I want this snare sound BADLY

McShmoopy

Senior Member
Ive tried all day, with my CB Snare Drums (Both Wood and Steel) with Evans Genera Dry Heads and Remo Emperor X (The video shows Remo Emperor X) and I can only achieve a Crack sound out of both snare drums. What am I doing wrong? Could it be the shell of my Snares because Im thinking of upgrading...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUUhDupEmJo&feature=related

Theyre both CB Snare Drums, Wood and Steel with stock reso heads and stock snare strings. Could that be it? Ive tried reffering to the Drum Bible but not much good.
 
i would pick up a new reso head and maybe some new snares. you could also try cutting out some snare wires. if you cut some out, i would recommend you cut from the middle.
 
To get that snare sound you'll need to consider a few factors:

1. What snare is he using? A like for like comparisson will help. A wood snare or a steel snare is unlikely to sound exactly like a brass or aluminium drum.
2. What mics is he using?
3. How has he processed or EQ'd the sound? The recorded sound you are listening to is not likely to be the exact sound of the drum if you were playing it.

Sure, it's possible to get close....and for that you've just gotta keep playing around with the tuning (his batter appears reasonably tight fwiw). But given the variables listed above, it may not be possible to completely replicate the sound.
 
Based on the recorded sound of his snare, the best you can probably do in real life is to crank it up and muffle it more than a submarine.

Obviously the mics, mixing, EQing etc all play a part in the overall sound of his snare but if you want it to sound as much as you can get it like that, just high and short is pretty much the best you can aim for i suppose.

xoxo
 
I would try a Remo CS Black Dot rather than an Emperor X on either of your snares. If your snares are not top quality, the Emperor X may be a little too thick to produce much beyond a dull crack.

Make sure that your snare-side head is a good one as well, like the Remo Ambassador Snare Side, I am not certain of the Evan's equivalent.

Also, when tuning, crank the snare side up pretty tight, but don't choke it. You will need that tightness for the sound you are going for.

They other guys are right about the mic-ing and eq-ing aspect, too. That plays a HUGE role in drum sound.

I hope this helps.
 
Ok im pretty sure its my heads :D Im now looking into the Remo Ambassador Clear or the Remo Hazy Clear heads for my snare side, as well as some Puresound snare wires. Can anyone give me reccomendation on how many strands I should get for the kind of sound I want? I have a choice between 16 to 24 strands. And im still confused whether to use a Remo Empeoer X or a CS Dot (I will be replacing my current Emperor X with another or the CS dot as I did not seat the head so that could be a factor towards the bad sound)
 
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There's really no way of knowing what that snare sounds like in its "acoustic" form. It's run through microphones, EQ'ing, compression and probably other stuff as well. If you were to stand in the room when he played it, it would sound very different.

So yeah, the way to get something resembling that sound is to get a similar snare with similar tuning and run it through a similar recording setup. And hit it the same way as he does.

For what it's worth, his snare looks like a Tama Starphonic to me, possibly the aluminium model (but I can't really see it clearly, so it might something completely different). He's tuned it very tight with what looks like a Remo CS head. He uses fairly beefy sticks (I'm guessing 5B) and he seems to hit rimshots pretty consistently throughout. He also hits the drum off-centre, which will also have a big impact on the sound of the drum.
 
In the video, he gets a pretty good sound, but it doesn't sound too hard to replicate.
To me, it sounds like an aluminum drum, with tight tuning, (both sides) tight snare tension but more importantly, he's playing rimshots on the major backbeats. You can hear the difference when he isn't playing RS's, on the faster 16th note snare stuff he's playing. Rimshots are the thing that makes the snare sound great, because you're including the shell tone. If you hit the drum with just the stick tip, you will never get that sound.

I concur w/ JoeyH that the snare reso side needs to be quite tight. You mentioned ambassador clears....don't put a 10 mil clear ambassador on your snare reso side, make sure it's a 3 mil ambassador hazy or Evans 300 snare side. You probably already know this but your reference to the clear ambassador raised my eyebrow. My eyebrow is down now in case you're wondering lol.
 
Thanks alot for the info guys! I can confirm that the Controlled Sound Snare head is the one I'll be wanting :) And Ill get the Remo Hazy for the snare side as both of my snare sides are worth a good replacement.

I want to get some Puresound snare wires as I dont think stock heads will do me any good any more, I would kindly like some advice on whether I should pick the Blasters or the Equalisers?

I would like minimal sympathetic snare buzz but at the same time I want quite a bit of power. Any advice on which to pick?
 
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