What Recorded Snare Sound Do You Like?

cbphoto

cbphoto

Diamond Member
With the various discussions about snare drums & wires & recording, let’s from y’all:
What recordings(s) have a snare drum that you really dig? Any you hate?

I dig the authentic sound on Cissy Strut but don’t like Alex Van Halen’s sound much at all.
 
I use different drums and tune my drums differently-- and play differently-- depending on the situation. I just have a variety of sounds in my ear that I play off of. Like Joey Baron's deep sound circa 1990, or Paul Motian's, which is also kind of a big sound; or Dejohnette's which is very dry, or Idris Muhammad or Famoudou Don Moye, who often have more of an R&B sound. Elvin Jones or Roy Haynes with kind of a high, live sound. Later Billy Higgins, with maybe a deeper drum, medium tuning. I think those are the main ones.
 
Nat Coburn has a great sound. Crisp, articulate, yet great bottom end. Uh....the drum, not him.
Paul "Perky" Perkinas has probably the worst snare sound on the planet. Sounds really loose. Kinda like he sets the head and tightens the rods just enough to keep the head from spinning around. Just awful.
 
Yamaha Rider said:
But would The Eagles have sounded better with a tight, crisp snare?
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If Henley had recorded with a tight snare, we might be asking, "But would The Eagles have sounded better with a loose, low snare?" Compositions don't "require" one snare tuning or another. It's an arbitrary decision. Henley tuned his snares the way he wanted to. He obviously had a distinct sound in mind. I'm not arguing that he should have tuned otherwise. I'm just explaining that I've never cared for his tunings.
 
cbphoto said:
With the various discussions about snare drums & wires & recording, let’s from y’all:
What recordings(s) have a snare drum that you really dig? Any you hate?

I dig the authentic sound on Cissy Strut but don’t like Alex Van Halen’s sound much at all.
Click to expand...
Hm I love avh sound, 1984 is perfection to me. Diver down no, too high pitched
 
My go-to snare sound is always Bill Bruford's classic Yes sound: high, tight, dry, pingy, cuts through anything.

It's funny, I was going to say that for all it's Steve Gadd's playing on "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" that gets all the (deserved) attention, that I love the snare sound. And I do. But I just listened and outside the intro/outro, Paul Simon is mixed so (understandably) high that during the chorus, especially, you can barely hear the snare, as almost every 2 and 4 has a vocal covering it, and quite loudly. Also, the syncopated tambourine is mixed too high. Why don't these fabulously talented and successful artists ever listen to me 45 years after the fact?
 
Al Strange said:
I’m a Copeland freak so I’m with @C.M. Jones on my favourite snare sound. Is anyone gonna mention Lars’ St Anger snare sound? :unsure:
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Are we even sure that was a snare on St Anger? ?
Agree about Copeland though. His whole drum sound really. Very few players have a signature hi-hat sound (at least rock players) and Copeland sure does. Really makes the case for smaller hat diameters.
 
cbphoto said:
With the various discussions about snare drums & wires & recording, let’s from y’all:
What recordings(s) have a snare drum that you really dig? Any you hate?

I dig the authentic sound on Cissy Strut but don’t like Alex Van Halen’s sound much at all.
Click to expand...

Van Halen II is one of my favourite snare sounds but if we all thought the same life would be boring!

Bonham on Presence and Hal Blaine Be My Baby are others I really like.

The self titled Dream Theater album has a snare sound I can't get on with, sounds worse than the electronic snare Portnoy used on Images and Words
 
GretschedHive said:
My go-to snare sound is always Bill Bruford's classic Yes sound: high, tight, dry, pingy, cuts through anything.

It's funny, I was going to say that for all it's Steve Gadd's playing on "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" that gets all the (deserved) attention, that I love the snare sound. And I do. But I just listened and outside the intro/outro, Paul Simon is mixed so (understandably) high that during the chorus, especially, you can barely hear the snare, as almost every 2 and 4 has a vocal covering it, and quite loudly. Also, the syncopated tambourine is mixed too high. Why don't these fabulously talented and successful artists ever listen to me 45 years after the fact?
Click to expand...
Steve Gadd and Manu Katche are two session guys with great snare sounds. Manu’s work with Peter Gabriel and Sting stands out to me.
Also the snare on Rosanna (and the rest of Toto’s recordings), Jeff Porcaro knew what he was doing.

lastly the snare on Owner of a Lonely Heart, both the acoustic snare and the electronic one. Killer.
 
Griffin said:
Steve Gadd and Manu Katche are two session guys with great snare sounds. Manu’s work with Peter Gabriel and Sting stands out to me.
Also the snare on Rosanna (and the rest of Toto’s recordings), Jeff Porcaro knew what he was doing.

lastly the snare on Owner of a Lonely Heart, both the acoustic snare and the electronic one. Killer.
Click to expand...
I am partial to the snare on changes by yes
6.5 hammered bronze supra
 
mikyok said:
Van Halen II is one of my favourite snare sounds but if we all thought the same life would be boring!

Bonham on Presence and Hal Blaine Be My Baby are others I really like.

The self titled Dream Theater album has a snare sound I can't get on with, sounds worse than the electronic snare Portnoy used on Images and Words
Click to expand...

Yeah I think that was portnoy’s attempt to modernize his snare sound and align to what the rock and grunge guys we’re going for at that time. It totally didn’t work.
 
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