Snare is too harsh

[gusty]

I think my snare sounds too harsh...ive tried tuning it differently but nothings working yet. could it possibly be the heads? they're both in good condition.
Ive got an aquarian Performance II over an evans Hazy 300. would a different batter make a difference?

[bojangleman]

what kind of snare is it?

heads could be the issue..

Alex

[gusty]

what kind of snare is it?

heads could be the issue..

Alex

i have a feeling it could be the snare...7x12 black panther cherry maple

[drumtechdad]

IMO, once you get down to 12" on a snare, you're pretty much limited in the kinds of sounds you can get. 12s do high, loud, and poppy, but not a lot else.

Don't know what you mean by "harsh." 12s are pretty aggressive sounding.

[Wavelength]

Have you tried going through the drum's entire tuning range? It's a good idea to start from the batter head's lowest clean pitch and move upwards in small increments. Also experiment with different pitch relations between the batter and the resonant head. The snares can also contribute to the harshness -- a smaller number of wires will promote the drum's own tone, whereas a wide snare mat will give more crack and buzz...

[gusty]

Have you tried going through the drum's entire tuning range? It's a good idea to start from the batter head's lowest clean pitch and move upwards in small increments. Also experiment with different pitch relations between the batter and the resonant head. The snares can also contribute to the harshness -- a smaller number of wires will promote the drum's own tone, whereas a wide snare mat will give more crack and buzz...

So am i wanting to promote the drums tone or more crack and buzz?

To drumtechdad: by harsh i mean unpleasant. Maybe its just the tuning, it sounds a bit dead.

[aydee]

Maybe its just the tuning, it sounds a bit dead.

Too dead is usually too tight or too loose , Gust..I'd follow Wave's advice and tune to a niceclean pitch and move to a tone you like in small increments.

[Steady Freddy]

The Aquarian Perfomance II is a muffled head. If your snare sounds dead it's probably the batter head,

Try a different batter head. I use a coated ambassador on my inch snare and it sounds pretty good. It may be a bit more ring than you like. A coated G2 or Emperor will dampen the sound a little, but still let the sound of the drum come through.

For more crack, increase the tension on the snare side head.

[gusty]

As a birthday present my mum bought me a pearl piccolo :) sounds great, cant play it til the 15th of this month though. 13x3, comes with a coated ambassador.

Also bought moanin' and a stewart copeland dvd, "everyone stares". pretty sweet shopping trip.

To Steady Freddy: what size snare is it?

Everyone else, thanks for the info :)