Why your Snare sounds like SH*T in a MIx!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- Getting your Snare to work in a mix can be a horrific struggle. I've learned by failing. A lot. But once you take the right approach, it can be quite simple. Here's the solution.
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About Spectre Sound Studios:
I'm Glenn Fricker, engineer here at Spectre Sound Studios. I love making records, and after doing it for sixteen years, I want to pass on what I've learned. On my channel you can find tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and plugin effects.
We've covered Moon on the Water, played Bias FX, given you the absolute best in Stupid Musician Texts, ranted & raved about bass guitar, and this channel is where The Eagle has Landed.
Everything you've wanted to learn about recording Hard Rock & Heavy Metal can be found right here on this channel!
I also respond to your comments & questions: The best make it into the SMG Viewer's Comments series of videos. Loads of fun, lots of laughs.
Thanks for checking out my channel & please subscribe!
If you truly love mixing, you’ll never stop having eureka moments and learning more about perfecting your craft, love to see it
I'd say it's just a lesson about life: you never end content with what you do, because the joy comes from the never ending mindblowings you get every time you learn something new which rocks your understanding of things!
Great player
Great snare
Great tuning
Great mic/s
Great room
Great engineer
Always sample your own snare in that session to add with no bleeds.
good tip about sampling the snare! The go to would be adding beef with already sampled snares, but why not use your own?
It’s much better to sample all the kit in oneshots, that reverb trick works wonders on kick and toms too.
Also, sample before but not after, so your sampled drums are freshly tuned.
@@scottsmith7521 sampling your own fits perfectly and of course sampling other snares can add beef but don't lose the natural tone because it will destroy your end result and sound fake like the new Blink182 album snare
Always get a slow dynamic roll on your shells as well for fills!
Picked up a good tip today from Present Day Production: get single shots from the drummer at the end of a song session. You can then use *those* as your samples to “replace” and/or trigger the reverb.
yeah but remember about tuning your whole kit again before recording samples as the snare and toms will probably be out of tune or lower sounding than on the big portion of the tracks. I like recording samples before the session when the kit is freshly tuned
Oh yeah I LIKE that ..
Before you said, Glenn, i'd figured you'd just added a single delay on the drum hit (maybe with some compression/eq) to make it 'bigger'
Enhancement is cool, even time aligning the OCCASIONAL off note/hit - no technique shoiuld be TOTALLY off limits, just dont be a SLAVE to it, and make laboured-over homogenous gargage!
Not to be confused with Garbage ;) Hi Shirley!)
@@huberttorzewski isn't that the same problem but in reverse? the song/take you record last will sound out of tune with the fresh samples.
Not that I care, I simply use regular samples recorded who knows where and they sound fine, artists happy, labels happy, bank account happy. The drummers who make the most noise about "pReZeRvInG tHe iNtEgRiddY" are the ones who cant really play and need the heavy doctoring.
@@modernistmixing I always tune the kit slightly between recording each song but the best tuning is always before 1st song because I spend the most time on that. The difference is not that big though but if you're going to use something as a sample it better be well tuned.
My EVERYTHING sounds like Sh*t in a mix.
A snare I had to try and improve only sounded good with an utter overload of compression from about 5 plug ins. One plug in was ,C4 on the the too much limiting option. After all this the snare sounded quite fkn good. Far superior to the raw audio. That was atrocious
You were pretty adamant about how drums should be pure back in the day. And now you have your own sample pack and courses on how to use them the best!
Yeah, it obviously worked for him. Funny thing about "purist" mind sets: they are actually really good for learning something, but there is usually a good time to abandon them.
He's said before what got him rethinking it was the Peace Sells drums having samples
We live and learn. Just do what sounds best.
Everyone makes mistakes.
@@SMDaboobity in fact he says that in this very video
Hell I feel relieved. Your close mics sound like mine and what you're doing is exactly what I do. I discovered it by just trying to emulate sounds I've listened to, to get that sound. Listen to your ears.
That is of course CLA and his brother TLA's approach. They send only the ambient samples to the verbs. Never the dry drum signals. One thing to consider, and Andy Wallace talks about this, is the length of your ambient sample. So you probably want to gate it. You can also use ambient samples on your kick. Stereo samples. That way you can pan them left and right. Same with snare. You can get a really wide drum sound that way. So always be aware of whether you have a mono ambient or stereo ambient sample. Most are stereo. Last tip. Mix in your ambient samples wearing headphones. According to Andy Wallace you just want them to shade the sound. If your ambient sample is too loud in the mix it will make your whole drums sound to reverby. And you'll lose the punch.
