Sometimes detuning just a little can ameliorate that ringing, and not significantly affect the drum's fundamental tone, or how it feels to the drummer. Detuning might be tuning the entire head down a bit, or in some cases playing around with just one lug (although I prefer the former to the latter). Is this a problem that is as noticeable in the room as it is on tape? That of course may indicate the part of the signal chain that's the bigger culprit. For what it's worth, I don't think that drum sounds wrong in an absolute sense. To my ears it just sounds like a cranked-up 5x14 Supraphonic and has kind of a 60's surf/garage rock vibe. Does the drummer have any feelings on this, and does the ringiness sound more appropriate in a full-band context.

etch wrote:The drum: early 70's Krupa COB Slingerland 8 lug snare drum These are seriously underrated drums.

I hate snare ring too and everything being mentioned is part of the puzzle. However we were recently doing drum demos with very modest gear and I noticed too much ring. My drummers step son is a drum core nerd in school band and had convinced him to tighten the reso head and snare wires really tight. He loosened those snares a bit and instantly it sounded like a rock snare again. If you're recording other people I would just ask them "hey you like that snare sound, ring and all?" or "Mind if we get a take with the ring and a take without and see which sounds best?"

dontfeartheringo wrote:etch wrote:The drum: early 70's Krupa COB Slingerland 8 lug snare drum These are seriously underrated drums.I'm pretty sure you're the one that told me about it! I at least followed all of your other advice. I like it a lot, and it does seem to like a lower tuning, I'm probably doing something wrong, haha!

I'm a big fan of moon gel (or sticky grabber hands from a gashapon). Sometimes Ill even take the top head off and place a piece on the rezo head inside the drum If Im going for that early 70's bowie super dry drum sound. I also kind of like the sound of a snare drum with a thin piece of cloth draped over the head. sounds like a drum sample, but in a cool way.

twelvepoint wrote:For what it's worth, I don't think that drum sounds "wrong" in an absolute sense. To my ears it just sounds like a cranked-up 5x14 Supraphonic and has kind of a 60's surf/garage rock vibe. Does the drummer have any feelings on this, and does the ringiness sound more appropriate in a full-band context.This. Not sure if you are a Drumdial person or not, but I'd guess the top head of this snare is tuned up around the 95 lbs (or higher if that's even possible with an Emperor) on all of the lugs. I tune my Accro and Supra batter heads to 90 lbs (with an Ambassador) but I like a higher pitched snare with some ring. If you have one, you might try to shoot closer to the 85-87 area. If you don't, try tuning it with all the batter lugs about a 1/2 turn looser and see if it improves.

n.c. wrote:154 wrote:Are any of your pres or compressors (or possibly tape?) maxing out a bit? While I think it sounds cool it does seem like the ring is being exaggerated a bit.there is definitely something to this. i tend to compress snare and kick to tape and i hit tape pretty hard - using atr tape on an ms-16, headroom for days, but yes, plenty of tape compression happening.....here's another clip, in context with the other instruments. different drummer, different snare. still lots of ring, though, to be fair, this snare is metal and 13x6.https://soundcloud.com/user-39165224/ca ... tory-mix-1I would definitely play with the tape headroom on your drum tracks. Even a dampened snare head will have a long decay if you're hitting it as hard to tape as that snare in the second clip.

Just so you know, as I indicated above these things do the same job as moon gel but are much cheaper. Whether you use the whole hand or just cut a piece out of the palm.Moon gel also disintegrates and/or goes nasty after a while, so you need to change it for a fresh one periodically. After my first lot went bad I kept the moon gel tin and started keeping hands in it.

The snare in the second clip sounds like the ghost of a timbale, screaming from the void.

154 wrote:Are any of your pres or compressors (or possibly tape?) maxing out a bit? While I think it sounds cool it does seem like the ring is being exaggerated a bit.there is definitely something to this. i tend to compress snare and kick to tape and i hit tape pretty hard - using atr tape on an ms-16, headroom for days, but yes, plenty of tape compression happening.that said, i'm hearing the ring in the room. i'm going to look into this moon gel stuff. i also would like to explore tuning, but i'm not *really* a drummer and i don't see myself fucking with a drum key while trying to get a drum sound. i do have a nice snare (no brand, it was a shell built with parts - i bought it off some jazz drummer, he knew what he was doing). it sounds great aside from the ring. i think i'm going to set that up in ringless shape as an alternative.about the snare in the above clip - it's a 14x6 ludwig. it belongs to the drummer in this band:http://feckingbahamas.com/math-rock-ret ... -1997-2001he's almost never used snares. instead he stretches a guitar string across and back, so it's like he has 2 not-very-snarey snares. in the clip it's not him playing though. here's another clip, in context with the other instruments. different drummer, different snare. still lots of ring, though, to be fair, this snare is metal and 13x6.https://soundcloud.com/user-39165224/ca ... tory-mix-1