KVR Mix Workshop - Week 2: Snare

[Kim Lajoie]

Week 2: Snare

Original full mix
Raw track (warning: uncompressed .WAV 26MB)
A7's version
Cordelia's version
GeckoEE's version
Ngarjuna's version
Yonyz' version
Spinedoc's version (snare only)
Produced snare

We're mixing as we go, so I've asked the participants to submit files that combine their lead vocal with their snare.

(I actually prefer most of these to my original produced snare sound!)

Approach
Like the lead vocals, we'll look at EQ and compression as our main tools. However, because the dynamics of the snare are pretty flat (as far as performance goes), we'll instead use the compressor to shape the envelope of the sound. Try to keep in mind that, like the lead vocal, the snare will be in the foreground of the mix. In fact - I shaped the tone so that it was very similar to the vocals. Normally when two instruments share similar tone and similar position in the mix, they clash and become muddy and confusing for the listener. In the case of the snare and vocal though, the actual dynamic behaviour of the two instruments is extremely different. The vocal is sustained and constant, and the snare is sharp and intermittent. If instead we were dealing with two melodic instruments or two (busy) percussive instruments, there would be a problem.

Tone
Because this is a foreground instrument, I've taken a very similar approach to the vocals. I've targeted a sound with strong upper mids and relatively weak lower mids. Also, because the sound began quite dull and "natural", I've had to take a similar approach with EQ:

1) High pass the bass out. Sometimes there can be a surprising amount of bass energy in the snare, depending on how it was recorded. In a mix as dense and overproduced as this, we have no need for this bass energy, so I high passed it out
2) Reduce the lower mids. Like the vocal, this removes a lot of the "fatness" in the sound. If I kept the lower mids in, I'd have a mix with a dull thud on every backbeat. For example, contrast the snare sound in this song to the snare in "Great Sky" (the main version, not the live drums version). Great Sky has a much thicker sound to it because of the increased lower mids. While that worked for that mix (I was going for a rounder sound overall), it wouldn't work for this mix, where I was aiming more for a more harsh and scratchy sound. You might choose to go for a sound that isn't quite so harsh, in which case you might not reduce the lower mids so much. Be careful though - it's sometimes difficult to judge that area on a soloed instrument. It's easy to make a sound too fat on its own, which later muddies up the mix. This is a particularly insidious trap, because it's too common to overlook the "fat" sounds when fighting this problem because you've already decided that you like their sound.
3) Boost the highs. I think I actually used quite a bit of saturation on this snare as well. This tends to boost the energy in the higher frequencies, as well as flatten the attack transient (which I'll get to next...)

Envelope
You'll notice that the envelopes of the raw and produced tracks are radically different! The raw snare is a "pok pok pok" sound and the produced track is more like a "taa taa taa" sound.

I've used heavy compression to bring out the ring in the snare. In reproducing this sound, a good starting point would be fastest attack and release, high ratio and low threshold. Pretty much the most extreme settings possible! Start with the threshold high and gradually lower it until you hear the tail coming up. If your compressor doesn't automatically compensate for gain reduction, listen for the point at which the body of the attack is similar in volume to the tail.

Depending on your compressor, you might also find that even the fastest attack lets some transient through. You'll hear this as an increased "smack" on the very front of the snare as you lower the threshold. While this can be a cool sound in its own right, this kind of strong transient eats headroom like there's no tomorrow. This will make the snare need to be lower in the mix in order to blend well, and will also make it very difficult to achieve massive headroom reduction in mastering (it's this headroom reduction that allows a song to be mastered at a high final level). If you're not sure what to listen for, download Bram's s(M)exoscope, which allows you to view the waveform in realtime. Insert it after your compressor and observe how adjusting the compression behaviour changes the shape of the snare sound.

If you're finding that you can't reduce the transient, then you should try either limiting or saturation. Keep the compressor, because you will have used it to get the shape of the tail just right. Use the limiter or saturator just to kill that transient ONLY. You should set it up so that you remove the "smack", but you keep the tail sounding the way you want. On the other hand, you might find that going a bit too far with a limiter can bring out the tail even more. My preference, however, is to use a saturator. Used correctly, this has an effect of converting transients into energy (particularly in the upper mids and high frequencies). This allows the snare to keep the PERCEIVED overall energy level, while greatly reducing the attack transient (and amount of headroom it needs in the mix). Limiters, on the other hand, tend to reduce the overall energy level because they simply apply negative gain (turning the volume down).

Anyone is free to download the links and have a go for themselves. If you are serious about participating though, you should send me an email to workshop at kimlajoie dot com to get involved. Participants get access to all the audio tracks for mixing and private personal feedback from me on their work.

<- Week 1 Week 3 ->

-Kim.