The room sample to reverb is a neat trick, I have been sending my snare bus to a plate for a similar effect, have to try this later
Anyone else see the thumbnail and immediately have the "St. Anger" cover pop in their head?
I love that the short answer is : "gated snare 'verb", and that the technique is used since the 80's on dance and disco records
Like I always say (as of now lol), the sound of a drum is not just the stick on the head which is where the typical recording is done. What happens under, over and around the shell is just as important. You really can only capture that from the room mics. Of course, depending on the room, the room will need some EQ, reverb and gating adjustments as rooms always colour the sound and you must control the bleed from other instruments. Drums are omni directional and what the audience hears and what the drummer hears are never the same. What the drummer hears natively off the top of the heads is not always good and that is why drummers want in-ears that are properly mixed. The drummer wants to hear what is out in front of the drums in the open air. The recording of drums needs to be inclusive of all of the air around the drum set so the room mics are a critical part of the overall drum sound. The snare is the life of a drum set so it needs special attention.
I agree with this way of thinking for what I record. I have a very snappy snare that I like to record with. The shell has a lot less body but it has a massive crack. I find it easier to shape its sound, easier to add some body with a bit of EQ than trying to add articulation. It works well in the room and even overheads in my opinion.
This is actually pretty cool idea. I’m gonna try this in my mixes. Thanks for sharing Glenn
Have fun!
Now this is a fresh breath of air back to the bones of what Glen does best. Well done Mr. Canadian:)
🤘🏻Thanks for the shout-out, Glenn! Sounding killer as usual, man! Room samples are the way.
A surprising amount of snare btm. I wasn’t expecting that. Great work.
Thank you Glenn! The timing on this is perfect as I am in the studio now with my band and this information/technique is exactly when we are looking for. Because right now, the snare sounds like shit. Thanks again!!!
Good luck, man!
Thanks, SSS!
I currently use an AKAI MPC1000 sampler/sequencer/drum machine which is recorded, eventually, onto a Yamaha AW16G HDD recorder (all hardware, no computers!), this tutorial will be very helpful in future when mixing the drums. To date, nobody has noticed that there is no drummer, unless it is pointed out to them beforehand, and those who were in on "the secret" were enthusiastic about the mixes, claiming "it sounds just like a rock drummer, sweating away behind a real kit!"
It's good to know that I am not alone, in using samples to create a "rock" sound, instead of hip-hop style drums, which is something the MPC range is already well-known for.
Can you explain your workflow with the MPC? Like, are you just using it for the pads, or does it let you create a whole midi song track on there and then enable you to split out kick, snare, tom1 , etc
You should do an interview with Blaze Bayley. Did a gig with him a couple of weeks ago and he had me mix in a way I've never mixed before! And for his band it did work. You're never to old to learn something new! Just put your presumptions aside and listen to someone with more knowledge or different ideas. Great learning experience for me atleast.
Snare's sounding great, and better fits into the overall sound/feel of the piece.
Kudos to the Guitarist also, a Satriani type expression without being overbearing like much typical Metal.
You always knew how to make a killer snare sound but you are still getting better and better...
Great job!!!
Holy shit, its such a simple solution that ive never considered. This is going to elevate my own mixes, and not even in metal. Thanks!
I recently realized a similar method, narrow, shelved EQ and sending the sample to the reverb and keeping it under the recorded snare. So simple! But it sounds good plus quick and easy to set up! I have a cajon snare to add a little different flavour on the current mix, but once it's set up you can use the original drummer's samples or try all kinds of samples of drums or even white noise
This was genuinely eye opening and it sounds amazing! Great work Glenn
Nice job Glenn!! I am really watching you progress and your mixes all these years
Killer video and explanation
Phuggin GENIUS Glenn!! I'd really like to learn how to get that great stick attack and fullness on the toms.
The before snare sound was already good enough for my ears. That's not a critique of the after sound. It's a compliment to how good the starting point already was before the improvement. My issue has always been that the cymbals tend to be too quiet in Glenn's mixes. But I'm not a sound engineer so I wouldn't have a clue how to get that to my personal preference.
