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Tuning the Snare Drum

Lesson 4 from: Studio Pass with Tommy Rogers and Jamie King

Tommy Rogers, Jamie King

Tuning the Snare Drum

Lesson 4 from: Studio Pass with Tommy Rogers and Jamie King

Tommy Rogers, Jamie King

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Lesson Info

4. Tuning the Snare Drum

Lesson Info

Tuning the Snare Drum

With a snare same thing the uh um uh snares radically different you know the stairs knows you know that's going to be the most distinctive thing in the kid for most records you know there's tons of different snares on the market there's thin ones deep ones big ones small ones and they all your different sounds there again like said if you want a big snare sound use a bigger snare deeper snare deep you know the depth is volume the with is actually relative to the pitch in the same thing applies for the tom's there a swell of whatever thea like say for tommy's uh you know record we wanted a big rock sound so we used you know we just have a big scenario fourteen inch snare uh sixty inch deep snare and this is you know great ludwig snared it gives you a great like classic rock songs that sound you heard million times and million records steps but basically like said there's the tuning approach they used on the toms doesn't apply to the snares much use alike said if the bottom snares is man...

y of you guys know has a ah thinner uh you know snare side head you know that comes the factory and you want to keep this near side because it interacts with the actual snares metal strands with the actual snares of the drums that produced the white noise of effect um so basically you want if you want a lot of snare articulation you want the bottom tight if you want a washing kind of snare sound kind of a slushy type of sound or whatever then you want to lose you know what this bottom head loose the same thing with the strands whatever you want you know he has a titan err on the side of this near ground you guys know if you want a lot of articulation say your drummer that does a lot of ghost notes and that type of thing a lot of really our ticket things you want this tighter you know if you if you want you know a bigger sound this more boschee and the kind of blends together kind of like maybe a symphonic sneer type sound uh you might want to run this stairs a little more loose tons of different products on the market tons of different snare strands different you know, even the string that holds the snare on affects the sound ofthe failed like you have the nylon strap you have the the classic streams strap things and it's it's crazy but you know that's just like experimenting I'm a big fan like I said let the band are the artist sound the way they sound so if somebody brings in something the snare that they've chosen or whatever and check it out see what it sounds like senator mike it up so you know yeah, and just go from there and I said that's the most expressive drum on on the drum set of whatever snare drum so and you know so they're no rules with you know, the tensions obviously want to keep the tensions you know, the same around the drone just like with tom's these all are because we've already seen this uh but the same thing you want it start low if you tune with the snares on the head or you know, maybe you can do either way I normally do you just cause you know, you turn the snares off you can hear the pitch a lot better, you know, with the snares ofthe but up well, I said with the same thing with the tom's, whatever you want to do that whole stretch in thing and I didn't mention the king, which you want to stretch it in also usually like when I'm sitting up the kick stretching things you want to do that with snare and like said, I mean there's there's so many different tones and we're talking on our podcast about, you know, the higher like with finn or whatever about the higher snares you know, the way we used to listen to yeah in the nineties and people you know, like a snap case bands like that is heather really like cracking sound to me there's you know, it's like I mean, a lot of people be like, I don't like that sound, you know, but it might work with the particular ban, and that might be this way they wanted to sound, so if that's the way they want to sound cranked, the snare tuning up, you know, it's, it's all an opinion the end of the day and like, since they're being the most expressive thing, I usually try to just go with what the clients got going on naturally, but, you know, for this particular project, one of the rock sound not a lot of overtone when we hit the snare drum now, but this is without muffling here, all the ring and stuff, yeah, it's brighter it's got, you know, overtones and ring, which we probably don't want a lot of in the recording. One thing I'll say about snare drum is that the natural compression of the, you know, the s and fifty seven and I normally use almost there, and the most people could only use this near, uh, the natural compression in the compression we're going to use in the mix and the cue and things like that, that actually if you got if you got bringing your snare it's going to accentuate that when you compress it. You know the mike does and so you know, I found that you you know, you kind of need a little bit of muffling like moon jail or something like that unless the drummer is really articulate hits did center every time if you play to the side you're gonna get more ring you know, some drummers played more to the side some played there in zurich centre so but I