Snare Drum Sound In Modern Pop Songs

[music lover]

Hello guys!

I just registered on this forum but planning to stay here for a long time as I found many useful answers here. So, hello to eveyone who is reading my post.

I actually have a question that prompted me to read forums, websites, etc.

I've been trying to create a snare drum sound that is widely used now in pop songs. A good example would be Taylor Swift's Back to december. I need this hollow not too poppy sound. I've spent hundreds of dollars on different kits, effects and filters but I have not been able to get the sound I want.

I would really appreciate if somebody could help find/create this sound.

Thanks!

[LeeTBTS]

Sounds to me like it's recorded using a balance shifted towards the bottom snare mic, with a bit of a small room reverb, slight trim from the bottom end around 200hz and below maybe.nothing too complex to my ears.

[Chris Perra]

Sounds like a deep snare 6 1/2 to 8 inches. Ambassador skin on top with a fair amount of muffling. Snare wires set so that it's a couple turns loser than choked. Tuned medium tension not loose but not cranked.

 

There's a good smack to it so sounds like a fair amount of compression on the top mic. There's also a tambourine here and  there.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Chris Perra

[EJB]

Sounds like a deep snare 6 1/2 to 8 inches. Ambassador skin on top with a fair amount of muffling. Snare wires set so that it's a couple turns loser than choked. Tuned medium tension not loose but not cranked.

 

There's a good smack to it so sounds like a fair amount of compression on the top mic. There's also a tambourine here and  there.

Chris makes a good point about the Tamb, that  and the hats can change the perception of the snare sound when hit at the same time.

 

Also in most drum progs these days ie; EZ/Superior Drummer or SSD you can use 2 snare drums to customize a drums sound.

Edited July 11, 2014 by EJB

[Space]

The problem with the snare is that its so loud, trying to keep both parts of the recording sounding good is difficult. What i mean is, you have two parts to the snare sound. You have the initial CRACK.. then you have the decay sound of the snares coming in and filling out the rest of the hit. So, usually what happens is, you can get the crack to sound good, but then it has no body or umpf to finish out the hit sound, or you get a muddy crack and a nice finish.

 

I have found a combination of techs that together can get there.. or at least close.

 

Performance: Less is more, when you are tracking, focus on NOT using dynamics at all, just play the same volume, semi quiet, and don't change it. Don't get louder or softer on any parts. This goes for all of the drums, not just snare. You got to remember that when we listen to recorded music, it really doesn't have a lot of dynamic range.. especiialy drums. They usually have the exact same volume throughout. That said, if you use dynamics when tracking, it will cause the compressors and gates to react differently.. and that will make the recording vary too much. Some hits will sounds good, others will sound flat.

 

for close micing snare:

aim one mic at the batter head aimed at a 45 down towards the head, and facing towards the player. Meaning the mic is pointing at the players, but down at the head.

aim a second mic the same way, but UNDER at the snare head.

 

To find the exact sound you like, its usually best to listen in to the feed from another room with headphones one, and have another person move each mic a little to look for a sweet spot.

 

Then mix the two signals on the board with the snare head mic much lower in volume.

 

I usually eq out some low mids around 300-500hz, and I roll the bass off around 100hz or so.

 

Next is compression.. most snares now adays are compressed to hell and back. A lot of them use a technique called "NYCity compression" which means instead of using a compressor on the main snare track, you SEND to another track where you have the compressor. In this track you smash it. As in low/zero attack and fast release, and 10x or more compression. You want to smash down pretty good taking all the dynamics away leaving only a smashed sounding, dull snare hit. Then, you turn the volume all the way down on your compression track until you can't hear it anymore. Then start SLOWLY bringing up your volume so you can start hearing the smashing snare track coming up under the regular snare track. Most times you will still need some LIGHT compression on your main track to keep the volume in check. Keep bringing up the volume until to find the sweet spot.

 

What this does is, it allows you to hear a clean, mostly uncompressed crack, along with a full sounding decay. Instead of what you may be getting now, which is a dull crack and too much sound from the bottom snares.

 

Once you have that, you'll want to use a noise gate to close off the very end of the decay. This will add sharpness to the hits. It will probably be faster for you to google "how to set the gate on a snare"  but the important part is to set the timing of the "closing" of the gate to the BPM of the song so the sound of the snare lasts exactly ONE eight note. (or 16th or quarter note depending on the kind of song)

 

hope this helps, good luck

[stewartjames008]

The best way to get a "new" sounding snare is to take the snares you have and layer them.  The sound of an acoustic snare drum consists primarily of two sound. There are programs/vst's out there that are used for drum modeling you can go for that also.

 

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