I've said this before. One of my favorite snare sounds is on the Queensryche album Empire. So much pop. I think they used a sample for that one too.
Great vid🏆. I use Steven Slate drums on hard rock songs. Just recently figured out that when I use Slate samples with top and bottom (wires) samples on separate tracks and then blend together, I get a much better sound. The final mixes are far louder, if you allow the blended snare to sit on top of the mix, just above the vocal. That appears to be the way perception of loudness starts to work. I can get masters perceptively louder than Foo Fighters from the naughties albums, such as The Pretender, and they're "loud"!! Listen carefully to the FF snares in their mixes from that era. They're quite 'dry' and natural sounding - you can hear the snare wires which helps it sit up in a dense mix👍😁 (quite difficult to explain😆). All the best...
very inspiring growth on your mixes. Went from really good to god tier.
Thanks man!
I am happy for this guy . I’ve followed him since his first video and took a picture with him at namm show years ago . I am so happy for you bro and proud of everything you have achieved bro
Thanks, Jesse!
Love this. Great, practical advice with demonstration. Not just the "how" but also the "why". Will be incorporating into my workflow. But, Glenn, we need to talk about solid body acrylic guitars. What type of tone plastic do you recommend? 🙃
Glenn, thank you! This is a game changer for my drum mixing. I could never figure out why I wasn't 100% happy with my snare even after re-EQ'ing after putting reverb directly on it. Can't wait for your next mix review stream so I could show you what's cooking now.
Cool!
Drums sound better when they played in time. As a drummer first and a guitarist/bassist seeing who is making music, it all comes down to everything working together. Working harder to be out of time is counter productive.
I've heard your mixes improve so much of the years and its cool to see you opening your mind to new techniques. Like your sounding more modernized but staying true to what you like etc
Glenn your while drum sound since I've been watching the channel has always been amazing.
This really is brilliant & simple, & makes me laugh at myself as to why I never did this before. 😄 It really gives more of that live recording definition and keeps the players personality on the instrument. Huge Thanx for this.
Loved the demonstration on the mix with just simple subtleties, thank you.
Time alignment is not why music is bad, lol. That's such a cop out. Zeppelin was loose, and it really worked for them. Rush has been using a click track since 1979, and that has worked really well for them. Yeah, there are a lot of bands over the years that made great music that didn't have perfect timing, but there are still a lot who did have perfect timing. Look at Rush, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Fear Factory. Good music doesn't turn bad because it's time aligned, lol.
Time alignment is equivalent to a fraud. The Zep were probably the shittiest players in the entire history of rock, they're unbearable to listen to. What sounds great, however, is really good human playing, with slightly variable timing and dynamics, but without rushing. If you're some milliseconds past the kick drum, it does only slap harder than a perfectly in sync note because of the drum's transient not being eaten up by other instruments. If you're rushing like the Zep, it sounds like total crap. I am a bass player, and I'm doing this “delay” thing for a long time, as do many other players that actually care about how they sound. I wish Glenn makes a video about that someday, this is simultaneously the most basic and the most overlooked thing about timing.
It's really just preference. Tool is a band you would expect to play to a click, but apparently they never have, and it's very noticeable to tell if you try cause there's usually multiple tempo changes. Their reasoning is that it would be a hassle to tempo map each song with all the changes
@@SlyRyFry Exactly. It's preference. A good song doesn't become bad because it's time aligned, lol. The importance is getting a good performance. As long as you do that, the authenticity will be there. Time aligned, or not.
@@alexeypolevoybass Recording in general is equivelent to fraud. Anything other than a band playing together, hitting record, and letting it go is fraud. There's a reason the Wrecking Crew played on most of the legendary recordings of the 60s. Because most people can't do it. Bands didn't start recording their own music consistently until punching in and out became a thing. I'm not saying no one recorded their own music. I'm just saying it was normal for session musicians to record it, and the band just tours and plays live. Now, it's normal for the band to record everything.
@@alexeypolevoybass what a shitty take
Man that snare is like velvet to my ears, God damn man dope sound Ill try this method soon enough
Dude. Thanks for the video. These are so helpful. I do dig the guitar reviews, and the outboard gear reviews even more. But, these how-to's are the juice for me. Cheers,
- Jake in Windsor.
