you make my point for not buying stuff (after 10/20/30 years of deliberation) which I agree with : )
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Another twist on that,
was the Tony Williams interview comment/ I have here somewhere where he says; People hired him- during the Big Yellow Set- era they Got him- the big Yellow set and all- he didn't change for situation- you got him if you asked.
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that's how I see it - to a large extent. I can't be all things to all people. Maybe 3 or four. But not 6 or 7.
Not because I "can't" but because "where am I going to store all that stuff" (lol
I’m like you. I don’t mind some ring, but not too much. Surprisingly, to my ears, the 14x5 Ludwig Pewter Copperphonic has much more ring and overtones than the 14x6.5 Ludwig Raw Brass. Strange, since I’ve heard copper is warm and wood-like, and brass is brighter. May have to return the Copperphonic because it doesn’t seem like muffling it too much is worth it. But…it is pretty!
Man, I have heard the same thing! I've had several point me to the copperphonic, but it seems to have a lot of ring to it. I made the mistake of researching Black Beauty snares. I now own two, and I've pretty much stopped looking at snares now. However, like you, I love the look of the raw copper.
I believe that if someone has to manipulate a drum too much to make it sound good, it may not be worth keeping...no matter how much other people sing its praises. I've been able to spot these in used drum ads. I'll see something like a supra with a Pinstripe or a Genera Dry with added "tape waves" or folded napkins taped down to the head, and I often thing "I bet that had just a little too much ring!"
On a heavily muffled drum the pitch and quickness of the rimshot transient comes to the fore doesn't it? "Clock" vs "pip"? With different heads the ring is variable but that transient of the actual shell for rimshots/cross stick is going to remain. I like the higher pitch and quickness of metal, wood starts to get wood block-ish when muffled heavily sometimes.
IDK. I'm still figuring this stuff out too
Same here on figuring it out. That's one reason that I squelched my wooden snares with heavy muffling at live shows until now. I've got time to dink with snare sounds now, and a several wood amd metal ones to come up with 1 or 2 to rely on.
I don't know, honestly.
I don't like any "ringing" at all. I muted the bejeezus out of my birch snare, and it still had this annoying "ring", whatever the tuning.
Got me a Ludwig Supralite, tuned it to taste, put some chamois on the batter head, and it was all there, that sound I was looking for.
I'll snag a Supraphonic for studio work in the near future. Maybe a SuperSensitive someday, just for kicks. BFSD is high on my list of "wants and needs."
Black beautys have this high end irritating ring (unmuffled) whereas to me acrolites have more of this tone type ring. I like snaredrums with body and warmth in the ring not a shrill driving bats from a cave type ring.
There's an episode of Sounds Like A Drum where they first of all use a low pass filter to remove overtones from a snare, gradually leaving just the fundamental. Then they used a high pass filter on the same drum to gradually leave just the overtones.
Counter intuitively the drum with less fundamental, therefore emphasis on overtones and ring, sounded better to me. It sounded more "like a drum" whereas the no overtone/emphasis on fundamental sounded increasingly artificial.
Granted filtering & damping/tuning are not going to produce exactly the same results, but the clear takeaway was that overtones/ring is essential to a good tone IMHO.
I was a "no" ring guy at first, even with wood snare but started to like ring or ping when I learnt how to tune drums and realized it's what makes a snare having a personality vibe. I have only 2 metal snares, bras and aluminium and I put the minimum just thinking on how I would need it to sound if I was recording it but most of the time, I like them opened.... Ok, stell is too much for me, maybe that's why I have no steel snare.
This is a custom made 20 stave 6.5"x14" Walnut snare with Integrated 1/2" re-rings and a THIN walled body at just over an 1/8". It features: 10 chrome tube lugs S-hoops on top and bottom Dw style throw off and butt plate. Pure sound snares Remo coated ambassador on top and clear emperor on bott...
So based on the replies, I guess the answers to my original questions are:
Do people like the ring of metal snares? Answer: Some do, others don’t. Some use dampening, others don’t.
Is it worth spending money on an expensive snare with a certain ring if you’re going to dampen it anyway? Answer: Up to you.
