Perfecting Your Snare Drum Sound

The following factors should be considered when perfecting the sound of your snare drum.

Head Choice
This is the most obvious factor that comes to mind when people consider the sound of their snare drum. It makes perfect sense that the type of head used (single ply vs. double ply, reinforced vs. unreinforced, etc.) would have a strong impact on the sound of the drum.

Visit the Evans Player Profiles to find the best snare head for you.

Snare Wires
Choice of snare wires is the most often overlooked factor in achieving a certain sound from a snare drum. There are a wide variety of options available; 12 strand through 30 strand, twisted vs. individual strands, brass vs. steel. Here are some general rules to help you in your quest for the perfect set of snare wires:

Tuning
Your choice of tuning will not only affect the overall pitch of the drum but the resonance and timbre as well. Check out Bob Gatzen’s video on tuning your snare drum: Snare Tuning

Muffling
Use of muffling such as the Min-EMAD, E-Rings and other modifiers affects not only the sustain/resonance of the drum but the overtones present in the sound of the drum. The Min-EMAD helps to suppress unwanted overtones while retaining the desired attack and tone. The variable application allows you to fine tune the amount of damping taking place. The E-Rings simply “float” on the surface of the drumhead. The rings round out the sound of the drum by minimizing high-frequency resonance. This, in turn, shortens the sustain of the drum.

Dave Mattacks Discusses Snare Drum Sounds

Ask ten drummers what they’re looking for in a snare drum sound & you’ll likely get ten different answers. The usual descriptions often come up "Fat /Big" etc., but when one digs beneath the surface, especially if one has been doing this for a while,those replies can get very detailed. I think that with few exceptions,"Tone" is relatively high on everyone’s agenda & while we (hopefully) all agree that there’s no substitute for a great touch, having a basic handle on not only the ability to tune a drum well but to understand the effect different heads have is important. It’s worth spending a few minutes reading up on the different characteristics.

For me & the snare drum sound I’m after, it’s usually a 300 Opaque on the bottom & a G1 Coated or Power Center Reverse Dot on top. I’m learning that the drum is the thing that makes the different sound ; occasionally I’ll "Amplify" a snare’s tendencies with an appropriate head - for example an EC2 coated or an ST Dry on an (already)dry-sounding snare, but typically I’ll put on the heads listed above. What’s important here is consistency from head-to-head ; if you have two supposedly identical 14” batter heads that simply aren’t ( like some manufacturers) your reference point gets blurred.

It’s also really important to get decent snare wires. I use Puresound and they have a staggering array from which to chose (dry / wet – wide / narrow) so you can take that snare drum further in the direction it’s already headed. And if you haven’t "Got This" already, be very careful how you actually set the wires up. Too close to one side or the other &/or with only the slightest twist [ on the horizontal plane ] & you’re not making the most of your investment !

Finally, to re-iterate, how you strike it is probably more important than anything - & that doesn’t mean “ how hard you can hit it “ either. Good luck !