usually find a little bit of muffling helps but for this that we have relatively low to ensnare, you know, semi washi because there's not a lot of ghost noting in this song things like that we're just kind of a fat classic, you know, seventies eighties, maybe even in the nineties whatever tommy was kind of really inspired by the grunge stuff. Whatever for this record is that the actual song we were doing was actually, you know, temporarily just called groningen yeah, so creative it's appropriate way on doing this song but I think it was cool what she said just for reference but you said the bigger like the wider cost it is yeah, the lower than note is yeah, and then the depth is the volume so you you just literally just look a snare and no kind of get an idea yeah, based on what, whether it's wood or metal and then dies yeah that's pretty cool yeah like and you brought the wood metal thing? I mean, obviously they're tones of different tones you know, the metal snares aren't as popular as they used to be, but obviously the middles metal stairs going to sound brighter we're gonna have more attack I'm a really big fan of recording middle snares um because it's less seek you work on the hot hand, you know, the more high and boosted us they're going to bring in symbols and also all kinds of other stuff with an acoustic kit so it's nice to have, you know, a head in a snare configuration that produces a lot of natural high end but yeah, that would affect it but it's all a preference you know, a lot of people ask me like, hey would snare we're going to use and I'm like whatever you want, you know, just hit us there whatever when you like and one thing I will say about drums and stared rooms in particular what it sounds like acoustically almost means nothing you know, like up in terms of the recording because you really need to check out what the snare drum sounds like recorded because like I said, the fifty seven kind of nationally compresses the sound being a dynamic mike and having proximity effect naturally compresses the sound, so you want to you want to hear it with the michael in there with, you know, some some light cue and production to kind of get an idea what it really sounds like a lot of people like you, like they try to tune their snare to sound like the produce near that they're hearing on a record, and they don't realize that snare actually sounded quite a bit more trashy or, like, you know, fat in the original, like the tunis there, like you, you know, customer here, you kind of compressed and controlled tightened. Poppy, if you tune your stare like that, you know? And then you put the mike and a new compressed, then it's going to sound like a cardboard box it's like it's a different translation, this year's hearing it different than your human ear, you know, basically, yes, some I've learned. I mean, with every instrument get over the years guitars you always you always want your like, this is my tone, but when you recorded its everything sounds different. Yeah, you have to be very open. I think that import african engineers, someone who knows that could translate your sound too, due to the final product and, you know, and things like said that, you know, you know how, when you start layering up things and you know it changes the way stuff, you know, like your normal snare drum sound, you might like a big, fat snare drum sound, but you didn't realize and might get lost in it, and I get lost in the mix, like man, we might need to turn tightness snare drum up for you. We use a metal snare drum because it's kind of ah dole, I'm not hearing the ghost notes and things so basic. This is all gases. Like said, you want to try, you know, we want to get in the ballpark, where you think would work or whatever, and then just record some stuff and try it out. And if it's not it's, not working out, then you wanted to, you know, I want to make some adjustments and stuff, you know.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Jamie King - Tommy Rogers - Gear List.pdf
Jamie King - Tracking Template.ptf

bonus material with enrollment

Tommy Rogers and Jamie King - Syllabus.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Zachary Towne
 

Thanks for two outstanding sessions. Tommy, Jamie and the Creative Live folks really did a great job elucidating the studio recording process for producing honest, listenable, and powerful rock and metal recordings. I particularly appreciated the individual treatment of each instrument as well as how they all integrate into the mix. I found Jamie's methods to be straightforward and effective and I'm really looking forward to applying that to my own production.

a Creativelive Student
 

Another well done class from Creativelive. A glimpse into the daily life of a pro musician and pro engineer. Some great advice, tips and tricks that anyone can use to make better music. Was hoping they would get more into the business side of things, they did briefly discuss it towards the end, however a more detailed, longer discussion on the topic would have been good. You do learn some cool ways to record and mix. Some of these are obvious, some not so much. I am sure that for most people you will get something of value from this class.

user-461998
 

This was an awesome 1st half of the course! Jamie touched on so many things that I've always had questions about in the production environment. I can't wait for the second day! This course is a MUST HAVE!! I will be purchasing it soon!! Many thanks for the Livestream!

Student Work

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