Death of the Snare Drum (Modern Production)

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Kapo_Polenton
Kapo_Polenton
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Who else hates the sound of snare drums now? I ask myself, what is the point of including 30 snares in programs like SD3 if people are all going to tune them down, drench them in compression and EQ and make them sound like a tom?

Glenn Fricker ( bless his yelling soul) pointed out how he had recently learned that they used to augment snares and other parts of the kit as far back as the 80's on the Peace Sells album. ( Girls Girls Girls is another example of a snare sample. Listen to it) However, they did so using the sample of the sound from the session and it sounded like the drum that was captured and different album to album, band to band. When do you guys think the switch happened? Was it Steven Slate who started the great decline?
 
I don’t get it either. A multitude of snares to choose from and almost every hard rock and metal band seems to not get past preset 001. I would hate to be a drummer. All the time spent perfecting my craft and honing my drum tones, developing dynamics and feel to just be summarily replaced by a no dynamics sample that isn’t even different from the last 5 releases, from other bands. The drums are the soul of a rock record and now that we’ve lost any kind of individual personality in the drums, we have lost that soul.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Who else hates the sound of snare drums now? I ask myself, what is the point of including 30 snares in programs like SD3 if people are all going to tune them down, drench them in compression and EQ and make them sound like a tom?

Glenn Fricker ( bless his yelling soul) pointed out how he had recently learned that they used to augment snares and other parts of the kit as far back as the 80's on the Peace Sells album. ( Girls Girls Girls is another example of a snare sample. Listen to it) However, they did so using the sample of the sound from the session and it sounded like the drum that was captured and different album to album, band to band. When do you guys think the switch happened? Was it Steven Slate who started the great decline?
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What’s your idea on a great recorded snare?
 
skoora said:
I don’t get it either. A multitude of snares to choose from and almost every hard rock and metal band seems to not get past preset 001. I would hate to be a drummer. All the time spent perfecting my craft and honing my drum tones, developing dynamics and feel to just be summarily replaced by a no dynamics sample that isn’t even different from the last 5 releases, from other bands. The drums are the soul of a rock record and now that we’ve lost any kind of individual personality in the drums, we have lost that soul.
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c'mon man; MIDI goes from 0 to 127; that's a wide range of sensitivity for a snare trigger; been awhile, but most rock/metal drummers I've jammed with hit as hard as they can until they start getting tired. :D


 
DanTravis62 said:
I agree with kapo completely, and this is my idea of a great snare sound

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Listening to the first track. They sound great. And that snare works well in that setting. I'm a drummer and I prefer to play my acoustic kit, but I do have EZDrummer. Haven't gotten around to using it, though. LOL
 
JohnnyGtar said:
Listening to the first track. They sound great. And that snare works well in that setting. I'm a drummer and I prefer to play my acoustic kit, but I do have EZDrummer. Haven't gotten around to using it, though. LOL
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It's one of my favorite drum sounds of all time


I think some samples sound good for certain things - blast beats, certain styles of music

But they're so, sooooo overused for standard rock and metal it's ridiculous. Everyone uses the same god-forsaken steven slate sample packs, and every band sounds the same.
 
DanTravis62 said:
It's one of my favorite drum sounds of all time


I think some samples sound good for certain things - blast beats, certain styles of music

But they're so, sooooo overused for standard rock and metal it's ridiculous. Everyone uses the same god-forsaken steven slate sample packs, and every band sounds the same.
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I hear ya, bro. I miss the days when real drummers played real drums, and I do agree that samples have their place.

Can you imagine if Zep used Slate samples? My blood runs cold just thinking about it. LOL
 
JohnnyGtar said:
I hear ya, bro. I miss the days when real drummers played real drums, and I do agree that samples have their place.

Can you imagine if Zep used Slate samples? My blood runs cold just thinking about it. LOL
Click to expand...
Along those lines...
 
inyarak74 said:
What’s your idea on a great recorded snare?
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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.





 
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.





Click to expand...



these are all programmed??
 
7704A said:
Along those lines...
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lol Slate has a Zep sample pack and snare as part of his platinum package. Sounds alright actually but as usual, nobody is picking that one, they are going the golden standard right out of the gates.. thick, flat,thumpy.
 
RaceU4her said:
these are all programmed??
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No those are the isolated drum tracks played by guys who are solid as hell. Doesn't mean splices weren't made etc.. but it means they were using the real sound of the instrument. As such, the production has personality vs sounding like the song before it and after it.
 
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