Snare drum overtones rings

kinder

Junior Member
Hello everyone, im kinda new here.
So i bought a Remo BLack Suede Black X snare drum skin, cause my old "default" skin was horrible and was giving tons of rings and overtones. After i changed it i was expecting a nice damped sound form it. But i got really small diferences. I already tried folding a little square of tape and taping it on the side of the snare drum and got no different at all. The best sound i can get is putting cloth on top of it, but that takes off alot of the bounce i need. I also tried tunning it and i don't know if i actually tunned it right cause im kinda new to this whole thing. Even tho i know the overtone/ring will be good tomorow in the concert in an open space with the guitars and everything, the musics we are gonna play have alot of "me" time, where i basicly use ALOT of the snare, i mean alot. And i need a really good sounding snare. I need to fix it as fast as possible, i already tried alot of things and non worked. I have no money to buy moongel or any other type of equipment. I still have my old, basicly full plastic skin, but i dont know how to cut it to make a ring, and if all the things i tried didnt work, i dont know if im gonna get a whole better sound with just the ring.
Snare: 14"x 5 1/2" Metal Snare Drum
 
Welcome to the board.

All snare drums, and all drums for that matter, will produce some sort of tone and overtone. There are a few attributes that you can change (pitch), a few that you can mitigate (decay), but overall, a drum will sound like it sounds.

You're going to get a lot of recommendations for trying different tension combinations, snare tensions, dampeners, mic positions, etc.... Before you get too deep down the rabbit hole, I have a good recommendation....

Find a drummer that knows how to tune a snare. Call him. Say, "Hey, do you have a moment to help me tune this snare?". On your way to his house, stop at the convenience store. Buy a six pack. Alternatively (If he's anything like me), pick up a Dutch Master or GV Vanilla.

Once the two of you find a sound that you like, jot down the tensions and figure out how to get there when starting from scratch.
 
All snares have overtones. I tune the drum to a range that I like, and add a piece of moongel til I get the sound I want. Head selection can help too. Evans makes a variety with overtone control built in. I prefer an external source of ring control for quick changes.
 
If you have a larger head, like a 16" floor tom head or a bass drum head, that's lying around then you can make a ring. Draw concentric 14" and 12" circles and cut them out of the larger head. That'll give you a 1" wide dampening ring. Maybe do an 11" inner circle first if you think you'd like some more dampening. Remember: draw all the circles you think you'll want before you cut them out. Bonus points for getting the old head logo in the new ring.
 
You could always buy Evans E-rings. I would only get them though after you've tried to get it tuned the best you can though.
 
Roll up some felt and wrap some gaffer around it and leave one side with a tab of gaffer stuck to the outer edge of the head. Not completely stuck down so it bounces when you hit it. This will dull the ringing but not completely.
 
Moongel is amazing stuff. Sounds like your batter head may be a little slack. I would recommend what the first poster suggested.
 
The very first thing that I noticed is that you're playing with a metal snare drum. I don't know what kind of metal it is, but any metal drum is going to have far more ring. That's just the nature of metal drums.

I'm not familiar with the Remo Black Suedes, so I'm not sure what effect that could be having.

It's important to remember how sound moves through a drum. The top head controls the sound of your initial attack while the bottom head controls the tone. Sometimes the tiniest loosening of the bottom head can get rid of a ring you're hearing.

You're idea with the tape was a good one, as is Moongel. I know Jeff Hamilton uses a band-aid. Basically the same as tape, but it's got the little bit of cotton in there as well.

Learn to appreciate some ring. I think a lot of drummers over-dampen. Remember the crowd, and even your band mates aren't going to hear as much as you hear. To the audience you're drum will sound a good bit drier that it does to you sitting right on top of it. If you over dampen to the point where it sounds like you think you want it to sound, it's probably going to sound like a cardboard box full of pillows to the audience. Get used to hearing some ring and appreciate it!

KamaK's idea is also very good. Just ask for some help from a pro. You'll probably get a lot more out of it than just learning to tune your snare.
 
I will try these sugestions. I'm gonna ask for help later after i try somethings. For example, im gonna try to cut the 14" Old head of the snare into a ring see if it works. Then ill try to loosen up the tension on the bottom head... Ill give you some feedback
 
The ring could be the shell, the metal ring around the heads against the shell, a combo of both, loose inside screws on the tension rod lugs, or even tension rod lugs requiring isolation by means of rubber gaskets (and so much more). It is definitely a process trying to nail down those resilient vibrations.


Current snare setup:
3 gels
a tone ring
a strip of cloth under the head
torque to 15 kg/cm

The downside:
A little less bounce
No tone on when the throw is disengaged


Takeaway:
Explore other options
I want the Tom back
I like the pitch of the 15 kg/cm (resembles a Don Brewer Studio sound)

What I have reduced is the sympathetic ring (Fed off the up tom shell vibration), which may have gone away when I torqued up the head to 15 kg/cm.

To do List:

Take off the head and remove the cloth strip
Retorque to 15 kg/cm
see if the sympathetic ring is present at the higher torque with the cloth removed.

If the ring is gone with the cloth removed, my bounce is back and so is the tom.

We'll see. Maybe Wednesday.
 
Last edited:
Ok, so i tune it up, loosen some of the batter tension, think i tuned the bottom and top head right im not 100% sure. Then i cut my old head into a ring, let me tell you, it did the job.It still has some ring in it, but ill find a way to get rid of it Thank you for all fo your help. Used all of the advices and made it perfect Thank you.
 
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