Then process them together.

[ouroboros]

This may be too basic, but variation is essential for rock, since you are emulating a live drummer. Each hit is a little different: different strength, different spot on the head, etc. Vary the velocity of each hit slightly.

or

Go to the auditorium at audioshots and download Herodotus' loops to listen (free: he's a great drummer) or use. You could also search the forum here for the post links.

[pannewb]

I find that light distortion adds some complexity when the snare does not need to be up front in the mix. (edit:beaten to it)

I like xoxos' murder, especially the preset on the factory bank called "tangent+edge" for this, but you might be able to get it with standard distortion.

Sometimes layering a snare with a shorter, different sample with heavy attack will yield unexpected results.(edit:once again, beaten to it)

This might be that "rock energy" you are talking about.

Another way to go would be to get a sampler with an options to shift where the sample starts a few samples (no pun intended) forward based on velocity. Then program a pattern with some velocity changes and let 'er rip. I use Reason's ReDrum for this and I think it works rather well to add energy and variation on the beats you want to be energized and varied.(edit:sort of beaten to it)

That's about the extent of my knowledge of snares.

peace

[deggy]

1. Distortion, but NEVER distort too much.

2. Boost one frequency (as bobby yarrow said). Try boosting the low end and then go up with the boost until it sounds good.

3. Layer the snare with another snare. Use two very different snares that complement each other. Then process them together.

this is exactly what I do a lot of the time

[Dandruff]

yes. and maybe a (gated) reverb ...

[Kraku]

This thread is in the wrong area. It should be in the "Production" forum. But here goes:

- A basic "not so rock sound" tip: first boost some frequency of the snare and then add distortion to it. Try sweeping through the frequency spectrum with that EQ and see how the snare sound reacts to it. When the distortion is added AFTER the EQ, the resulting sound doesn't sound just like another EQ'd snare, but it can radically change the way that snare sounds.


- Try using as fitting samples as possible in the first place. Then you don't have to do so much processing with effects and the result will most likely sound much better (fewer effects, more natural sound).


- Try adding a little reverb to the snare before you run it through compressor. With proper reverb & compressor settings you should get a nice snappy/clappy tone to your snare. You might also want to try adding very slight amount of distortion right after the reverb (and before the compressor).


- Try adding distortion to the snare and then run it through compressor to shape the sound so that you'll get the snappy dynamics back. Try playing with the compressors attack value when doing this. Try this also the other way (first compressor, then distortion).


- Run your snare through a compressor and then boost the resulting sound with EQ from around 100Hz and 10000Hz (5-10dB). Now mix some of this sound back to the original (and unprocessed) sound and you'll get nice and controlled sounding snare, without it sounding overly compressed. This works also nicely for full submixes of drums and is usually best used with drums that aren't processed in any way yet (for example straight sound stream from the mic'd drumkit). Make sure your host supports PDC when doing this! (otherwise you'll get phase problems)


- Try the above without the EQ and set the compressor to even more heavy settings.

[pharaoh]

hello everybody

can anyone tell me how should i make the bass drums and snares to sound like in the dance producers ?

[Kraku]

can anyone tell me how should i make the bass drums and snares to sound like in the dance producers ?

[griels]

Hmm, dunno about rock, but for funk/jazz I do know that Blockfish is the bees knees on snares... Just whack up the saturation and reign down the compressor/gate and you'll have an ultratight snare sound. Maybe add a tad of EQ in the high mids to accentuate the crack of the drum and you're larfin...

[pharaoh]

i don't know how to create that specific sound of drum kits made by famous dance producers , dunno how ;can someone help me ?

[Kraku]

i don't know how to create that specific sound of drum kits made by famous dance producers , dunno how ;can someone help me ?

There are lots of different drum sounds that many producers use. Can you give an example of one or two songs you specifically have in mind? (maybe even an audio clip)