How to make snares sound like this

9000k · Mar 31, 2016

who cares about your 10,000 letters post if u can't do simple snare, if u want to get some skills go back to your daw and try to do something instead of hitting keyboard for half a day

korte1975 · Mar 31, 2016

slowest attack fastest release (whole drumkit) -> tons of punch . and of course some mcdsp plugs help too

mejob · Apr 1, 2016

korniceman3000 said: ↑

Hi everyone and thank you for the helpful suggestions. They are warmly welcomed and greatly appreciated.

After reading all the posts, I have to agree with the fact that no drum vst could ever replace the importance of a good drummer in a proper studio recording setup alongside a good mixer and producer for guidance. That would certainly be ideal. Unfortunately, I can't afford that each time I have an idea for a song so I must rely on vsts. That being said, I certainly cannot to deny their usefulness or their importance in drum tracking, drum replacement, drum reinforcement, etc.

Below is roughly my drum vst setup for mixing. Hopefully I didn't screw up the following too much LOL!
For the most part, I think I didn't over process or compress anything as I like to keep the ratio low, around 1.5-2 max with an avg. gain reduction of 1.5-2 db max so I don't squash the snare and kick transients too much. I also keep them centered throughout so I have plenty of space in the left and right channels for the hats, toms, OH, etc. without them interfering. The only time I think I used the transient plug-in was to reduce the sustain and the attack to absorb really loud transients from driving the compressor crazy. That actually helped make my snare louder overall. I also had the kick, snares, toms, hats, overheads, ride all routed to separate channels. I had a parallel bus for each of the following: kick, snare (grouped), toms (grouped), OH, monoroom, reverb + a bus with everything in it (for experimental purposes where I would do massive compression and then gently blend a little into the overall mix signal)

One thing I noticed was the top snare recordings for Metal Machine were completely dry with zero air, minimal sustain, and very little low end. I guess that might be part of the reason why the weight might be missing as Toontrack was going for the cleanest possible dry recording they could capture. After reading Pon Pon's posts I also noticed that the hat mics had zero bleed and did not capture any sounds from the snare hits. They did include OH mics, ambient room mics, a monoroom mic positioned directly over the drums, another room mic for capturing reverb. However, I went and compared the snare sounds in these room/OH/amb mics with those captured in the Kontakt KLI series, Sony Loops and Samples drums, etc. and found the Kontakt/Sony ones to be far louder, heavier, and snappier than those in Metal Machine/EZX/EZdrummer etc. Now I know where all the weight went.... Had those recordings captured a larger amt of snare bleed, the weight in the snares might have been a lot greater...

I listened to the Drumasonic 2 examples posted by Daz and they sound really nice with a lot of punch and weight. I also watched the snare and kick hits by the drummer when they were simultaneous.

Related directly to this angst - I engineer and record/program a very very well known band's lead singer's dalliance in 70's album music making's drums every year (as fun) - it's mixed by the original Stones Producer in a very well known LA studio - and until last year I didn't have the heart to let him know it was BFD (although mashed up by Chandler etc on the way through) Point is, as Ted Fletcher pointed out - if it sounds good it is - fark the rest of 'em, trust the dangly bits on your head either side of your eyes There are basic rules to recording and mixing, but after that - lead on - the basics are harder to acquire now due to no tape op positions etc (in the UK) and IMHO schools are run by ex students - i.e. not in any possession of the years of strife that is the shyte that is learning your dues. For me (and hey like arseholes, it's an opinion and we all got them) just do your thing - that's the future - don't copy any style - have the conviction to go for it - what you got to lose? All to gain. I own a few of Hendrixes 1176's and had every synth known to man, have 1969 Vox AC30s and 1958 Les Pauls to play badly through - make me good? No lol -
I went and re-listened to Pon Pon's Lizzies - Viper track and focused on the snare. It had a nice snap and deeper punch (I guess the snare tuning was also lower than the default tuning of the EZ drummer ones) but it still lacked the same weight as the Imminence and KSE recordings. Then I heard a few snare shots in between that suddenly had a lot more weight. They were hitting around the same time as the dense Kick drum or floor tom which instantly added a huge amt. of weight to the snare hit.

Not sure if this is a good idea or not but I'm considering blending a centered floor tom hit to be triggered at the same time as the snare to see if this helps my quest for a weightier snare sound. Just wondering what you guys think?

Thanks again for the suggestions and for taking the time to read my post.
Best regards!
Click to expand...

mejob · Apr 1, 2016

Phase and ears - multi mic kit simple rules - all you need. It's physics at that level, and boringly do-able - gone full circle and come back to recording the drums as an instrument with 3 mics, with modified Glyn Johns - but hey I prefer the polaroid of a moment recording a band than introducing artificial environments that the performer doesn't thrive in. Lest we forget that's what we are there for Recording the artist. In engineer mode - you should be a flesh interface - invisible - job done.

bluerover · Apr 1, 2016

Slate samples (round robin) w/ 1176, parallel compress, Lexicon room send, make some holes in guitars, bit of dyn eq from cymbals and hat, boost SD fundamental, remember to check phases, and stick with linear phase eq'ing. a little exciter on the send. Just another idea.

returnal · Aug 12, 2016

curtified said: ↑

If youre on a mac this plugin low key makes snares gain some body. And its free.

http://www.airwindows.com/drumslam/
Click to expand...

. . . and now all Airwindows plugs are being ported to Mac and Win VST:
www.airwindows.com
https://www.patreon.com/airwindows

ca5plays · Aug 12, 2016

https://www.pearldrummersforum.com/showthread.php?238875-Paramore-Kick-and-Snare-samples

sound like regular old average rock drums what exactly is the big whoop go to guitar center and hit some stuff idunno

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How to make snares sound like this

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How to make snares sound like this

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