[spinedoc]

Right now I really like Geeko's. I had an unexpectedly hard time finding the right midrange on this snare to duplicate the hollow ringing of the processed version. Any tips or settings or screen shots of the EQ you guys used to help me lock this in I appreciate. I used APE EQ for my EQ and also tried key to sounds vintage eq without finding my "curve". Looked thru voxengos span at the spectrum for a while and was suprised to find I couldn't use this tool to its potential as the curve looked very close to me of the one that I produced.

Next time I'll have a vocal with mine as well as I thoght my mixdown had it included...sorry.

Thanks again to Kim for his time in putting together this educational and fun project!

spinedoc

[Kim Lajoie]

Right now I really like Geeko's.

It's a nice sound. GeckoEE's snare is actually really heavy, with a lot of energy in the lower mids and not much air at all. It sounds good on its own, but might get a bit buried as the mix fills up.

I had an unexpectedly hard time finding the right midrange on this snare to duplicate the hollow ringing of the processed version. Any tips or settings or screen shots of the EQ you guys used to help me lock this in I appreciate.

To bring up the ring, try using some more aggressive compression.

-Kim.

[Cordelia]

I had an unexpectedly hard time finding the right midrange on this snare to duplicate the hollow ringing of the processed version.

I agree, I just couldn't replicate it. This was, surprisingly, harder for me than the vocal track. The snare was squashed, but there was some thwack at the beginning of the sound. Not tack, but thwack. And some ring, but not an overwhelming amount, and not much low mid but it still sounded full...haha

Thanks again Kim!

[ngarjuna]

Thanks to Kim for taking the time and effort to do this workshop. I'm sure it's a massive undertaking on his end.

[No_Use]

Kim,
very usefull stuff you are writing here.
I just learned why my snares sometimes peak so damn high and what can be done about it.
Thanks a lot!
btw what particular kind(s) of saturation FX would you recommend?

[asnor]

That is a cool snare sound Gecko's got. It sounds like there is some ambience on it pushing it back. Was that added to the snare, or did that get brought out with just compression and eq? I smashed mine and didn't get half the room he's got.

[Kim Lajoie]

btw what particular kind(s) of saturation FX would you recommend?

I recommend using anything that works for you. Different tools will saturate in different ways, and respond differently to tone, drive, level (average and peak), etc.

Also, some plugins can work well even if they're not specifically designed for saturation.

Start with what you've got, and then when you run into limitations you'll be in a good position to look around for something that better meets your needs.

-Kim.

[Kim Lajoie]

That is a cool snare sound Gecko's got. It sounds like there is some ambience on it pushing it back. Was that added to the snare, or did that get brought out with just compression and eq? I smashed mine and didn't get have the room he's got.

Perhaps GeckoEE can weigh in with what specifically created that sound.

I don't think there's any added ambience or other special processing though - just compression and EQ. Clearly GeckoEE used some massive compression (or even limiting) to bring out the tail and squash the transient.

-Kim.

[asnor]

It's very interesting to hear how different this week is from last week. The snares all sound very different compared to the more subtle differences of the vocals from last week.

It has me realizing what a dimension this format adds to the workshop. It adds some excitement. At least, for me. I like to hear what everyone else has done with this and I'll be looking forward to it through-out the workshop.

Anyway, I'm glad this all came about. Thanks for hosting the workshop, Kim.

[Kim Lajoie]

I think the differences between each mix will become more pronounced as we add more instruments. This is about personal taste. As the go along, small differences will add up. Not because they cascade (like small difference in signal processing), but because we will hear a better picture of the kinds of preferences for sound each person has.

Of course gear comes into play too, but not simply as "better" gear making a "better" mix. Gear is important because we choose gear that works the way we want, and sounds the way we like. For example, someone who has a preference for aggressive compression will have some compressors that have a particular flavour of compression when pushed hard (and that person will know how to get the best out of them). Similarly, someone who has a preference for thick cloudy reverb will choose reverb processors that give that sound (rather than reverbs that are thin and unobtrusive).

-Kim.

[Cordelia]

Then there are those of us who have a hybrid- gear that we like, and then, gear that we can afford. I definitely wished for another compressor for the snare, FabFilter Pro-C wasn't working great. I think I ended up using Wave Arts Trackplug. Which was a good thing after all. I'd started using Pro-C so much lately I'd forgotten how much I do like Trackplug.
But, it's a challenge to see how close I can get with what I've got. Another great thing to learn.

I think as this progresses our tastes will probably become more apparent. Right now I'm concentrating on imitating what you've done in hopes it will open my ears to subtleties.

[asnor]

I'm trying to emulate as well, but there is definitely a tug to do my own thing here and there.

[Cordelia]

I'm trying to emulate as well, but there is definitely a tug to do my own thing here and there.

Well, your work sounds great so far.

[asnor]

Well, your work sounds great so far.

Thanks for saying so. Your work isn't too shabby either

Btw, If mine is decent it's just because I was following Kim's direction