I'm going to try this technique next! What I usually did was using samples 100% wet with reverb as a parallel track (which is not bad) but this takes it to another level of realism. Awesome video dude!
Excellent video! Thank you for the great advice. Also I have been using your three step Bass sound in Element on almost every song I have been working on recently. It just has the unique clang and bite sound I have been looking for. Thank you so very much for all that you do. Rock on 🤘🧡🔥🤘
“… let me guess: Buttresses, Transom, Archways!?” 😂😂😂💯💯💯
Great stuff Glenn
I liked this so much I bought a Yamaha SPX2000 today. Thank you Glenn for the heads up on this unit.
When I played, I used a Yamaha 8 inch steel snare and a 1957 Slingerland 4 inch piccolo snare. Using the proper heads matter too. I despise single heads. I used Remo CS blacks with white dot. That is a triple ply head. Takes a beating and created a powerful tone. If it doesn’t sound like a cannon going off it’s not correct.
You don't like a snare that goes "pinnnnnngggg" ?
Glad to see some recording tips again on the channel!
To me, Andy Wallace is the definition of a "mixer". His mixes sound what you'd think a mix should sound like - on a very basic level - multitrack sessions made to work as one cohesive whole.
Listening to his work, you don't think "why didn't he add more top-end on the snare", because it just works the way it is in a very universal way.
Also worth analyzing is his bass sound, which together with CLA's bass (just different in the context) is MASSIVE - from my understanding sent through a 1073, then SSL 4k with EQ and compression, finally popped into the instrumental bus.
Great examples are any tracks of Nevermind, "X" from Toxicity, "Lying From You" from Meteora, and so on.
Another interesting fact about his approach, is his flexibility - with every "trend" in mixing rock/metal/alternative music, he managed to keep the same pace as the rest of the industry (i.e. big reverberated 80's, into bone-dry and punchy 00's) without losing his signature sound. Whenever the kick and bass sound massive, you pretty much know and easily distinguish and Andy Wallace mix from any other mix.
A masterful audio-engineer and music-connoisseur.
Glenn, the whole time I've been watching this show and hearing the same mix over and over... the snare needed this sound the whole time and I couldn't put my stick on it
Unreal tips as always I'm definitely gonna start doing this Glen you're the best
Go for it!
Im not a heavy rock / metal dude at all ! But i do really enjoy anything you share man !
Okay, tried this. One room sample.
Mind: BLOWN!
That first snare was not bad - it only had room for improvement ;)
Not a metal head sorry guys, but this channel so much informative always. Keep up the works. Great Tip!
This just reminded me of "room tone" on a movie shoot from 20 years ago. Sounds crispy and crunchy.
I rarely bother with compliments (opinions are like...), but now this is dope 👍
In some demos, I had no bottom snare mic, so I cut highs on all drums and let the over heads get all the room sounds/highs of the snare and the toms. On rolls I had to cut the overhead tracks to not mudify the mix.
Thanks to you, I had the courage to sit down and have a proper mix session on some of my own work!
I'm very surprised to see something I had to figure out on my own here after I've used it, since I learn most of the mixing from you
Cool, i've been doing this for years! i only ever used room samples on my drums as we as my actual room mics, but room samples on Kick,snare and toms have always been my go to! i just roll a little attack off of the initial impact of each room sample..
This guy has 10x as much energy at whatever age he's at than I have at 25.
Good snare. Good fresh heads. Good tuning. Good room. Good consistency and hitting same velocity and or rimshots on backbeat. That's pretty much it. Also point the mic toward the snare. Not the hi hat. And use a bottom mic for your sizzle and don't make them phase out. Simple .... lol
Yeah, this is the content I want. Not the endless guitar snob mythbusting
This is basically what CLA does. He is adamant about keeping the snare mics dry and using a sample for the reverb.
Ive been doing it for a fair few years now, its definitely better.
Top tip is put a drum trigger on the snare and record the audio so you have a nice clean signal to send to a plugin.
Of course, this makes a lot of sense. Thanks Glenn.
Tried it right away! Works well even for more distant snares like I sometimes do for country folk . Plus, I always enjoy pulling a plugin I haven't used from my subscription 😅
Awesome tip here !!! thank you Glenn !!!
Man, this was topical as hell for me. I'm definitely trying these techniques in my next mix.
