The snare that will punch shit out of you

Saftstein said:
Thank you mr. smoothassilk!
Your method sounds really solid to me! I think it's important to have control of your sounds and not layering random snares that sound good (like me).
When fading the body of the snare, does it mean you fade away the punchy first part of the layer?
May i ask if you use typical snare hits from typical packs or if you just layer what you find that sounds good? Also what compressor do you use? I always went with the standard ableton compressor.
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Lol... I hate my dnbforum name. I made it a general internet name when I was 13 and thought it sounded cool, then used it for ages cause I couldn't be bothered to think of another one.
Yes, I mean fading away the 'punch'. The proper name for it is the transient.
I tend not to use anything too processed. It's either old drum machine hits, foleys or raw recordings of actual snares.
I haven't actually experimented with different compressors, I just use reacomp cause I use REAPER and it's convienient.
 
@Saftstein that last snare is nice and snappy, the first two have a nice sound but the transients sound a bit off perhaps. Layering 15 snares and trying to keep the transient clean sounds like a mission!

I think it gets to a point where you're better off looking at your mix down and trying to make space for the snare to shine rather than building some crazy mega snare to bludgeon your track to death with.

I saw or heard on a tutorial somewhere (Bass Gorilla??) a method where you send all your channels apart from your snare to one bus and then sidechain that bus to the snare with 0 attack and super fast release. Rather heavy handed, but it's an idea anyway.
 
I used to compress less, but that didn't really cram the separate layers together hard enough, and I could still hear them as distinct sounds, rather than 1 snare.

I've tried adding a dab of reverb, does anyone have any tips for preventing this without compressing too much, or is totally flattening the body and tail of the snare the way to go?
 
smoothassilk said:
I used to compress less, but that didn't really cram the separate layers together hard enough, and I could still hear them as distinct sounds, rather than 1 snare.

I've tried adding a dab of reverb, does anyone have any tips for preventing this without compressing too much, or is totally flattening the body and tail of the snare the way to go?
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Just choosing the right samples, pitching them so they sound right together and adjusting the tails manually by shortening the audio clip and/or using fades.
 
I find with snares using 1 or 2 great snare samples will always outperform 3 or 4 bad ones. I usually like to mix an organic snare tail with a processed punch to get the best of live and processed sound. Unless you're going full Neuro then that sucker gets pitched right up lol
 
I haven't seen anyone mention phase yet. Does anyone ever find that they have two snares that they think would sound good together but when combined it sounds like shit? Even after they are both pitched to the same key? Chances are it's because one is cancelling the other out.

I always try inverting the phase of a snare or even a break if it is conflicting. You don't need to be as drastic with the EQ if the snares are aligned properly IMO. They reinforce each other instead of making a sonic mess.

If inverting the phase doesn't work, try nudging one of the to the left or right by a few samples or so until it sounds tight.


Be wary that heavy filtering on one snare will adjust the phase, so make sure you compensate afterwards. I try and do corrective EQing/filtering before I nudge a sound.
 
Youve got to use a snare suited to the kind of track you are making, identify where you want it to cut through and boost it there.

Always good to try and use a snare thats pretty unprocessed, using really compressed snare samples can make them really hard to get to sit in the mix.
We usually layer 2-3 snares to define the areas we need, for eg A snare with a nice amount of body, then another with some really nice hi to cut it through, then also a tad in the mids.

Its a bit of trial and error really.

but definitely using decent snare samples is the best start, then you will begin to build up your own resampled snares and you know whats been processed and where
 
logikz said:
zeal, welcome back, long time no see?
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Yeah man, dont go on the internet as much as i used to lol

Too much work etc now, but just about making time for music still :)

You all good mate?
 
sure, just havent plugged in the emu for a very very long time now. you sill using it daily are you?

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oh and we can dig up the zeal and litta snare tutorial thread, but its really old and im being a bit of a prat in it, so this new thread should be fine, shoudlnt it?
 
Yeah I think it's better to choose which drum hits to use after you have made your bass or hook.

Spend a day making kicks and snares then audition them on a project.
 
logikz said:
sure, just havent plugged in the emu for a very very long time now. you sill using it daily are you?

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oh and we can dig up the zeal and litta snare tutorial thread, but its really old and im being a bit of a prat in it, so this new thread should be fine, shoudlnt it?
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I think we probably do our drums a little different to what was in that thread, the principal was still the same but we started to take a less is more approach lol

We find that when making music now we end up taking stuff out all the time rather than adding in

we Still use 2-3 layers for kicks and snares, but we dont use as many breaks as we used to a few years back

i suppose we have spent the last 2-3 years really compiling our own sample pack of our own drums, basses, fx etc that we have made and twisted about. Now when making music its all our own samples and the things we make on synths etc
 
I found that distortion tends to add crunch and definition to the snare and now it's my fav tool when making drums. With that can anybody recommend amazing free distortion plugins?

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Mania said:
layering is overrated imo. you can get a lot out of a good sample.
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+1, i think that should minimize your headache when making drums
 
Hey I've downloaded Camel Crusher but where do I put it, like in which folder?


Lmao nevermind, didn't realise there was installer hahaa
 
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