St Anger snare drum...

[Guz2]

How did Lars get the snare drum sound for St Anger? I know he turned rhe snares off, but I've tried that with a snare drum and it didn't sound anything like it. Maybe cos it's Lars hits insanely hard?

[Avendesoran]

get a metal garbage can and start smashing it.

i hate the snare tone in that song...

[Guz2]

get a metal garbage can and start smashing it.

i hate the snare tone in that song...Hehe, me too

2020202020

[Abazuto]

My first kit I had as a kid was a CB and I had no clue how to tune them. I remember some of the snare coils broke and I just taped them to the bottom of the snare head. I'd also record myself playing with a casette player I had with a built in mic.

Try that, because that's about what that snare sounds like.

[razorx]

get a metal garbage can and start smashing it.

i hate the snare tone in that song...

Nah you just need to borrow a 50 gallon drum from one of the purcussionest from slipknot. You can find them on your local craigs list quite cheap. Jk
The snares are turned off it's probably a deep shelled drum tuned high with tons of eq

[Naigewron]

Metal snare drum, cranked tight on both sides with a thick batter head. Turn the snares off.

Remember though, Lars' snare has been run through some heaving effects boards, EQ'ing, reverbs, compression, etc, so you won't ever get a "real-life" snare to sound like the one on the album.

Personally, I think it sounds hideous. A failed attempt at capturing a garage band sound with millions of dollars of equipment.

[Anne Beeche]

Trying to get a tone like that is like strangling a smooth tenor vocalist so you can get that 'high and scratchy' sound out of his voice.

[Abazuto]

Personally, I think it sounds hideous. A failed attempt at capturing a garage band sound with millions of dollars of equipment.

I couldn't agree more. They should have just used their instruments normally, but recorded using a 4/8-track and minimal mics. Worked great for Primus on the Brown Album.

[BrutalKid]

It doesn't matter how he tuned his snare. The only important thing is that it sounds bad and don't follow him.

I hate St Anger!

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

I couldn't agree more. They should have just used their instruments normally, but recorded using a 4/8-track and minimal mics. Worked great for Primus on the Brown Album.

Agreed. Did you see the mic setup? It was utterly, utterly ridiculous. Nobody needs thirty-odd mics on their drum kit running into Pro Tools. It's just unnecessary and with that many mics you've got phase problems and other issues besides. I mean, those mics would be masking each other! Ridiculous.

And all for that sound? What a waste. Go Primus!

[trkdrmr]

Agreed. Did you see the mic setup? It was utterly, utterly ridiculous. Nobody needs thirty-odd mics on their drum kit running into Pro Tools. It's just unnecessary and with that many mics you've got phase problems and other issues besides. I mean, those mics would be masking each other! Ridiculous.

And all for that sound? What a waste. Go Primus!

THIRTY-ODD MICS ON THE KIT????

Mike Portnoy doesn't use that many on the albino monster! Lar's plays a 7-pc kit with a few cymbals!

Overproduction in a nutshell.

Casual observer talking to sound engineer:

Excuse me, what are those mics for?
--Direct tom and cymbal mics

What about those?
-- Ambient mics for the bottom of the drums and cymbals

And those?
--Those are post-ambient recovery "atmospheric" mics

And these?
-- Oh those are just for body cavity and joint sounds, drum throne sounds, drum port sounds, and pre-impact stick sounds

What the hell for?
--Job security and I have an endorsement with AKG.

I see.

----------
The snare sound notwithstanding, I hate the whole album.

[ermghoti]

I thought everybody knew the answer to this one! (http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/mp3/MattSmith-St.AngerTribute.mp3)

http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/images/snare-anger.jpg

[SGT_Drummer]

Maybe cos it's Lars hits insanely hard?

Maybe it's because Lars is an effing idiot! I used to love lars, then he went on his whole "don't download music" tour and in one of the interviews I watched in the middle of it all, he came off as the single biggest pompous a** i've ever heard. He makes Tom Cruise look normal. I love metallica, but hate lars.

On another note, i did enjoy the sound of that snare the first few times i listened to stanger. Then i realised he had simply taken a big fluffy white cat and tied it's tail to a bumper of an 83 pinto, held it tightly by the throat, and then beat on the bumper with a ball pien hammer to get that sound. (they took the muffler sound out of it with a great deal of compression, isolation, reverb, jesus h. christ, wah wah, and distortion).

