70's sound snare drum

[sfuentes]

I'm looking to modify my chrome snare drum's sound into something from the 1970s (very controlled sound and a loose tension). I can't tell what brand my snare drum is, through lug design or shell design, but it's 5.5x14 and I have a blue evans hydraulic on the batter and a ludwig snare head on the snare side. any suggestions?

[sqadan]

I would say ditch the hydraulic and use either a Remo Coated CS with the dot on the underside or a coated Ambassador / Emperor along with some moongel or a zero ring of some kind... medium tension on the batter head with a hazy ambassador on the snare side also medium tight.

This way, if you do decide to open the drum up a bit - you don't have to change heads to do it. Adding / removing dampening to fine tune is always an option.

The Hydraulic is going to really ruin the sound of your snare I think... those things are too dampened in my opinion... especially for a snare drum where you want a nice feel and stick response.

[DrewTheShoe]

Your best bet is getting a coated Ambassador and a set of Moongels. Just throw all four of 'em on there if you want, that way you're not stuck with a premuffled head. Good tuning always helps, of course.
And if you're not gigging and just kinda playing by yourself, you can always throw a shirt on you snare. I've done that before when bored, it really gives it a cool sound.

[sfuentes]

i was thinking about using a coated cs head for a while, but i think i went with the hydraulic head just to change things up a bit. i do agree, the voice of the drum is severely cut back. hydraulic heads belong on the toms rather than the snare.

what would you recommend for hardware? should i stick with triple-flange hoops? also, what do you think i should do with my snare wires?

[sqadan]

i was thinking about using a coated cs head for a while, but i think i went with the hydraulic head just to change things up a bit. i do agree, the voice of the drum is severely cut back. hydraulic heads belong on the toms rather than the snare.

what would you recommend for hardware? should i stick with triple-flange hoops? also, what do you think i should do with my snare wires?

If you like that boxy 70's tone - I'd stick with triple flange hoops and try the puresound vintage style snare wires.

I think die-cast hoops will give a more focused fundamental tone to your drum - whereas you want that kind of flat / fat thwack.

[Aeolian]

Another chime in here for cutting up a ring into sections and using however much you want to damp the batter to taste. Then you can change it up for different situations.

A lot of the later 70's stuff had napkins and everything else taped to the heads. Plus, they often stuck the drums in a small iso booth totally padded down. That made everything have a stronger low end. Since they didn't really understand bass traps and even frequency absorption back then. Pillows on the walls ate all the highs, and pillows on the drums ate all the sustain.

[drumhammerer]

Remo clear black dot with lots of tape. That was a common snare head of the 70's, even into the 80's.