How do I tell my friend that his expensive custom handmade snare is shit?

VitalTransformation

VitalTransformation

Silver Member
Haha, yeah this is a funny one. One of my best friends (an excellent pro drummer, but not really a gear head) custom ordered a stave 13x6" snare drum from an English builder (not Guru), on recommendation from some other pro local drummer.

The drum is beautiful to look at, with it's sculpted shell and ancient looking reclaimed timber. It cost him a shit-ton of money. He always brings this drum to gigs and studio sessions, because the drum is this childless MF's baby. And I'm often the engineer.

But this drum just doesn't sound good to me under mics... It has this nasally, boxy sound and doesn't even give much volume, so I really have to work to get it up front in the mixes. Since we work together a lot and I'm a close friend, I find it hard to suggest using one of our cheap(er), but better snares instead!!
 
Reclaimed timber = old furniture or old barn where I'm from.

Can you try going about it a different way , like suggesting a different tuning? If it still doesn't sound good then maybe he will figure it out.
 
Don't count bribery out.

Everyone's happy.
 
Sounds like it’s a really soft wood, or bearing edges are too round, or better head is too thick. I don’t know. This is why I am so careful about which custom builders I buy from.
 
If he doesn't hear what you hear, or agree with what you hear, that snare is not going anywhere.

In many crafts & disciplines, when one buys an expensive tool and/or instrument, one's strong desire for it to work well—and justify its price point—blinds them to its shortcomings. This is a very common phenomenon.

The first pic is my Tama Limited Edition Starphonic Spotted Gum snare. It's the most expensive snare I own. It's a "limited edition". It's a Starphonic. It's made in Japan. It's beautiful. I desperately want it to sound good. The first year or so I used it, I proudly showed it off, played it at gigs, and fished for compliments from my peers. Then I bought another snare: a Tama Limited Edition SLP G-Maple Tamo Ash snare (second pic). I was blown away by its sound. It cost less than half of the Spotted Gum snare. It's made in China.

I became discouraged about buying the Spotted Gum snare. It sat in its bag for a few years while I played the "cheaper" snare all the time. When I looked at it, I felt like a fool for spending $900 on a drum.

About a year ago, I decided to keep it, and figure out how to make it sound good, unique. Tama doesn't build trash, right? Simple logic got me results. Spotted Gum is a very hard wood (harder than bubinga) so it's going to have a bright quality. The Starphonic rims increase high overtones/harmonics. Using a thicker batter head and Fat Cat snare wires gave me a snare that I enjoy playing.

But I'll probably never buy another pricey snare.

Starphonic_Spotted_Gum.jpg


Tama%20SLP%20G-Maple.jpg
 
Every snare/sound has a purpose, That snare may work great in some places and not other...

Maybe try some other tunings, try some other heads.. I have yet to find a snare I can't make sound decent. Sure, they may not be right for the application I have in mind, but that's why we all have several snares. Each one does something really well, and others do multiple things well.

Pretty common for a new piece of gear that cost a ton of cash to be forced into situations.. When I buy a beat up drum that sounds better than an expensive one I often don't want to believe it.
 
One snare doesn't work for everything and the more you move away from a pretty standard metal or ply shell the more true that is.

Try telling him it's a great drum, but maybe not the right one for this particular thing. Explain that many recording pros have lots of drum for this paricular reason. Get him to track with several different drums and to do a blind listen to the mix.
 
Thanks for your replies guys! I've tuned this snare myself several times with different heads to different tunings over the last couple years so I'm confident tuning and heads are not the issue.

The wood is supposedly reclaimed from shipwrecks off the coast of Scotland. I'm guessing spruce or some other fir species.

@CBphoto> I have the 13x7" SLP G-maple and it's exactly the drum I'd replace it with, given this drummer's particular style. So much more crisp, cracking and open-sounding for a thick-shelled wood snare.
 
You can try just keeping quiet and doing your job the best you can. Some things aren’t worth the argument and unless you’re the guy paying everybody for the session, this would be one of them. I had a photography teacher who told his class to always have a nice shirt and a tie ready to go - because what you have to do as a photographer is more important then being asked to look professional.

Be a pro and make it happen and get on to the next (hopefully more enjoyable) job.
 
VitalTransformation said:
The wood is supposedly reclaimed from shipwrecks off the coast of Scotland. I'm guessing spruce or some other fir species.
Click to expand...

As soon as you mentioned the word “shipwrecks”, I thought about what would happen to wood that has been under salt water for 200 years. I can easily imagine exactly what that snare drum sounds like.


.
 
Hollywood Jim said:
As soon as you mentioned the word “shipwrecks”, I thought about what would happen to wood that has been under salt water for 200 years. I can easily imagine exactly what that snare drum sounds like.


.
Click to expand...

To be fair, these guys are aiming to do a ultra high-end woodworking operation. I'm sure their wood isn't moist.
 
Well, you could handle it Belushi-style. Ask him is you can see his drum real quick, and instantly throw it in front of a truck.

Or do the Hollywood thing and frame your utter rejection of the drum as praise. "This drum is very special, maybe too special for this poor project where we're going for more of a crappy, inferior kind of sound, for which your wonderful drum is ill-suited, here play this Supraphonic."
 
If it is indeed Fir, then it belongs to the soft wood category. Hardwoods have leaves, and soft woods have needles like Pine, Fir and others. Maybe it is just too soft. Classic old wood but maybe for tables or shelves etc and not drums. Also split lumber, depending on your year round geographical location, needs almost a year to get to proper moisture content, and that is after it is split.
another thing is maybe the drum sounds good to him....
 
I wouldn't exactly describe Douglas Fir as soft. :)

Species is only one factor, though. Where it's from, age and when it was cut can have a huge impact. Big changes in construction method will have an even bigger effect.

That drum is probably good for something, just maybe not a huge backbeat on a rock tune.
 
Odd-Arne Oseberg said:
I wouldn't exactly describe Douglas Fir as soft. :)

Species is only one factor, though. Where it's from, age and when it was cut can have a huge impact. Big changes in construction method will have an even bigger effect.

That drum is probably good for something, just maybe not a huge backbeat on a rock tune.
Click to expand...

I understand the hard / soft plan. Some trees grown under water where there is more pressure have very close growth rings. Still Fir is classified as soft wood though much harder than balsam, a very soft hardwood, how it was milled, quarter sawn, plain sawn will have a lot to do with it's properties. I'm not putting a blanket on any specie as cut and dry.
 
Meanwhile over on the Recordingworld General Discussion forum....

How Do I Tell My Engineer Friend His Microphones Suck?

The older I get the more I see the wisdom in the old advice of not saying anything if you can't say something nice. Apart from anything else, your friend may like the sound that you have dislike.

You mention that you dislike the sound under mic. Doesn't that imply that changing the mic, or its placement or the processing could fix the problem that you perceive?
 
Tell him he has a Gribble infestation-little crustaceans that bore and feed on wood. Tell him the only way to rid the Gribbles is radioactive material that will have to decay-several months-maybe years LOL. Reminds me of an Old Chairman that played a joke on a fellow faculty member. He had caught this mutant bass from a pond near the Nuclear power plant-it was huge but had bulging eyes and some odd growths. The guy had put it in his lab freezer to show off to everyone-the chairman heard about it and slipped in and placed some radioactive material in the bass. He came back questioning him where he caught the fish (you aren't suppose to fish it) and why he brought it on campus and maybe there was some risks- then he brought in a Geiger counter. It was hilarious he's eyes got bigger and bigger as the Geiger counter got hotter and hotter.
 
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