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 Dirtying up a snare sound		  New Topic  Reply to Topic
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benjisonfire
Advanced Contributer

United Kingdom
4843 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  10:23:51  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
As we are mixing the drums I'm noticing that the snare is too clean. The pitch is high, but that's ok. However it has little guts and depth to the sound. How would you recommend tuning it for more guts?
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theslingerland
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United Kingdom
9552 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  10:27:14  Show Profile  Visit theslingerland's Homepage  Reply with Quote
If you're mixing it then it's probably too late to retune it, right?

Try putting some (nice) distortion on it or perhaps a little white noise, triggering it or even - if you have the facilities - I run drum stems to tape, red lineing it a bit and then make up the gain back to Protools using a nice crusty Shure pre amp I've had modded. Sounds killer.
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Bewdy
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United Kingdom
843 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  10:27:47  Show Profile  Visit Bewdy's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Well it sounds like your only option is to tune lower??

The other thing you could try is adding a little distortion, tube warmth or overdrive to the sound in the mix.
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theslingerland
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United Kingdom
9552 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  10:31:00  Show Profile  Visit theslingerland's Homepage  Reply with Quote
And auto/pitch correct the snare lower. You could try mixing a processed pitched down snare (like an octave or two under the original) with the clean original?
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simedgoose
Moderator

United Kingdom
464 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  10:45:15  Show Profile  Visit simedgoose's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I agree with James. Depending on your DAW, trigger a low pitch 'dirty' snare sample under your current snare sound. If you are on ProTools or another hi end DAW then easy. If you are something simpler, then look at ApTrigga 2. Simple, cheap and very effective. €30 iirc
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larold
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United Kingdom
286 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  11:27:18  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Bit of distortion and pitched down could do the trick... I'm an advocate of the driven hard tape sound for a dirty snare and your DAW may have an emulator plug in type of affair that you can send the dry signal out to. May be worth a look.
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Dave S
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United Kingdom
5362 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  11:29:25  Show Profile  Visit Dave S's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Got to love this forum!

Very handy knowledge for future reference, thanks guys.
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beezerk
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United Kingdom
29229 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  11:40:39  Show Profile  Visit beezerk's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Do the Steve Jordan trick, tune as low as owt and stick a pile of gaffa tape on it.
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logic_user99
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United Kingdom
10151 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  11:43:14  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
If you've got any decent tube-emulator compressors for your DAW, get it through that and push the gain so it crunches. You could look at triggering an 808 snare (one of the big boofy ones) under the recorded sound and compressing the f**k out of that, too.
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DyeHouseDrumWorks
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United Kingdom
185 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  14:12:37  Show Profile  Visit DyeHouseDrumWorks's Homepage  Reply with Quote
As above - if the take is good, go with it and get creative with the production.
There's no end you could do if you carefully gate an output from the recorded snare channel.
...and ultimately trigger any snare sound you could possibly imagine with it!

For future drum tracking projects, it's well worth running every single mic you own (and borrow some more too!) in wide and varied placements, through many channels, if you're not sure what sound you want. You can pick and chose what works after the tracking phase and still maintain a more natural sound pallette.
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Wannabedrummer
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United Kingdom
777 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  14:51:48  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Smear it in mud? Sorry. No need for that really. Cant promise it wont happen again, though.
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benjisonfire
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United Kingdom
4843 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  16:49:23  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Was meaning how I should tune the actual snare for next time, rather than mixing. the guy mixin now is a pro and ha sorted it in a jiffy!
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larold
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United Kingdom
286 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  19:04:53  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
If you're talking dirt I'd say a lot of that would be achieved in post production. Guts and depth though I'd go for a deep wood shell tuned right down.

Something like this?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6oEI4MB2iE - Ahhh that break does things to me!
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Tex
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United Kingdom
1595 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  19:19:02  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
If the track is separate and you have a spare track then bounce (duplicate not move) the snare and then detune that copy and try blending it in behind or forward (in the mix not the timing) of the other. As already well suggested, a little distortion or FX on the copy.
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teethmeister
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United Kingdom
948 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  22:48:56  Show Profile  Visit teethmeister's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Another cheeky post technique is to use the snare signal to vocode something like a white or pink noise source. Or, with some vocoders, just running something impulsive like drums through with no secondary input can make quite a useful "dirt"
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theslingerland
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United Kingdom
9552 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2012 :  23:31:52  Show Profile  Visit theslingerland's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Tune down and gaffa - or an old head upside down on the regular head...
My new book - Mind Over Meter http://www.jameshester.co.uk/mindovermeter/
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benjisonfire
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United Kingdom
4843 Posts
Posted - 20/04/2012 :  10:57:11  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by larold

If you're talking dirt I'd say a lot of that would be achieved in post production. Guts and depth though I'd go for a deep wood shell tuned right down.

Something like this?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6oEI4MB2iE - Ahhh that break does things to me!


NOW THAT IS A F**KING GROOVE! I will work to get that snare sound!
http://soundcloud.com/benjipage
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crafty
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United Kingdom
7751 Posts
Posted - 20/04/2012 :  11:12:04  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by benjisonfire

quote:
Originally posted by larold

If you're talking dirt I'd say a lot of that would be achieved in post production. Guts and depth though I'd go for a deep wood shell tuned right down.

Something like this?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6oEI4MB2iE - Ahhh that break does things to me!


NOW THAT IS A F**KING GROOVE! I will work to get that snare sound!


I played session recently where the the songwriter wanted exactly that kind of sound. I have a drum which I have tuned and taped for that kind of vibe. I said, 'I can bring along the Russ Kunkel'. He said that sounded interesting. The 'Russ Kunkel' is a 70s Slingerland 14x6 SoundKing, with a very tired ambassador tuned just above crisp packet and smeared with gaffa. It hits the spot. Great sound. I'll post an mp3 when the album's released.

Ed
Super cool - and bongos too!
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Twotoms
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United Kingdom
775 Posts
Posted - 20/04/2012 :  11:18:34  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
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benjisonfire
Advanced Contributer

United Kingdom
4843 Posts
Posted - 20/04/2012 :  22:49:29  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by crafty

quote:
Originally posted by benjisonfire

quote:
Originally posted by larold

If you're talking dirt I'd say a lot of that would be achieved in post production. Guts and depth though I'd go for a deep wood shell tuned right down.

Something like this?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6oEI4MB2iE - Ahhh that break does things to me!


NOW THAT IS A F**KING GROOVE! I will work to get that snare sound!


I played session recently where the the songwriter wanted exactly that kind of sound. I have a drum which I have tuned and taped for that kind of vibe. I said, 'I can bring along the Russ Kunkel'. He said that sounded interesting. The 'Russ Kunkel' is a 70s Slingerland 14x6 SoundKing, with a very tired ambassador tuned just above crisp packet and smeared with gaffa. It hits the spot. Great sound. I'll post an mp3 when the album's released.

Ed


please do! I KNEW it was only a matter of time before I would regret selling my slingerland cob 14x6... still de-tuning my 13x5 may have an interesting result...
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