Tuning a snare to get the low thud sound. Any advice, tips or guidance ?

[Softwaremaker]

Dear experts,

Assuming this:
1) Limited Budget
2) No Shell to play with
3) With only budget for a top batter head

Of course, nothing is perfect and I dont have the budget or luxury to play with top quality wood/metal shell.

How does one get a 14" wood snare to produce a low thud sound that seems to be the sound I hear in most professional recordings ? As opposed to those loud, crisp, pingy snare tones that is usually heard in school marching bands.

1) What kind of batter skin should one get ? 1-ply ? 2-ply ?
2) Special skins - Reverse Dot, Hydraulic ?
3) How does one tune the tension of both the batter and snare heads to produce that low thud sound ?
3) Will dampening help ? How?

I appreciate any sort of advice to help me achieve that type of sound with my constraints.

 

[North]

You can lower down both bat+reso to get lower tune.. You'll significantly lose the rebounce though.. Try experimenting with tissue paper and masking tape
Tissue paper affects the decay and if you put between the wire(What's the word..) and reso drumhead.. it can give you a nice effect too.. like.. thin strip 5x1 cm will work well..
Masking Tape affects the projection and tunes.. =D

 

[Softwaremaker]

Putting tissue paper btw the snares and the snare head will give u a low thud sound ?

Doesnt masking tape give the same effect as the O-rings ? It just serves to muffle the souds. Does it really change the tone to that of a low thud sound ?

 

[twiztedjoker]

IMO if you're on a budget shell the O-rings serve to eliminate the annoying ring that comes after you hit the snare (assuming it's a cheap one tuned really high up to achieve a certain sound). I wasn't really keen on the tape and tissue, but it kinda worked out for me when I had an Emperor X head on my Swingstar stock snare. The O-rings don't exactly muffle the sound...

 

[Composer of Requiems]

=Softwaremaker

14" but how deep? Of course, it'll be easier to get this kind of sound with a deeper snare, like 14" by 8". You can approach it with heavier or drier heads. Like remo emperor x, I think it's 3 ply? I used a coated emperor before, the sound really very "thuddish". After a while, though, I really hated it and went back to coated ambassador (2ply)

I think you can also get the low sound with the remo renaissance, I got it before with that, but I didn't really like the feeling, so I tuned back to about mid-range or so. This head is quite nice to use.

Also, after you tune the heads down, you should loosen the snare wires a bit. For me, I find that tightening the wires get a nicer sound when tuned high, while when tuned low, the looser wires give a "fatter" sound.

When you tune down, it'll help you get rid of the "crispiness". Pingyness can be removed with damping. But you might want to note two things:

1) On most professional recordings they edit the sound a lot.
2) A bit of pingy-ness is good. It's like when you're hearing it just in front of you, then it sounds ringy, but from further away, it sounds fine. What I've heard is that if you tune it until it sounds just nice without ringing when you play it, people further away will hear it as "too dry". I tune mine with a bit of ring, and got someone to play it while I stood far away, and that sounded good, so I left it as that.

 

[kanzer]

i will say. get thicker heads. so 2 plys? you will need a deep shell. but so for now its really tuning. you have to experiment with your snare. i think its looser heads no so tight as tights gives a good loud cracking sound. also the snare wires will affect. hmm how to explain. the looser the wires the more buzzing. hmm guys correct me if i am wrong. so looser heads and a tight wire. izzit?

 

[Softwaremaker]

Thanks Composer for those tips. I will take note and try it. My snare is "only" 5.5" deep.

=Softwaremaker

After a while, though, I really hated it and went back to coated ambassador (2ply)

I may be wrong but arent ambassadors usually 1-ply ? Or are you referring to the emperors ?

 

[Composer of Requiems]

Thanks Composer for those tips. I will take note and try it. My snare is "only" 5.5" deep.



I may be wrong but arent ambassadors usually 1-ply ? Or are you referring to the emperors ?

Ah my bad! I went to check it up, yeah, you're right, it's one ply. Lol I was thinking, Diplomat- 1ply, so Ambs are 2ply and thus emperors are 3ply. So embarassing xP