Hey guys, if there is already a topic about this just point me in the right direction and delete this thread.

But here we go;

I have recently started recording with my band (A modern rock band more or less) and the toms and bass drum are all good. No worries there. There's a TON of duct tape on the toms but our singer (who went to the Conservatory of Arts & Sciences in Arizona for music producing/recording/engineering) knows, for the most part what he's doing, so it still has sounded pretty dang good.

BUT, of course...the snare. I bought this Pearl Masters snare (with a Remo ambassador on bottom and an Evans ST coated on batter side) for a hefty chunk of money. Die cast rims, ah, beautiful snare. So powerful and rich. However, he just OVER LOADED it with duct tape. I let him do it after first but now I HATE it. There is no attack, this hundreds of dollars snare now sounds like a 20 dollar high school concert snare. I cranked the top head (after it being so loose I could create wrinkles with my fingers easily) and it was SLIGHTLY better but not by much.

His reasoning for doing this, is he doesn't want that ring/twangy sound from rim shots which is what I play (just my style, has been for 11 years). My ghost strokes sound just completely off of what the snare should sound like. He wanted NO ring or resonance.

Now today we're going to work on that snare, and he knows it's my baby and it will go my way because I didn't spend all that money on such a beautiful instrument to have it go to waste on what could be a VERY good album. So what do you guys recommend? How should/could this be done to eliminate a lot of ring (but not all), but still have GREAT attack, great tone, and really just a way to show the true voice of the snare itself?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

EDIT ADD: He also duct taped the bottom head a ton. I think there's just too much duct tape. Again, thanks in advance!








_________________
Ad Astra Per Aspera

Ericinho6 wrote:

Hey guys, if there is already a topic about this just point me in the right direction and delete this thread.

But here we go;

I have recently started recording with my band (A modern rock band more or less) and the toms and bass drum are all good. No worries there. There's a TON of duct tape on the toms but our singer (who went to the Conservatory of Arts & Sciences in Arizona for music producing/recording/engineering) knows, for the most part what he's doing, so it still has sounded pretty dang good.

BUT, of course...the snare. I bought this Pearl Masters snare (with a Remo ambassador on bottom and an Evans ST coated on batter side) for a hefty chunk of money. Die cast rims, ah, beautiful snare. So powerful and rich. However, he just OVER LOADED it with duct tape. I let him do it after first but now I HATE it. There is no attack, this hundreds of dollars snare now sounds like a 20 dollar high school concert snare. I cranked the top head (after it being so loose I could create wrinkles with my fingers easily) and it was SLIGHTLY better but not by much.

His reasoning for doing this, is he doesn't want that ring/twangy sound from rim shots which is what I play (just my style, has been for 11 years). My ghost strokes sound just completely off of what the snare should sound like. He wanted NO ring or resonance.

Now today we're going to work on that snare, and he knows it's my baby and it will go my way because I didn't spend all that money on such a beautiful instrument to have it go to waste on what could be a VERY good album. So what do you guys recommend? How should/could this be done to eliminate a lot of ring (but not all), but still have GREAT attack, great tone, and really just a way to show the true voice of the snare itself?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

EDIT ADD: He also duct taped the bottom head a ton. I think there's just too much duct tape. Again, thanks in advance!

go to a different engineer








_________________

OK, start by going back to square one. Get new heads without the duct tape. Try getting a batter head that says "Dry" (like the Evans Genera Dry). That will cut a lot of ring while still maintaining a 'snare sound'. Mess around with tuning FIRST to see if you can get a good sound BEFORE you start putting anything on the head. If it still rings too much, try placing your wallet on the head close to the rim (where it won't get in the way). If that still doesn't work try using something that doesn't leave residue (like Moongels) to get rid of the ring. Then use tape if you absolutely HAVE to. Again, try to use something that doesn't leave much residue, such as gaffer's tape.

Good luck! Hope everything ends up sounding great!!

xdoseonex wrote:

Ericinho6 wrote:

Hey guys, if there is already a topic about this just point me in the right direction and delete this thread.