[Pachikara-Tharakan]

Metallica wanted that sound, they wanted to get a garage feeling, the snare sound was not a mistake or a flaw in tuning or recording.
I am one of the few who dig that kind of non sophisticated material.

Lars Ulrich can play snare beats so fast, he is brilliant, listen to Death Magnetic.. The Day That Never Comes.. drumming is awsome! ...

[razorx]

I thought everybody knew the answer to this one! (http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/mp3/MattSmith-St.AngerTribute.mp3)

http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/images/snare-anger.jpg

Haha that was funnnny.

[Guz2]

I don't actually want to make my snare sound like that, hell no. I'm just wondering how he ogt it. Thanks for the explanations :-)

[BrutalKid]

THIRTY-ODD MICS ON THE KIT????

Mike Portnoy doesn't use that many on the albino monster! Lar's plays a 7-pc kit with a few cymbals!

Overproduction in a nutshell.

Casual observer talking to sound engineer:

Excuse me, what are those mics for?
--Direct tom and cymbal mics

What about those?
-- Ambient mics for the bottom of the drums and cymbals

And those?
--Those are post-ambient recovery "atmospheric" mics

And these?
-- Oh those are just for body cavity and joint sounds, drum throne sounds, drum port sounds, and pre-impact stick sounds

What the hell for?
--Job security and I have an endorsement with AKG.

I see.

----------
The snare sound notwithstanding, I hate the whole album.



drum throne sounds???

[oops]

Pretty sure Buck Nelson was the first guy to mic the drum throne.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCzW4fVRViI

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

THIRTY-ODD MICS ON THE KIT????

Mike Portnoy doesn't use that many on the albino monster! Lar's plays a 7-pc kit with a few cymbals!

Overproduction in a nutshell.

Casual observer talking to sound engineer:

Excuse me, what are those mics for?
--Direct tom and cymbal mics

What about those?
-- Ambient mics for the bottom of the drums and cymbals

And those?
--Those are post-ambient recovery "atmospheric" mics

And these?
-- Oh those are just for body cavity and joint sounds, drum throne sounds, drum port sounds, and pre-impact stick sounds

What the hell for?
--Job security and I have an endorsement with AKG.

I see.

----------
The snare sound notwithstanding, I hate the whole album.

You're missing out the mics to predict the forthcoming apocalypse.

Do you think that if he did have an endorsement deal with AKG, that they would've kept it after that hunk of junk? Honestly. St. Anger was released on my 15th birthday (yeah guys, it was that long ago) and I was a huge fan of Metallica. That album though really kicked me in the teeth. Horrible.

[T.Underhill]

Discussing this a couple of years ago I believe someone mentioned he was using an acrylic snare for some of these recordings. It's blocked at work but someone go on Youtube and search for the clip where Lars explains the drum sound on the album.

[stabmasterarson]

god I hate Lars Ulrich. I respect him for his focus but I hate his drumming, his drum sound, and his sloppy, shitty drumming live when compared to true metal drummers....and metallica has sucked since the black album. /rant

[BrutalKid]

god I hate Lars Ulrich. I respect him for his focus but I hate his drumming, his drum sound, and his sloppy, shitty drumming live when compared to true metal drummers....and metallica has sucked since the black album. /rant

Man I hate him too. He is a stupid person, as told by other bands who have met Lars.

Death Magnetic sucks too, the audio quality is too bad [worse than St Anger], but he explained it is loud and good to the fans, so he is not going to remix the album...



Master of Puppets is so awesome, but how come the band has become worse and worse after it?

[Guz2]

Man I hate him too. He is a stupid person, as told by other bands who have met Lars.

Death Magnetic sucks too, the audio quality is too bad [worse than St Anger], but he explained it is loud and good to the fans, so he is not going to remix the album...



Master of Puppets is so awesome, but how come the band has become worse and worse after it?Actually they got worse after ...And Justice For All, the follow-up to Master Of Puppets (IMHO)

[Pachikara-Tharakan]

The drum sound has nothing to do the the ability of the drummer, in my opinion.
If Neal Peart plays on my badly tuned starter kit with klanky cymbals, it would sound crappy but the drumming would be awsome (cough.. robotic?)

Charley Watts once said:
"People say I play real loud. I don't, actually. I'm recorded loud and a lot of that is because we have good engineers. Mick knows what a good drum sound is as well, so that's part of the illusion really. I can't play loud."