Okay, coming back to this one. Went back on a project I currently have on-the-go, and changing nothing except for the fact that only my room mic has 'verb on it made such a huge difference. Band's gonna be hyped. Cheers, team!
Perfection takes his soul and life out of music
THANK YOU.
I feel like I'm slapped every time the snare hits. I think I like it😂
The song at the beginning that you were before and aftering the drums..The "After" sounded like Ross Robinson circa 94-95.🤙Thanks Glenn.
GLENNNNN!!!!!
This is your best video on TH-cam man. great, great job :).
Great tutorial! Thanks! Putting the punch pieces together. I'm very much into "Doink!-material"! The tonal sustain stuff. Especially with bell bronze snares. Rammstein's "Reise Reise" impressed me a lot when it comes to snare sounds. I'd also always try additional room mics the room next door if possible. Sometimes very epic results. Never been a friend of layering. Either programming drums entirely or recording them entirely. Exception is "emergency replacement samples" recorded in the same session as the drum recordings. For time correction REAPER beats problem tools beat detective.
"Oh I love having knobs."
--Glenn Fricker, 2024
Thanks for that wonderful nugget, brother. 🤣
Thanks man. Really enjoy your videos. Getting this one set up now….I have the 990.
Awesome! Good luck, man!
I have a tip set your reverb with headphones so your snare doesmt get buried in reverb like glens does here
Glen you actually talked about something that I can use.
Nice work . This is my tone seeing/ hearing you. I really liked what you did. I subbed to your channel too. Hope to see you again on the discord.
Both snares sound good in my opinion. Just a matter of taste it seems.
Forget the thick snare, I want Glenn’s thick hair!! FML
Love the 80s sounding reverb on this !
Glen when are you going to discover the wonderful world of nuanced tone in all natural acoustic recording and the worlds classical and folk stringed instruments?
Everyone said the Malamor thingy (Kohle) was impossible to keep - I see you think same as me, keep them original tracks, much much kool!
Congrats. You have learned something we all have been doing for the past 15 years.
Also changing guitar and bass EQ drastically changes the snare sound and how it lays in the mix. These things can drive you crazy
Snare wires help 😂and a new snare tune up now and then.🎉hey Glenn what's happening 😂
The cool thing about realising you're wrong is that you don't have to be wrong anymore.
This is exactly what I've always done. I hate the sound of a hard sounding snare sent to a reverb, it just doesn't work. You need that thicc sample, often from a cheesy old drum machine, maybe even combined with an analog synth white noise snare patch. It's the secret sauce. Glad to see you're into it too. That's not sample replacement, it's basically reverb at the end of the day.
I like that you will do these videos where you're excited about a new technique. I do the same thing, whenever I learn something new I tell my regular clients "Dude, I've unlocked the key to everything!!" haha. Awesome video, thanks! And don't for get to fuck yourself.
I love my snare drum (it was a gift from my dad), 42 strands, Aquarian Hi Energy head, Rockstar Maple Tama snare drum, it's awesome. I also own a Superstar Birch snare drum with my Superstar kit, it's okay, but I really miss my stainless steel Tama Rockstar DX snare drum my brother stole to buy drugs. I like how my snare drum sounds, I don't need to EQ it in my opinion.
"It's not really difficult to get snare like this" *proceeds to play really sh*tty snare sound* :D
Glenn I'm gonna need you to do a whole video of Prog band names
I mean, the original snare in the opening example sounds better than the "improved" one, but I guess that's largely taste
I cant think of one Metal Album where I was distracted a Shifty Sounding Snare.
It’s nice to see you doing an educational demo again. All the rants get a bit tiresome, like too much reverb/compression on that snare. They’re funny sometimes, but your educational stuff is always top notch. Thank you!
Cannon snare = eargasm
Thank you! Sounds great.
Oh yeah.... incredible, thanks Glen.
This is gold Glenn, thank you very fucking much!!!!!!
It gives your snare a 3D sound, like I do live with "fake stereo" live with a mono board and stereo effects pedals. I send my guitar pedals stereo sides to an amp sim pedal with aux out to house, the other side goes to my amp and only the amp has verb and delay in the effects loop. So same thing here with snare send your dry slight right, your verb overhead slightly left, you'll give it real depth.
Glen are you still doing the live submit your mix reviews ?
My guy giving hella sauce 🔥