Death of the Snare Drum (Modern Production)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
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I used to tune my snare up really tight and high to get that loud ringing "pank!" sound. Not good for all types of music but I always liked it for thrashy shit. Sort of like if you were to mix the drummer from Helmet's snare with Stewart Copeland's snare with Charlie's SOD snare lol
 
I've been saying this when chatting about music to friends for a long time without really realizing it. I always named that prominent snare drum sound as something that really hit its peak in the 80s and died not long afterwards but couldn't point to any reason why other than general music production leaning more and more bass heavy.

I have a playlist on my phone that is the #1 billboard hit, in order, starting from about 1963 until present. I listened to it in order one time on a long car drive and it was pretty eye opening - moving from the 60s to 00's the bass level increased a huge amount. Those are pop songs too but I feel like even the hard rock and metal tracks have been doing the same thing for a while.
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
I've been saying this when chatting about music to friends for a long time without really realizing it. I always named that prominent snare drum sound as something that really hit its peak in the 80s and died not long afterwards but couldn't point to any reason why other than general music production leaning more and more bass heavy.

I have a playlist on my phone that is the #1 billboard hit, in order, starting from about 1963 until present. I listened to it in order one time on a long car drive and it was pretty eye opening - moving from the 60s to 00's the bass level increased a huge amount. Those are pop songs too but I feel like even the hard rock and metal tracks have been doing the same thing for a while.
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Definitely.. everything is saturated in bass. It used to be the job of the bass guitar to fill in the spectrum and the guitars and snare to punch through. Now everyone is competing in the same sonic sphere. The bass on everything is going up.
 
Drums on all the new metal bands blow. It’s the same sound . Then add digital guitars . It’s all the same shit now . I still love and listen to new bands a lot . And it’s a huge problem with all of them
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
I've been saying this when chatting about music to friends for a long time without really realizing it. I always named that prominent snare drum sound as something that really hit its peak in the 80s and died not long afterwards but couldn't point to any reason why other than general music production leaning more and more bass heavy.

I have a playlist on my phone that is the #1 billboard hit, in order, starting from about 1963 until present. I listened to it in order one time on a long car drive and it was pretty eye opening - moving from the 60s to 00's the bass level increased a huge amount. Those are pop songs too but I feel like even the hard rock and metal tracks have been doing the same thing for a while.
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You have iTunes ? Send me this playlist please . Want to do the same
 
Whatever the drummer for Leprous does sounds real good to me
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
My idea of a "great" snare? simple.. a snare that sounds like a snare. Pick any recording pre 2000 really. The samples they did use were often from the session and blended in for consistency. While i am at it, the toms also resonate and sound like a musical instrument. Yeah they gate hard on the snares at times but it cuts like it should.





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Oh I agree with ya, was just interested in what your ear liked.
 
I think the invention of the sample has run its course. I'm a drum tech and have about 100 snares to pull from in my own personal collection. there is nothing that inspires like the real thing, and I see it often in the eyes of my clients.
 
Klauth said:
I think the invention of the sample has run its course. I'm a drum tech and have about 100 snares to pull from in my own personal collection. there is nothing that inspires like the real thing, and I see it often in the eyes of my clients.
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I think especially for recording, there's something vital and inscrutable that's just lost when using samples

Just like there's a phase and a bit of reflection from the room (even with close mics) lost with IRs, even though obviously they can sound great

Chaos theory maybe?
 
Klauth said:
agreed! is why I've ended up with 27 4x12's as well.
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If I had the space (and $) I probably would have a bunch too :ROFLMAO:

I use IRs for demos and convenience, and they can sound great - but there's just something super satisfying to me to find the perfect mics and the perfect positions and get a brand new sound that no one has ever done before. There's just something exciting about it.

I have a very rudimentary setup and have gotten a million different interesting combinations of mic and speaker over time
 
inyarak74 said:
Oh I agree with ya, was just interested in what your ear liked.
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In those clips, I loved Nicko's snare. I like a shotgun sound and full snap without too much ring. Always dug Adlers full kit sound on AFD for example. So many examples! Just real drums.. my goal when i get my sound room finished is to be able to record real drums. I thought my birch kit sounded pretty decent through my RAMSA console with hardly any eq really. I'll admit that snare can be tricky to record well and get out the overtones and any pang pang ping ping that some recordings go for. If I hear a snare that pings, it can grate on the ears over the course of a song.
 
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Klauth said:
I think the invention of the sample has run its course. I'm a drum tech and have about 100 snares to pull from in my own personal collection. there is nothing that inspires like the real thing, and I see it often in the eyes of my clients.
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Last time i messed with samples over my real kit, I took them off after A/B'ing both. There is something 3D about the sound that can't be explained. You just hear it. I've been thinking a lot about just buying more snares vs another kit for that very reason. I have 3 snares and they each sound so different and feel diff. It makes you play them and tune them differently. A sample just layers on top ..a lot of the time they are also tuned using the sample tune feature which really does weird things to the finished product. I now use SD3 to give me a starting point for my tuning lol. Another odd thing with the drum programs is those huge rooms sound TOO good. Way better than any studio South of Heaven or Ride the Lightning were recorded in for example. Then you have a shitty digital guitar on top? Sounds fake AF.
 
I had my whole cd finished with SD 3. Everything sounded ok except I could never find a snare I liked. Scrapped it and started over with a drummer and bass player. Sounds much better now.

Samples only sound ok to me when the parts are simple and slow. As soon as the hits get faster and closer together they sound fake as hell.
 
The demise of the snare began on Pyromania...although one of my favorite albums by them, and of all time, the big poofy snare sound production on that album set up the changing winds of the snare.
 
All of these heavy bands like Five Finger Death Punch, etc still don't sound as heavy as Sabbath and all of this stuff just sounds too perfectly timed, polished, etc.
 
One of my favorite drummers. He always got such great sounds with Nuclear Assault, but especially on Handle With Care. The snare drum just smacked me in the face. I love it.

 
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Keep it simple, a snare is a snare with it's own unique sound and does not need to be electronically washed out.
 
Early to mid 80’s was snare city. Once gated verbs’s were discovered, throw in some good rooms with ambient mics and it was done and done. The death of good rooms and of budgets to accommodate what big rooms remained, helped kill good natural drum recordings.



Sledgehammer has a great snare too…

 
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