But here we go;

I have recently started recording with my band (A modern rock band more or less) and the toms and bass drum are all good. No worries there. There's a TON of duct tape on the toms but our singer (who went to the Conservatory of Arts & Sciences in Arizona for music producing/recording/engineering) knows, for the most part what he's doing, so it still has sounded pretty dang good.

BUT, of course...the snare. I bought this Pearl Masters snare (with a Remo ambassador on bottom and an Evans ST coated on batter side) for a hefty chunk of money. Die cast rims, ah, beautiful snare. So powerful and rich. However, he just OVER LOADED it with duct tape. I let him do it after first but now I HATE it. There is no attack, this hundreds of dollars snare now sounds like a 20 dollar high school concert snare. I cranked the top head (after it being so loose I could create wrinkles with my fingers easily) and it was SLIGHTLY better but not by much.

His reasoning for doing this, is he doesn't want that ring/twangy sound from rim shots which is what I play (just my style, has been for 11 years). My ghost strokes sound just completely off of what the snare should sound like. He wanted NO ring or resonance.

Now today we're going to work on that snare, and he knows it's my baby and it will go my way because I didn't spend all that money on such a beautiful instrument to have it go to waste on what could be a VERY good album. So what do you guys recommend? How should/could this be done to eliminate a lot of ring (but not all), but still have GREAT attack, great tone, and really just a way to show the true voice of the snare itself?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

EDIT ADD: He also duct taped the bottom head a ton. I think there's just too much duct tape. Again, thanks in advance!

go to a different engineer

We're trying to get a producer, but for now, our singer is our producer. He is VERY talented with music engineering, but I think he just isn't as skilled with percussion in general and is more of pre/post production and guitars.

But I just spoke with him and he was very open to my ideas and figured I'd probably know best and that we could get to a happy medium.

But Inspi...thanks, I'll definitely work on that! 'Preciate it!








_________________
Ad Astra Per Aspera

He wouldn't be able to do that with me.
It's unnecessary if you know how to tune.
The most i ever have on the snare is either one piece of duct tape, about 4 inches long or a zero ring.
I do like Remo Emperor X on the snare for recording unless I'm going for the ambassador sound.
Toms I just use Pinstripes or any other pro head(even clear Ambassadors)and maybe one small piece of tape.
This isn't the 70's man!!!
LOL








_________________
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" Lao Tsu
http://www.myspace.com/whateverocks
http://www.myspace.com/frontlinetribute
http://www.myspace.com/firthoffifth2

drumur wrote:

He wouldn't be able to do that with me.
It's unnecessary if you know how to tune.
The most i ever have on the snare is either one piece of duct tape, about 4 inches long or a zero ring.
I do like Remo Emperor X on the snare for recording unless I'm going for the ambassador sound.
Toms I just use Pinstripes or any other pro head(even clear Ambassadors)and maybe one small piece of tape.
This isn't the 70's man!!!
LOL

I've let the teacher/engineer in a recording class put one piece of gaffers tape on my toms just so the students could get the experience. Aside from that, I use one MoonGel on my snare and nothing else for all of the recording I do now. This guy just sucks at mic'ing drums.








_________________

Dr. Rodney McKay wrote:

Well, I only know one thing and that is that flying darkness that eats energy can only be very, very bad.

http://www.MySpace.com/PageFive

or he's stuck in the time frame of 1968-78








_________________

www.myspace.com/alanselectronicmuse

Alan_ wrote:

or he's stuck in the time frame of 1968-78

Wouldn't that be the same thing?

"Can I get a $1000 set of cardboard boxes, please?"








_________________

Dr. Rodney McKay wrote:

Well, I only know one thing and that is that flying darkness that eats energy can only be very, very bad.

http://www.MySpace.com/PageFive

We talked about some biz last night. I just think he's starting to come to terms with the fact that he doesn't know as much about recording drums as he thought he did. It was quite humbling for him which bothered him at first, but he understood and accepted it.

I'm heading to the drum shop today after work to get new tom heads. The ones I have are just cashed at this point. We couldn't get good sound out of the toms and the snare rings too damn much, so it looks like I'm going to get a dryer head for the snare and I might try those Evans EC2 Clear Edge Control heads.

