snare drum/acoustic kit newb

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Hi all, so I’ve recently joined a band and was taking my e-kit to rehearsals because of lack of exposure to acoustic kits (was struggling with the transition – I know that probably sounds odd, but there you go!).

Anyway I finally bit the bullet and did our rehearsal at the weekend on the room’s acoustic kit. It went really well, but….. the snare drum was a problem – the snare wires were buzzing too much when I was playing and even when I wasn’t playing (vibrating when other instruments played)! Also apart from the buzz, the snare just sounded really harsh/loud. Too much really for our style of music (kind of acoustic indie rock). The snare sounded best when I used rods.

So my question is, being a novice in all things acoustic (as my ears are sooo used to hearing the perfecting sampled sounds of rolands V-drums!) ….. what do I need to do to get the snare under control? Is it tuning, do I need dampeners etc? The head on this particular snare looked pretty new, perhaps that had something to do with it?

I guess its trial and error until I find the sound I want. I do have an old chrome premier snare drum at home, which I’ve barely used. I’ve no idea if its any good or not, and don’t know what to do with it to try and make it sound right for my band. I’m thinking I should try and set it up so I can take it to rehearsals (and avoid running into problem like above with rehearsal rooms snares).

Any advice, would be great thanks!

PS… I’m aware I tend to ask for advice on here quite a bit, hopefully at some point I’ll be able to impart some knowledge in return!
 
The usual suggestion to tame snare wires is to crank the reso head tension.

That said, the reso on my Blackrolite is as taut as I am prepared to get it and it still buzzes. The buzz disappears when the band gets going though so I don't worry about it.

As to the snare sounding harsh, bear in mind that the sound of the snare from the driver's seat will be very different to how it sounds out front. Try recording the band (even just using a phone) to get an idea of how the snare sounds in context.
 
hi, yeah we recorded the session and you are right, the sound of the snare didn't sound as harsh as it did in the room. But it did sound a bit much for the songs we have. Do you think moon gel or something similar would help with this?
 
Well, first and foremost, which kind of snare are we talking about? Steel? Brass, Maple? Acrylic?... Which size? 14x6.5 or 13x7 or ?... Are you a hard hitter or rather a soft player and do you use ear-protection or not? How big is the room, has it some dampening? All this matters.

Also, tuning matters. You have to tune a snaredrum properly and you have to know, how the tuning affects the sound. If you tune the snare very high, it will cut through more, might sound harsh and piercing. Tune it lower, add maybe a moongel and you get a more "reserved" sound.

There are many tutorial videos on tuning snaredrums on Youtube. Take a look. E.g. here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo7MyPEyDWo

Also: the harder you hit the drums, the louder they will be. So, learn to use dynamic playing to your advantage on an acoustic kit.
 
Sympathetic snare buzz is something there is no simple answer to and if you stick with an acoustic kit you will deal with it forever as it cannot be completely eliminated (that's not necessarily a bad thing). As previously mentioned there are a few things you can do with tuning to try and reduce it. Make sure you have even tension on all the snare wires. Sometimes snares mounted with cord can be misaligned slightly to apply more tension to wires on one end then the other. Reso head tuning, some people like to slightly detune the lugs on either side of the snare bed (I haven't found it to help on any of my snares). There are many threads on this topic that may help but in the end its just physics. The heads are membranes like your eardrums. when there is sound in the room it will vibrate your heads and the snare reso head has wires against it so it WILL make a sound, can't get around that. Big picture is that when the whole band is playing this will disappear into the soundscape so don't worry too much about this.
 
One thing worth mentioning....

In rehearsals there will be times in between songs where the lutes need to sort their shit out together. It's a good idea to turn off your snare during these moments.
 
Don't worry about snare buzz.

At some point, it will become an integral part of what you perceive to be a natural drum sound.

Whenever I watch a Sweetwater drum review by Nick D'Virgilio, he often turns the snares off and goes for a run on each of components and then reengages the snares and repeats the cycle.

I often prefer the second run with the snares engaged, as it is the one that is more representative of a "normal" drum sound.

Whenever I add a 10in tom I anticipate the time for fine tuning as when it is in the same frequencies as the snare drum the buzz might be too much so I retune accordingly (ideally just the 10in, the snare sound being my priority).
 
Acoustic drums can have lots of sympathetic vibrations, and it's hard to eliminate completely. You might try fitting cloth somewhere or changing mounts, changing stands.
 
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