Is the answer in the tuning? Answer: Could be.
Is the answer in the heads? Possible. My Pearl Maple 10x6 Popcorn did not ring with an Aquarian Classic Clear Snare Side. But it does with a Remo Diplomat Snare Side.
I guess I am about to find out. Just pulled the trigger on this at American Musical Supply. The TAMA LST148 SLP, it's got great reviews and I think the tone of a metal snare is what I have been looking for.
I am very excited, as this is my first metal snare.
I guess I am about to find out. Just pulled the trigger on this at American Musical Supply. The TAMA LST148 SLP, it's got great reviews and I think the tone of a metal snare is what I have been looking for.
I guess I am about to find out. Just pulled the trigger on this at American Musical Supply. The TAMA LST148 SLP, it's got great reviews and I think the tone of a metal snare is what I have been looking for.
: )
maybe I'll find the reason in the literature surrounding the Tom Mills Sonor snare drum
was it the first? metal; does anyone know;if any reasoning was hinted at if not definitive
This was not always the case. My first teacher had a big copper Ludwig snare. When attending lessons I would hit the snare and grimace at the ring. He would apologise and tweak the tone control knob with a little smile. I realise now that he would play it wide open but was happy for me to find my sound. Recently when playing a snare for the first time I feel a little sad if it gives me a short note
Same as some….I guess it depends on the ring. It use to drive me nuts and I stayed away from metal snares for the longest time. Then thanks to YouTube and hours of videos, I realized most of the snares that got me excited were a little ringy, but not just any ring. More the openness of the tone. I really came to the conclusion for myself after spending way too much on different heads, thicker, thinner, rings, dots…I was trying to get that full sound I was hearing in my head, without the….BbbbRrrrIiiNnnnnGggg at the end.
I finally found my sound with what I never thought possible, a plain ol’ Remo Ambassador frosted. No ring, dots or anything. Just a little piece of moongel on an edge. Once I got that dialed in I realized I didn’t really like any of my wood snares and it wasn’t because they were too dry or ringy. Quite the opposite. They had as much, but my metal snares just sounded better and fuller.
I now have two metal snares and no wood. My brass is gone. It was a bit much. Bronze has been a super nice warm and woody sounding snare with a nice controlled ring to the tone and my cast aluminum which is a much drier snare with less ring, but still a decently long unchoked tone. Sounds more gated than the bronze.
I haven’t thrown out the idea of a wood snare. Just looking for that special one that’ll contrast what I have. It’s been tough since the two metals cover so much of the spectrum already. I thought the Tama Starphonic Bubinga was it, but it ended up way too “polite” for the lack of a better term. It just didn’t have the presence I was expecting. Still a bit bummed. What a beautiful snare it was!
I’ve decided after extensive testing I don’t love long or loud rings of metal snares. Aluminum seems like a good compromise for me. So I returned a Ludwig Raw Brass snare and got a used Supraphonic.
My Kapur wood SLP Rings more than my Imperialstar Aluminum, but Less than my cheap Mapex Maple 8 x 14. I have decided to steal Bernard Purdies trick and use thin towels taped to side of Head under the Mic to muffle the ring slightly on The Kapur, but only on soft rock or Jazzx. Hard Rock i let it ring cause it gets absorbed in the Mix anyway.I just pull the muffler off on some songs. The 8 x 14 i keep a sweat band taped and two moon gels at all times and that sounds pretty decent. The imperialstar has a muffler inside which is adjustable which i love. I use about half of it
My Kapur wood SLP Rings more than my Imperialstar Aluminum, but Less than my cheap Mapex Maple 8 x 14. I have decided to steal Bernard Purdies trick and use thin towels taped to side of Head under the Mic to muffle the ring slightly on The Kapur, but only on soft rock or Jazzx. Hard Rock i let it ring cause it gets absorbed in the Mix anyway.I just pull the muffler off on some songs. The 8 x 14 i keep a sweat band taped and two moon gels at all times and that sounds pretty decent. The imperialstar has a muffler inside which is adjustable which i love. I use about half of it
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