What Recorded Snare Sound Do You Like?

Also he doesn’t get mentioned much around here, but Jon Farriss’ snare with INXS sounds mint. Sometimes it’s up really high and sounds almost like a sample, other times it’s deeper and fatter— it wouldn’t work for all music but for the songs they were doing it’s always bang on. And speaking of things being bang on, the snare on Get it On by T Rex, and reall all T. Rex, also killer.
 
One recorded snare that was particularly meaningful to me was OLP's Naveed album. I had been taught to tame the snare by getting rid of unwanted overtone, and this was the first album I had heard where the producer/engineer chose not to tame it. Instead, they took it a step further and leaned on it.

Example:

You can tell by the sound that the snare is a $100 steel POS, but the manner in which it is produced/presented is brilliant and changed the way I think about recording drums..
 
One recorded snare that was particularly meaningful to me was OLP's Naveed album. I had been taught to tame the snare by getting rid of unwanted overtone, and this was the first album I had heard where the producer/engineer chose not to tame it. Instead, they took it a step further and leaned on it.

Example:

You can tell by the sound that the snare is a $100 steel POS, but the manner in which it is produced/presented is brilliant and changed the way I think about recording drums..

Getting uncomfortably close to a st anger vibe. Abort!
 
I don’t think Deen Castronovo, Omar Hakim, Dennis Chambers, or Micky Curry would know how to tune a snare badly if they tried... :unsure:
 
Van Halen II is one of my favourite snare sounds but if we all thought the same life would be boring!
I should clarify: when Alex found his sound, he called it the “brown sound” or “brown snare”, and it wasn’t until 5150 that it became the norm. That’s the sound that doesn’t sound good to me. The early stuff I love. Ted Templeman was the producer and I think he nailed it.

Conversely, Templeman also produced most of the early Doobie Bros. and on China Grove the snare sounds thin but works well in the mix.
 
If anyone remembers the band Sixpence None the Richer (from the 90s), they had this one song where the snare sound is just amazing. I have no idea what snare this is, but I’ve always pictured it as a wood hooped Ayotte.

If anyone knows what snare this actually is, please let me know!

 
Getting uncomfortably close to a st anger vibe. Abort!

I'd wager that Lars heard the trend, tried to adopt it, and took it WAY WAY too far. There's a difference between a producer embracing an endearing attribute versus someone flipping the snap/overtone proportions so a snare sounds sonically inside-out.
 
If anyone remembers the band Sixpence None the Richer (from the 90s), they had this one song where the snare sound is just amazing. I have no idea what snare this is, but I’ve always pictured it as a wood hooped Ayotte.

If anyone knows what snare this actually is, please let me know!


Don’t know if this is the setup he used on the album. But this is Dale Baker (from Sixpence) talking about how to record drums.


also Kiss Me is the perfect pop song as far as I am concerned.
 
One recorded snare that was particularly meaningful to me was OLP's Naveed album. I had been taught to tame the snare by getting rid of unwanted overtone, and this was the first album I had heard where the producer/engineer chose not to tame it. Instead, they took it a step further and leaned on it.

Example:

You can tell by the sound that the snare is a $100 steel POS, but the manner in which it is produced/presented is brilliant and changed the way I think about recording drums..


Jeremy Taggart was a HUGE influence on me when I started playing. Heck, I still rock the thick black plastic rimmed glasses because of him. I used to play along all the time to the Clumsy CD back when I was first learning. I love how he just throws his arms into the notes.
 
Don’t know if this is the setup he used on the album. But this is Dale Baker (from Sixpence) talking about how to record drums.


also Kiss Me is the perfect pop song as far as I am concerned.
Cool, thanks! Oddly enough, he’s playing a wood hooped Premier Signia snare in that video, and it sounds like it could be the same snare. If so, I wasn’t too far off.
 
Cool, thanks! Oddly enough, he’s playing a wood hooped Premier Signia snare in that video, and it sounds like it could be the same snare. If so, I wasn’t too far off.
I was thinking the same thing. You’ve got good ears mate!
 
If anyone remembers the band Sixpence None the Richer (from the 90s), they had this one song where the snare sound is just amazing. I have no idea what snare this is, but I’ve always pictured it as a wood hooped Ayotte.

If anyone knows what snare this actually is, please let me know!



I remember listening to Tickets for a Prayer Wheel on my way home from gigs back in the 90’s. Takes me back to those cold evenings on those late, lonely highways after gigs at random places.

The album this song was on is nothing short of fantastic. Kiss Me was the worst song on the whole album, and it’s not that bad of a song...maybe a little overplayed though.
 
I remember listening to Tickets for a Prayer Wheel on my way home from gigs back in the 90’s. Takes me back to those cold evenings on those late, lonely highways after gigs at random places.

The album this song was on is nothing short of fantastic. Kiss Me was the worst song on the whole album, and it’s not that bad of a song...maybe a little overplayed though.
I will hear no slander against Kiss Me. That song is perfect!
 
Even though I’m way past my super-tight, poppy snare drum phase, I can’t help but think about that snare on the whole Pocketful of Kryptonite by the Spin Doctors. I remember the drummer being interviewed by Modern Drummer and him saying that it was a Brady snare. That was the first time I’d heard of Brady, but definitely not the last.

I love that loose-cannon of a snare on Counting Crows’s “Hangin Around.”

I love the Wallflower’s snare drum too.

What’s funny is that these days, my own personal tastes are deep snares, but I seem to like the vibe of higher pitched stuff on recordings.
 
I was thinking the same thing. You’ve got good ears mate!
Thanks. I’ve been obsessed with drum tone for at least a couple decades now, so that does help you hone in on certain sounds. I could totally hear the influence of the wood hoops in that recording, which is why I was thinking Ayotte. Plus, Ayottes were pretty big in the 90s when this album came out.

I remember listening to Tickets for a Prayer Wheel on my way home from gigs back in the 90’s. Takes me back to those cold evenings on those late, lonely highways after gigs at random places.

The album this song was on is nothing short of fantastic. Kiss Me was the worst song on the whole album, and it’s not that bad of a song...maybe a little overplayed though.
That whole album is good! Including Kiss Me. It may have been a bit overplayed at the time, but it doesn’t take away from how much of a gem that song is.
 
Steve Gadd and Manu Katche are two session guys with great snare sounds. Manu’s work with Peter Gabriel and Sting stands out to me.
Also the snare on Rosanna (and the rest of Toto’s recordings), Jeff Porcaro knew what he was doing.

lastly the snare on Owner of a Lonely Heart, both the acoustic snare and the electronic one. Killer.

I would agree with all of this

and add that Stewart Copland is my most favorite snare sound. I unabashedly copy his sound with mine....

also love Alex VanHalen as people mentioned, and Tim "Herb" Alexanders sound on the first 2 Primus albums

probably my least favorite snare sound - and drum sound in general - is Images and Words by Dream Theater....LOVE the album...but such trigger Much processing...I normally can not stand remastered albums, but would love to hear this album redone with organic drum sounds

I also am not a fan of the early 80's low thud sound popular on a TON of metal albums, but most memorable was on the first 2 Dokken albums...sounded like a barely tuned floor tom with snares and a ton of pillows and tape on it
 
I also am not a fan of the early 80's low thud sound popular on a TON of metal albums, but most memorable was on the first 2 Dokken albums...sounded like a barely tuned floor tom with snares and a ton of pillows and tape on it

Here you highlight what I disapprove of most about low, thuddy snares. They often sound like toms to which someone attached snare wires by mistake. I'll never get on board with their tepid character.
 
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