How To Get A Great Snare Sound In Any Mix
When you think of a great snare sound, what characteristics come to mind? Something with a lot of sustain and ring? Something dry and punchy? A tone that’s somewhere in between?
The reality is, there are A LOT of great snare sounds – making our jobs as engineers and mixers challenging with every session we work on.
In some situations, you’re going to have a plethora of snare options to choose from. In others, your tone is going to be limited to the gear you’ve got access to. But even in a pinch where you’re faced with one snare and one mic, there’s plenty you can do to capture the perfect tone and get it fitting perfectly in your mix.
Here’s how…
Make Sure Your Snare Is Tuned
One of the biggest flubs new audio engineers make is not knowing enough about general music theory and instrumentation to advise on basic maintenance. You don’t need to be an expert about all things drum related, but you should at least be familiar with common drum tuning techniques and the process for tuning a snare. While you might think the drummer’s got it all taken care of, there are going to be times where they don’t.
Just like guitar and bass, drums have consumable elements – primarily sticks and drumheads. Also, just like guitar and bass will benefit from a fresh set of strings before tracking, a snare drum’s head should be in nearly new condition for best results when tracking. Even if you don’t have the budget to replace all the drumheads on a kit, the snare alone can sometimes make a night and day difference.
From there, it’s just a matter of tightening the tension rods in a manner that gives the snare the tone you’re after. There are hundreds of different techniques out there, but the common theme is the same as it is with any tuning peg on other instruments – clockwise tightens the tension rod creating a higher pitch and counterclockwise loosens the tension rod lowering the pitch.
If you’re new to drum tuning, spend some time on YouTube checking out tuning tutorials and follow along if possible. A great starting point is to get a nice, even tone as you hit the head with a drumstick in various locations across the surface and go from there.
Mix In Context
Another common problem mixers run into is mixing in solo. This isn’t just a problem for snares, but every instrument in a mix.
The result, as I’m sure some of you have experienced, is a great sounding snare in isolation that just can’t seem to cut through the mix on its own. Even worse – simply turning the track up can often reveal other issues in the snare putting you right back at square one.
By mixing your snare within the context of the rest of your mix, you’re able to work more efficiently – addressing any overlapping frequencies that might be masking each other on the fly. You also get the benefit of bleed when mixing this way – hearing how the snare sounds in the drum overheads and where it spills in from other spot mics on the kick.
Your snare isn’t an isolated instrument, so mixing it as if it is isn’t the right approach for anyone. Embrace the variety that comes from live, dynamic instruments as you mix!
Bold & Brash Transients
Bold and brash transients are a common theme for drums no matter what genre you work with primarily. There aren’t any other percussive elements where this is more obvious than on snare drums.
The concept is simple – we want percussive instruments to provide a steady, clear sound to help push the rhythm of a song forward. For most listeners, the kick and snare pattern is as much detail as they’re going to pick up on. Other percussion, while catchy, isn’t immediately obvious to passive listeners.
So how do we get the most out of the transient of our snare? With transient processing.
Transient processing is one of the greatest modern tools at our disposal when working with drums – especially snares. Depending on the tool you’re using, you can shape the transient in a broadband manner, or by narrowing in on specific frequencies with plugins like Transify. The benefit of a frequency-focused approach is that you can focus on aspects of the snare like the crack of the stick on the drumhead in the upper mids or the punch and body of the lower mid frequencies.
No matter how you approach transient design in your mixes, the goal should be to maximize each transient in a manner that helps it to cut through. Getting your snare to pop with just the right character is the epitome of great snare tone.
What About Drum Samples?
I’m glad you asked! Drum samples can be a great way to replace less-than-ideal drum recordings or pump them up with more power and presence through layering! Snare drums are no exception, and mix-ready snare samples are excellent at bringing some professional, polished sound to any mix.
If you’re interested in getting started with drum samples, be sure to check out Joey Sturgis Drums, where we’ve got super affordable one-shot libraries, Kontakt instruments & more!
