Snare is not cutting through!

tamadrm said:
'Back in the day?Young man,I have socks older than you.:):)

I'ts not the drum or the drum heads or the sticks or you ...nor anything else.

The guitars are simply TOO LOUD.Short of micing your kit,which for rehearsal purposes,is simply ridicilious,there's nothing you can do to address the loudness of your drums.Period.

Turn the amps down.Do you think Metalica plays at full volume when they rehearse?The answer is NO........

Steve B
Click to expand...

Tamadrm makes several good points here. Watch some videos of your favorite LOUD rock band. You will notice that if the guitars are turned up, the drums will have microphones on them.


(Side note, I'd love to play with your band using my snare. I'm sure they would be able to hear me just fine !!)

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Drill a bunch of holes in your snare, that will bring your volume up significantly.





(don't really do that)
 
cg2112 said:
Drill a bunch of holes in your snare, that will bring your volume up significantly.





(don't really do that)
Click to expand...

Drill a bunch of holes in the speakers of the guitar amplifiers.



(Don't really do that)
(Drill only a few holes)
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tamadrm said:
'Back in the day?Young man,I have socks older than you.:):)

I'ts not the drum or the drum heads or the sticks or you ...nor anything else.

The guitars are simply TOO LOUD.Short of micing your kit,which for rehearsal purposes,is simply ridicilious,there's nothing you can do to address the loudness of your drums.Period.

Turn the amps down.Do you think Metalica plays at full volume when they rehearse?The answer is NO........

Steve B
Click to expand...

+1

It often seems that anybody with a volume knob on their instrument quickly forgets that it goes more than ONE WAY. I mean, drums can be loud. Loud enough to do real hearing damage on their own.

Try playing by yourself as loud as you play at practice and take note how loud it is. I bet you it is not quiet by any stretch of the imagination. Now, just because you can's hear your drums anymore once the guitars kick in does not mean that you got any quieter.

I encounter this all the time through my work. I have a radio and the mic is close to my ear. I am constantly playing with the volume to keep it at a level that where I can hear it, but not have it be an ice pick in my friggin ear. Sometimes, street noise and other factors have me just about max out the volume. Now, if I were to turn it at max volume without that ambient noise level around me, someone would talk and it would be so loud I would almost break my neck trying to get my ear away from that mic before I could turn it down.

Too much volume also has an effect on what and how you play. I find that when I am competing against several hundred watts of bass and several hundred watts of guitar, I end up playing like Dave Grohl. I simplify what I end up playing where I want to put subtle things that would get buried in the mix. I find that I just play more obvious stuff when I can hardly hear myself.

Tell 'em to turn it down
 
Today is practice day, so i am going to put al your arguments to te test. And i asked my guitarist again, and he said that my drum are loud. But the snare is significant softer. So if he sets his volume as same as the snare, you wouldn't hear the guitar anymore because the rest of the drums are to loud.

But as i said i am going to test it today(accept for the drilling part)
And i have some earprotection with me, Alpine Musicsafe Pro.

Cheers

And for tamadrm, you must have some good quality socks, my always die after a year of 2 :p
 
DA:

I was watching this and other videos of your band. You play drums pretty good.
However, you are a fairly light hitter. Especially for this kind of music.
If you can, you need to whack that snare on the 2 and 4 beat (or the 1 and 3 beat) so they can hear it.

It sounds like your snares are too loose. Your snare is not popping like a gun shot!

And here is the big problem you guys are having. The guitar amplifiers need to be in a straight line with the drums across the back of the stage. The guitar players are playing right in front of their amplifiers. With your drums almost behind the amplifiers. Of course they can't hear your snare. They never will with the amplifies like that.

At least have the amplifiers next to the drums in a straight line across the stage.

http://youtu.be/jj1aeGUQezI
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DA:

Also tilt your snare drum slightly forward. Away from you. So that when you hit the drum your stick angle will make a louder sound.

Right now your snare angle is slightly tilted towards you. That is not good if you want to hit the drum hard.
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If they say your drums are loud but not the snare , you have a problem with the snare. My best guess would be your left hand. Try doing the 1/16 on the hat (rlrlrlrl etc) and hitting the snare on 2 and 4 with the right hand and see how that goes/feel.
 
If your just worried about the snare cutting through I would look at your snare head combo. You have a head that tends to purposely stop the ring, meaning it will sound dry and a lot of the ring will be lost. Since your band is playing heavier music, and the guitars are sucking up a lot of the drums resonance, I would recomend you looking for a 2 ply head, like an Evan E2 or and Remo Emp. This will still give the the option of tuning it nice and tight, but it will also give you some ring that will come through the guitars.

If you have little ring to start with, then it's going to take away volume and crack, but if there is ring and overtones before the other instruments have even played, then once those heavy guitars come in, it will soak up a bit of the overtones, but you will still have some, making it sound fatter and louder.

Or you could get them to turn down a bit.
 
Here is my report from yesterday.

I placed the snare loose in his stand and tightend up de snare reso head. And we put the volume down of the guitars.

And the sound was amazing, the snare really cut through, so everything matched with eachother.

But i think i will have to tune the snare a few more times to set it up right, because i had not much time to tune it.


Thanks again for all your input.

Cheers
 
DA-Drummer said:
Here is my report from yesterday.

I placed the snare loose in his stand and tightend up de snare reso head. And we put the volume down of the guitars.

And the sound was amazing, the snare really cut through, so everything matched with eachother.

But i think i will have to tune the snare a few more times to set it up right, because i had not much time to tune it.


Thanks again for all your input.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Great news! A tight reso makes a lot of difference, and once you fine tune it that snare will have crack and body to spare.
 
I recommend cranking that bottom head. I crank my bottom heads and my snares really cut through the music. I play Alternative Hip-Hop so the snare needs to stand out. I also play mainly traditional grip to get a real heavy back beat on the snare. But like some have said here, crank that bottom head almost to the point that you can pop it with your finger... You might blow out a couple bottom heads when you start going but you'll eventually find a nice medium for the bottom head. I'm infamous for blowing out the bottom snare head... Enjoy and have fun...
 
I would:

- Hit harder
- Tell them to turn down, if hitting harder doesn't help
- Do what others have suggested, tune the snare reso up, and the batter lower than the reso
- Don't over-tighten the snare wires
- Try a brass or steel snare (if you haven't) if you want more tone to cut through

I'm playing with the loudest punk mothers I've ever heard, right now...and even my Classic Maple snare can be heard clearly through their amplifier tyranny. These guys can make my Zoom H4N recorder clip the entire time, no matter where I place it in the room.
 
zambizzi said:
I would:

- Hit harder
- Tell them to turn down, if hitting harder doesn't help
- Do what others have suggested, tune the snare reso up, and the batter lower than the reso
- Don't over-tighten the snare wires
- Try a brass or steel snare (if you haven't) if you want more tone to cut through

I'm playing with the loudest punk mothers I've ever heard, right now...and even my Classic Maple snare can be heard clearly through their amplifier tyranny. These guys can make my Zoom H4N recorder clip the entire time, no matter where I place it in the room.
Click to expand...


Right on !!

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use a regular 2 ply head, or reverse dot single ply, and rim shot that sucker! It will cut more with less effort. And, try using larger sticks. More volume with less effort.
 
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