Anyone tried those?








_________________
Ad Astra Per Aspera

Ericinho6 wrote:

I'm heading to the drum shop today after work to get new tom heads. The ones I have are just cashed at this point. We couldn't get good sound out of the toms and the snare rings too damn much, so it looks like I'm going to get a dryer head for the snare and I might try those Evans EC2 Clear Edge Control heads.

Anyone tried those?

YES! I use EC2's on my toms and I love them!

I'm glad things are working out. You should let us hear the tracks when they're done!

I prefer Emperor X
They are made for snare.








_________________
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" Lao Tsu
http://www.myspace.com/whateverocks
http://www.myspace.com/frontlinetribute
http://www.myspace.com/firthoffifth2

drumur wrote:

I prefer Emperor X
They are made for snare.

On your toms you do? Or your snare?








_________________
Ad Astra Per Aspera

Ericinho6 wrote:

drumur wrote:

I prefer Emperor X
They are made for snare.

On your toms you do? Or your snare?

They don't come in enough sizes to put them on toms.

Believe it or not, that ring will get buried under the music. Even with a MoonGel my 5"x14" Maple Custom Absolute snare has a lot of tone. This is what makes a drum sound alive and not like cardboard.








_________________

Dr. Rodney McKay wrote:

Well, I only know one thing and that is that flying darkness that eats energy can only be very, very bad.

http://www.MySpace.com/PageFive

SGarrett wrote:

Ericinho6 wrote:

drumur wrote:

I prefer Emperor X
They are made for snare.

On your toms you do? Or your snare?

They don't come in enough sizes to put them on toms.

Believe it or not, that ring will get buried under the music. Even with a MoonGel my 5"x14" Maple Custom Absolute snare has a lot of tone. This is what makes a drum sound alive and not like cardboard.

Ah, I think I actually saw that (the sizes) before on Remo's site.

See I only have 2 times of recording under my belt. Once 10 years ago with a band that was horrible and no one cared about what we sounded like. Not to mention the fact that I had only been playing a year and barely knew anything about tuning. The second time was 2 years ago at a real recording studio with an engineer who didn't care what I did (and it showed once we got to mastering and that pissed me off) but I had my drums tuned up how I wanted them and the playback sounded great.

Have you heard/tried those Black Suede heads at all?

Oh and about the ring, I was starting to think that as well. I mean sure I don't want it to resonate (the ring) like I'm in a hallway but being in a rock band, I'm sure it'll get buried.








_________________
Ad Astra Per Aspera

Ericinho6 wrote:

SGarrett wrote:

Ericinho6 wrote:

drumur wrote:

I prefer Emperor X
They are made for snare.

On your toms you do? Or your snare?

They don't come in enough sizes to put them on toms.

Believe it or not, that ring will get buried under the music. Even with a MoonGel my 5"x14" Maple Custom Absolute snare has a lot of tone. This is what makes a drum sound alive and not like cardboard.

Ah, I think I actually saw that (the sizes) before on Remo's site.

See I only have 2 times of recording under my belt. Once 10 years ago with a band that was horrible and no one cared about what we sounded like. Not to mention the fact that I had only been playing a year and barely knew anything about tuning. The second time was 2 years ago at a real recording studio with an engineer who didn't care what I did (and it showed once we got to mastering and that pissed me off) but I had my drums tuned up how I wanted them and the playback sounded great.

Have you heard/tried those Black Suede heads at all?

Oh and about the ring, I was starting to think that as well. I mean sure I don't want it to resonate (the ring) like I'm in a hallway but being in a rock band, I'm sure it'll get buried.

Doh! For some reason I saw "Focus X" which is an Aquarian snare head. Disregard my previous statement.

The ring of my snare even gets buried under acoustic pop/rock. You can also control the ring by where you hit on the head. Dead center has less "body" than off center and near the rim has the most amount of ring.








_________________

Dr. Rodney McKay wrote:

Well, I only know one thing and that is that flying darkness that eats energy can only be very, very bad.

http://www.MySpace.com/PageFive