Looking for a pop/funk snare sound

R

rmac86

Member
Hi all,

I heard the track by Lauren Hill - Doo Wop and was wondering how to get that particular snare sound, the real high pitched "crack" seemingly with very little overtones. Have also heard this on Fun Lovin' Criminals live concerts, but what I'm ultimately after is the sound of Chad Smiths snare on the Blood Sugar Sex Magic album.

I tried the tuning method in "ultimate snare tuning technique" youtube video and got an alright sound but am convinced I could do better. Currently I am trying this on my Pearl 14" x 5" Chad Smith signature snare (as I thought it would give the volume I require for funk rock) but also have the following available to try this out on:

> Pearl Export 14" x 5.5" (mahogany)
> Pearl Vision VBL 14" X 5.5" (birch)
> Pearl Chad Smith Signature 14" x 5" (steel I think)
> Pearl Masters 14" x 5" (maple)

Head wise all above have Remo coated Ambassadors on them simply because its all I have ever played with, so am open to suggestions there. I also just got a new Remo Controlled sound, as I saw a discussion here where someone recommended it for funk/pop use.

I'n not into putting moongels or big dopey wads of black tape over my snares and believe I can get the sound I want naturally through tuning.

So based on above information, could you guys give me a good combination of snare & head and tuning advice also?


Thanks,

R
 
One of the many Evans Dry style heads, and crank the reso head. And do not over tighten or choke the snares. Just a little tighter than rattle. If you want the snare sound to travel don't choke them.
 
GRUNTERSDAD said:
One of the many Evans Dry style heads, and crank the reso head. And do not over tighten or choke the snares. Just a little tighter than rattle. If you want the snare sound to travel don't choke them.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response, though I have never liked the Evans heads personally. Maybe it's just me but IMO they tune up quickly and sound alright but I find they don't hold this tuning very well. Remos seem to take a bit longer to find that sweet spot but when they do they stay like that almost indefinitely.

What would you recommend in terms of the snare & head combinations I mentioned above?


Thanks,

R
 
I'm not a Remo guy so I can't comment on the toms, but a 200 or 300 snare side head and the Remo snare head with the control on the under side should work. You want something dry without much overtone.
 
The Doo Wop sound.... any snare with a cranked head. Tune high, then crank it a half turn more.
Then...lay your wallet on top, to one side. Try it.
 
@OP: Supposedly, you're talking about recorded drum sound? Because these snare references are all heavily produced and not tones you're liable to hear from the throne anytime soon. The RHCP example is famous for using digital delay as well as a ton of duct tape. The Lauryn Hill record uses layers of samples behind the acoustic sound. Better to study recording and production techniques rather than obsessing over drums and heads!
 
I have chad smith sig . Best results ive had is remo snare side and controlled sound coated. Do you have a tune bot ? If so 332 hertz on the batter lugs and 400 hertz on the reso head lugs. Im using puresound blaster wires. Great for live performance a lot of pop and cut. I dont use this to record though
 
VitalTransformation said:
@OP: Supposedly, you're talking about recorded drum sound? Because these snare references are all heavily produced and not tones you're liable to hear from the throne anytime soon. The RHCP example is famous for using digital delay as well as a ton of duct tape. The Lauryn Hill record uses layers of samples behind the acoustic sound. Better to study recording and production techniques rather than obsessing over drums and heads!
Click to expand...

Yep I agree they are all recorded and heavily produced. I love your last statement and totally concur! Its not 'heads and tuning' but rather wallets and duct tape.

But if I wanted to to get closest to that 'doo wop' sound 'from the throne', I would deaden my snare by putting a wallet on it. Just simple common sense.
 
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I used to get a very similar sound to the one in the Lauren Hill recording by tuning my 5×13 Maple Weckl drum way up and then taping a thick cardboard beer coaster to the center of the batter head. Sounded great. I used to have to do that to keep the volume down when playing restaurants with the funk band I used to gig with in Vancouver.
 
I have my 5x14 supra tuned for this. I've got the bottom head (clear remo snare side) cranked pretty high. The batter head is a coated ambassador currently, and also use a wallet or the internal muffling (no more than barely touching the batter, for a little more ring)

I tend to go between an Emperor or Ambassador coated.

Beyond that, as said, most of the magic is in the production/ engineering
 
The Benny Greb trick of putting and old vinyl record on top of your batter would get you pretty close too, provided you had your batter table top tight to begin with (the vinyl will drop the pitch quite a bit), and perhaps tightened your snare wires a bit too to clean up the something-on-top-of-the-batter mushy thingy.
 
I'd suggest a 13" snare if you really like that sound.

Crank it then muffle it.

IMO, that snare sounds like a 10" popcorn snare at normal turning.
 
I think that vision and put die cast hoops on it. I would put some Puresound wires on it, brass. Keep the Ambassador. Then crank the reso a little higher than the batter.

You can thank me later. Haha!
 
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