I would blame the drum sound on the drum technicians and the sound engineers and finally the band for approving it.

Lars Ulrich's playing in Death magnetic is awsome, the snare beats are so fast and needs lots of practice to play like that.

[Fiery]

Lars Ulrich's playing in Death magnetic is awsome, the snare beats are so fast and [one] needs lots of practice to play like that.
No it's not, no they're not and no one doesn't.

[trkdrmr]

drum throne sounds???

Ummm... the ironic humor here seems to have been lost on you.

The underlying joke to the whole thing is how 32 mics can record such terrible sounds.

My addition to that was the wasteful use of 32 mics in bizarre and unnecessary positions.

[hateplow]

Danny Carey plays all the time with his snares off, and it sounds awesome. They both play large cast bronze snares, too. A little post production goes a long way.

I haven't liked any Metallica since "and justice" (black album was ok).
Death Magnetic is a step in the right direction, though. There are some catchy tunes.

The drumming is really, really simplistic. It's like Lars doesn't take any time to get creative. Just straight snare fills over the rhythm guitar licks.

[canada_rokzz]

get a metal garbage can and start smashing it.

i hate the snare tone in that song...

X2!!!

terrible sound...

[ugotpwnd]

That snare made me cry.

[805Drummer]

Ummm... the ironic humor here seems to have been lost on you.


Don't worry, trkdrmr, I laughed. =D

[genericdrummingusername]

Well, I kinda like it.



*ducks*

[METALLICADRUMMER]

load was ok king nothing, until it sleeps, bleeding me the outlaw torn i like the album but you have to be realistic deathmagnetic IS better than st.anger IS better than reload and its better thank kill 'em all if you want to count that one too. They have made the sound the way it is but the songs are great.

[BrutalKid]

Danny Carey plays all the time with his snares off, and it sounds awesome. They both play large cast bronze snares, too. A little post production goes a long way.

I haven't liked any Metallica since "and justice" (black album was ok).
Death Magnetic is a step in the right direction, though. There are some catchy tunes.

The drumming is really, really simplistic. It's like Lars doesn't take any time to get creative. Just straight snare fills over the rhythm guitar licks.

man I agree with you.I'm VERY dissappointed with the band.

[Innuendo-Jack]

The whole album St. Anger is just one big drum solo.

The volume levels of the instruments are horrific.

Just listen to the album title song, when the drums come in, it's all you can hear.

Not to mention the snare drum sounds disgusting anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyM3_u8SDNQ

[The Big Beat]

Hey, i actually love St.Anger, and i like the snare sound. Wouldnt use it myself but still. if you want the sound, get the lars ulrich sig snare, the diamond plated steel one, and turn the snares off. And if you wasnt to know what the snares on that drum sound like, just imagine St.Anger drum with snares on

[diosdude]

Maybe they will wise up and release a remix St Anger album entitled "Saint Anger remixed with snares ON!!!!" I think i could probably listen to it.

I personally think they should have replaced Lars by now like they did jason. Go get Chris Adler or Derek Roddy or some other young gun. Who wouldn't leave their current gig to tour with Metallica?

[SGT_Drummer]

Maybe they will wise up and release a remix St Anger album entitled "Saint Anger remixed with snares ON!!!!" I think i could probably listen to it.

I personally think they should have replaced Lars by now like they did jason. Go get Chris Adler or Derek Roddy or some other young gun. Who wouldn't leave their current gig to tour with Metallica?

OH OH OH!! PICK ME!! PICK ME!! I'LL GO!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PICK ME!!!!

[Naigewron]

I personally think they should have replaced Lars by now like they did jason. Go get Chris Adler or Derek Roddy or some other young gun. Who wouldn't leave their current gig to tour with Metallica?

Lars is Metallica, along with James. If he left, I can guarantee you Metallica would hang up their guitars and call it a day.

[diosdude]

Lars is Metallica, along with James. If he left, I can guarantee you Metallica would hang up their guitars and call it a day.

I don't know about that. Yeah, Lars was the one who started the band and got James, Dave and Cliff to get together under the false pretense of getting signed by "his buddy at metal blade records"- which was just a flat out lie. Of course it all worked out and they became the greatest metal band in history. But everybody sees Lars'es true character now. Would he take away his attack on Napster and his own fans if he had a chance? I don't hink so. WE made Metallica huge and Lars spits in our face. I bet James can't stand him.

