Sympathetic snare buzz, any real cures?

bermuda said:
Take a few moments with the guitar player and determine which notes are causing the worst buzzing. Ideally there's just one real culprit. Have them play/hold that note while you tune your snare a little bit to reduce the buzz. It shouldn't significantly change the sound of the snare. Then go through all of the notes again to make sure you haven't crossed over into another problem frequency.
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Or just tell him to not play those notes. That’ll teach him.
 
In that situation(amp leaning on HH Stand POINTING at snare) nothing to be done short of active sound pressure harmonic cancellation...not worth the $.

I think I would be passing on performing like that.(but I have the advantage of not burdening my playing by relying on it for income)
 
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Snare buzz just happens. There are some Bob Gatzen videos on youtube discussing how to reduce this.

The big issue with solving your problem is cost. You can get rid of the amps all together but the cost of a good guitar amp sim and in ear monitoring system isn't cheap. Have you got an electric kit? If you have one with a snare that lets you do rim taps and rim shots then you're good to go. But then you've still got the monitoring problem.

In fairness you guys really couldn't be any more compact and those amps are hardly 100w stacks. Looks like a venue where you just have to suck it up. Is it a good gig regardless of the buzz? I'd just tell your guitarist to buy an amp stand instead of leaning it against your hi hat stand.
 
Al Strange said:
The snare isn’t the problem here. Take that electric twanger to one side and calmly say, “Hey man, I don’t mean to be a “buzzkill” but could you move your amp away from my snare or TURN IT DOWN!!” Don’t say please, it’ll only antagonise him… :D (y)
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I’d lay his amp face down, look him straight in the eye & say “THAT’S fixed the f******* snare buzz…”

Only joking, of course…😜
 
Does anybody else hear the buzz? Band mates? Patrons? Dancers? Has anyone mentioned it to you or other bandmates? If it only bothers you, you're good to go. I'm betting nobody else hears it or cares. It's the front of house (in your case "front of mic stand" :ROFLMAO:) that matters most. Until somebody complains, smile a lot and Play On!
 
I would just let it buzz. It's a live show, and that's part of the fun.

I would also be very thankful that you have guitar players that actually point their amps to their heads as opposed to their knees.
 
Sometimes you just get in a lively room situation .. lots of hard surfaces, low ceilings or weird room acoustics that can cause unwanted extra buzzing.. usually from amplified instruments that you have no control over… and a loud buzz that can be heard when the band plays… I hate doing this but it works in a pinch - detune the lugs on either side of the snare wires. Experiment to find the minimum de-tuning before it starts buzzing. It makes the snare sound dry and crisp, and will kill the extra buzzing.
Try a medium high tuning, snare head a third higher in pitch than the batter. Then detune the 4 lugs. You can compensate by raising the pitch on the other snare side lugs..but sometimes not necessary.. it may only need 1 or 2 turns to eliminate the vibration. Also move and point the amp away from your snare!
 
The sympathetic resonance/frequency issue isn't only with snare buzz- I was once in a recording studio where my 12" tom would sustain nearly incessantly, as if it was synthesized somehow. When I played single notes down the toms- that all had the same batter & reso heads of the same age and wear- it would go "dooooom, dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (checks watch) ooooooooooooooooooooooooo (finally I stopped it manualy), doooooom. It was weird. That room just loved that specific frequency- the volume was VERY slowly decreasing, so no telling how much longer it would go or if changing the kit's position in the room would change it. I wanted to test it but studio time & dollars were a-tickin'. I slapped a moongel on it to make it match the 10" and 14". Without changing the tuning at all, at the next gig it didn't occur, and never did again for the life of those heads, nor since. 🤷‍♂️
 
timmdrum said:
it would go "dooooom, dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (checks watch) ooooooooooooooooooooooooo (finally I stopped it manualy), doooooom. It was weird.
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Weird or what.. I ran into something like that once.. maybe not as extreme, but it was like the tom created a perfect node of reflectance.. so the sound waves were in sync and amplified the frequency. Room acoustics can sometimes indeed be weird!
 
timmdrum said:
The sympathetic resonance/frequency issue isn't only with snare buzz- I was once in a recording studio where my 12" tom would sustain nearly incessantly, as if it was synthesized somehow. When I played single notes down the toms- that all had the same batter & reso heads of the same age and wear- it would go "dooooom, dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (checks watch) ooooooooooooooooooooooooo (finally I stopped it manualy), doooooom. It was weird. That room just loved that specific frequency- the volume was VERY slowly decreasing, so no telling how much longer it would go or if changing the kit's position in the room would change it. I wanted to test it but studio time & dollars were a-tickin'. I slapped a moongel on it to make it match the 10" and 14". Without changing the tuning at all, at the next gig it didn't occur, and never did again for the life of those heads, nor since. 🤷‍♂️
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I've had the exact same thing happen!

I was playing with a jazz band and we had a gig at the governor's mansion. Set up on this beautiful marble stairway landing. The first time I hit the 12" tom, it rang forever, just like yours! Amazing what acoustics can do.
 
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Smoke said:
Does anybody else hear the buzz? Band mates? Patrons? Dancers? Has anyone mentioned it to you or other bandmates? If it only bothers you, you're good to go. I'm betting nobody else hears it or cares. It's the front of house (in your case "front of mic stand" :ROFLMAO:) that matters most. Until somebody complains, smile a lot and Play On!
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Yes its very loud and we had a guy mention it once. its also embarrasing to me it sounds like im doing a loud press roll.
 
The Snare Buzz Phenomena has been one of the most frustrating things that I have encountered in my Resurrection of playing and learning about all things drums since 2019. My resurrection started in 2019 after 50 Years [1969]. My story has been told Too Many Times. Be that as it may, encountering Snare Buzz from rack Toms is frustrating. I keep fooling with the 2 of 3 rack Toms that create the Buzz. I jsut re-tuned my DW Brass Snare 14 X6.5 because I did not like the sound I was getting - I choked it a bit too much. After loosening the HD Dry Batter Head, and re-tuning it, I liked what I got! Then 2 of the 3 Rack Toms (8, 10, & 12s) created an increase in Snare Buzz. Just spent another 1/2 hour fooling with the tom tunings (reso and Batter heads) to be able to almost eliminate it from the 8" Tom, and a bit closer on the 10" Tom. The additional issue that I encounter is when re-tuning the Toms to different levels to decrease the Buzz produced, Then the Toms start sounding Flat. I like them at the Doooo, Doooo levels that Jared on Drumeo seems to achieve. I have a PDP Concept Maple 7 Drum kit (But I use a DW Nickel over Brass 14 X 6.5 as my regular Snare) with G2 coated or UV2 batter heads. Furthermore, If I tighten the snare wires to the Upper limit, the Buzz is just about gone , but then the Snare sounds Too Choked.

PS: I have a Bit of OCD!! Snare Buzz doesn't help OCD. LOL>
 
Just spit-ballin' here... I wonder if you exchanged your snare's resonant head with a less resonant model. Say, replace a single ply 2-mil head (e.g., Remo Hazy Diplomat) with a 7-mil head? Maybe someone here has had some experience with changing resonant heads...
 
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