In this video, I'm going to show you the 5 key tips to getting the perfect snare drum sound.
These tips will help you get a great snare drum sound in any live sound or recording situation.
But if you're new to this channel,
my name is Kyle. Learn audio production online at AudioUniversityOnline.com.
All right. I know this first one is pretty obvious, but I have to get it out of the way.
The number one key to getting a good snare drum sound is a good drummer.
I'm not a drummer, so every recording of me playing drums would be terrible and that's why
I've asked my friend Ernesto Doural Jr. to help us out today. By the way, if you're a drummer check
out Ernesto's channel. He's got drum tips, drum gear reviews, drum covers, and a whole lot more.
You also need to pick a snare drum that's appropriate to the music style you're recording.
Each drum will have its own unique sonic character,
based on the materials that it's made out of, the depth, the shape, and the heads that
are on it. Not only the drum will define that character but also the way the drum is tuned.
Ernesto has a really great video on how to tune a snare drum that you can watch right here.
Much like the character of the drum itself, the character of the microphone you choose
will have an effect on the recording. The industry standard for snare drums whether in live sound or
studio recording is the Shure SM57. It offers a pretty neutral sound so if you
want to capture the snare as it is, the SM57 is a good choice in almost any situation.
But let's say you want to alter the sound of the snare drum with your microphone choice.
If you wanted to add some brightness to the snare
drum, you could use a condenser microphone like this Shure SM81.
You could also use a brighter sounding dynamic mic like this Telefunken M80.
On the flip side, you might have a snare drum that is a bit too bright sounding already. In that
case, you could use a darker sounding microphone like the Telefunken M81. That will help to tame
some of the high frequencies while still capturing the full-bodied low-mids of the snare drum.
These are just a few microphone choices but there are thousands of options out there. Check out
the list of my favorite microphones for micing snare drums in the description of this video.
Depending on the polar pattern of your microphone and its response to the proximity effect,
you'll get different sounds depending on how you place the mic on the snare drum.
When it comes to micing a snare drum, I like to start by placing it about an
inch above the rim pointed toward the center of the drum head. Keep in mind that you'll need
to work around the other components of the drum kit and keep your mic out of the drummer's way.
As you move the mic closer to the drum it gets a bit darker due to the proximity effect,
but it also helps maximize the signal to noise ratio making the snare drum louder in comparison
to the surrounding instruments. You'll notice that the sound gets a bit brighter as you point
the microphone toward the edge of the drum head, emphasizing the overtones. Angling the mic toward
the center of the drum head will give you a slightly darker sound with emphasized attack.
You can also experiment with using two mics on the same snare - one on top,
one on bottom. The bottom mic will capture the bright buzzing sounds of the snares themselves.
If you choose to mic the top and bottom of the snare, consider the possibility of phase
cancellation. As the top head moves away from the top mic the bottom head moves toward the bottom
mic. This could potentially create conflicting signals when the mics are mixed together.
For this reason, I like to experiment with inverting the polarity of one mic
within the DAW until I find the configuration that sounds best.
The final key to getting the perfect snare sound is the room or the ambiance. The close micing
techniques I've shown you in this video will help you get a close dry-sounding snare with a lot of
punch and body. But depending on the context of your recording, you may want a more open
natural sounding snare. If you've got access to a professional studio, you might be recording
in a large live room that has a beautiful natural reverb of its own. In that case, you could use a
room mic or a pair of room mics placed a few feet away from the drum kit in addition to the close
mics on the snare drum. That way you can get the attack and the body of the snare drum using the
close mics and the ambiance of the room using the room mics. However many of us will be recording in
a small room like Ernesto and I are in right now, which doesn't particularly sound good. In this
case, you might get better results by sending the close mics to a reverb plugin in your DAW. That
way you can experiment with the length and quality of the reverb after the fact. Plus if you're
recording a drum kit, you'll probably already have a pair of overheads above the drum kit which
will capture the snare. So, when choosing which close mic techniques to use on your snare drum,
make sure that you choose something that works well when mixed together with those overheads.
Alright, thanks again to Ernesto for helping us out with this video.
Watch one of the videos on your screen now for more music recording tips.