[PQleyR]

Maybe they will wise up and release a remix St Anger album entitled "Saint Anger remixed with snares ON!!!!" I think i could probably listen to it.



Heh, I wonder which Pro Tools plugin does that.


Actually, that would be quite easy to do, you'd just play the snare track back through a speaker placed on top of the snare and mic the snare side of it. Simple.

[SGT_Drummer]

I bet James can't stand him.

you are absolutely correct. they've had numerous "conflicts of interest", to the point that james basically hates him and vise versa. thier mutal hate for each has been profiled in several of thier "biopics" or whatever you want to call them.

[texaspotatolord]

Lars is Metallica, along with James. If he left, I can guarantee you Metallica would hang up their guitars and call it a day.

i agree lars is awesome i mean he never screws up on stage and he always know teh beats there is no metallica with no lars

[bamdrummer]

No it's not, no they're not and no one doesn't.

True that
Regardless of the fact that his playing isn't even that fast, why is the speed so important? Admittedly, I am always impressed with the speed of some players such as Jojo Mayer and Carter Beauford but simple 16th notes at like 180 bpm aren't that impressive. "fast" playing is just a tool used by drummers to temporarily impress people who dont know much about music. Now, im not one of those people who thinks you should be playing a 7 over
13-and-a-half crazy polyrhythm at a bar but you shouldn't completely sell out your musicianship to increase your record sales...lars...

[Pachikara-Tharakan]

Lars playing on the song "the day that never comes" is hard to copy!..period.

[Naigewron]

i agree lars is awesome i mean he never screws up on stage and he always know teh beats there is no metallica with no lars

Well, I didn't say anything about not screwing up. My point was that, along with James, he writes 95% of Metallica's material, and he's heavily involved in every aspect of their activities.

As for his drumming... Technically, he's nothing special, but he does have his own unique and identifiable style, the kind which usually only comes from not having any formal training and being completely self-taught.

[Pachikara-Tharakan]

As for his drumming... Technically, he's nothing special, but he does have his own unique and identifiable style, the kind which usually only comes from not having any formal training and being completely self-taught.

thats right.

To me, the drummers who are self taught have something special....Keith Moon, Charley Watts etc..and the fact that they dont read music fascinates me as well.

[Naigewron]

thats right.

To me, the drummers who are self taught have something special....Keith Moon, Charley Watts etc..and the fact that they dont read music fascinates me as well.

Tommy Aldridge is another great drummer who falls into this category.

[nerdywhiteboy]

So the message here is don't get a teacher. You will develop your own style and although you may not be very good, people will accept you and say "it's ok, he's self-taught!".

;) Just pokin.

The only drummers who are completely self-taught, are the ones who have their drumsets on craigslist (see the tom angles post).

[LeeLovesSabian]

Lars is Metallica, along with James. If he left, I can guarantee you Metallica would hang up their guitars and call it a day.

I completely agree.
Those are the two most influential members of the group, and it wouldn't be Metallica without either of them.

[druid]

St Anger snare drum...


could be the worst recorded snare I have ever heard.

[Solaris]

Smash it through a compressor and then sound replace it :)

[nerdywhiteboy]

As a drummer, I don't think much of Lars. As a person, I think less of him. But I do respect him for trying to bring something different to the table. I like St. Anger in general for that reason.
I actually do like St. Anger, when I'm in the right mood. I am in no way a heavy metal guy, but somehow, a couple years ago, I must have been in a bad mood for about a week, cause I listened to this whole album several times. It did grow on me, it has catchy parts. Now when I am in just the right mood I will listen to it.

I think it was a case of -fans want us to be heavy again, lets show them heavy.

edit: correction, this is the worst recorded snare (and everything else for that matter): http://www.shaggs.com/sound/TheShaggs_MyPalFootFoot.mp3

[The Parasprinter]

http://www.shaggs.com/sound/TheShaggs_MyPalFootFoot.mp3

Wow.

Somewhere there's a special needs room with a few empty helmets.

[Pkaneps]

Lars is Metallica, along with James. If he left, I can guarantee you Metallica would hang up their guitars and call it a day.

Maybe it's time they do.

[toddy]

i didn't read the rest of the thread.
but the only things i wonder about that snare drum are;

a) who told him it sounded goood
b) why after listening to it he didn't kill them and re-record

metal production is usually so good (and yes i know the whole idea around the production on the album..) but that snare. well.