Adding decay to a snare drum

Cluster · 11th June 2004

How do you add decay to the snare ? I've been listening to Fiona Apple "When the pawn" produced by Jon Brion and the snare on the first tune (You're all I need) just kills me...any advice?

Jules · 11th June 2004

I find a compression on the undersnare mic (when I can remember to put one up) with an ADR vocal Stressor adds 'length' to the undersnare sound.

A copy / mult of the snare smashed with a compressor..

Also adds length...

tuning?

crypticglobe · 11th June 2004

SPL Transient Designer... do a search. It's like magic for that.

scotty-o · 11th June 2004

SOMETIMES I find a short non-linear reverb tucked in just right under the snare can add percieved decay without sounding reverby. Sometimes

-Scotty

Cluster · 11th June 2004

Yeah, I guess it's time to pick up a SPL...I tried the Sony Transient without luck, will the SPL make my snare happier? Stereo or quartet ? There should be no differences aside from the numbers of channels.

crypticglobe · 11th June 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by Cluster
Yeah, I guess it's time to pick up a SPL...I tried the Sony Transient without luck, will the SPL make my snare happier? Stereo or quartet ? There should be no differences aside from the numbers of channels.

A buddy of mine who has a grammy and a bunch of Dove awards under his belt uses them on snare and all the toms when he can. So... I guess 4 is better if you have the cash.

brownmouse · 11th June 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by crypticglobe
SPL Transient Designer... do a search. It's like magic for that.

yep, that works great in this application.
joshua

Drumsound · 11th June 2004

Don't forget room mics.

not_so_new · 11th June 2004

Quote:

There should be no differences aside from the numbers of channels.

I think I read in another thread here that the 2 channel unit is unbalanced only

for what it is worth.. Not that unbalanced is a bad thing but... you get the idea.

I have never used one so don't take my word on it.

echorec · 11th June 2004

You can actually use something like this .

It works surprisingly well with acoustic drums. Trigger it from the live snare, use the white noise and adjust filter and decay to taste.

sadworld · 12th June 2004

i did a search on the spl and sounds like nothing bad can come, everyone seems to like it.... so it's basically a glorified compressor is that true? kinda like the distressor. could anyone compare the distressor and the spl transient disigner? similar units or totally different? thanks.

juniorhifikit · 12th June 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by sadworld
i did a search on the spl and sounds like nothing bad can come, everyone seems to like it.... so it's basically a glorified compressor is that true? kinda like the distressor. could anyone compare the distressor and the spl transient disigner? similar units or totally different? thanks.

They are vastly different and equally brilliant. The SPL is not threshold based like a gate or compressor. To my ear, non of the plugins work as well as my Transient Designer. Do a search and you'll find lists of uses. I have a 4 channel unit and will probably get another.

sadworld · 12th June 2004

damnit jim, i was afraid you were going to say that... now i must have one! lol...... ps. how do you do that "quote" thing?

Drumsound · 12th June 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by sadworld
damnit jim, i was afraid you were going to say that... now i must have one! lol...... ps. how do you do that "quote" thing?

Bottom right corner of that post you want to quote.

Jules · 12th June 2004

Jeeze I keep forgetting I own a 4 ch SPL ... DOH! I have a drummer in on Teusday and we will take all day to get an ideal sound (single) so ...thanks for reminding me!!!!

Fletcher · 13th June 2004

The Transient Designer is indeed magic... and so is an SSL "LogicFX G383". You run a mult on the snare, send one side through the desk, another one through a Transient Designer [or you can just send the original snare track through the Transient Designer... matter of taste], and another send from the mult into the G383.

Find the "whack" and the "bap" of the drum with the bandwidth pretty tight, open the bandwidth to taste, then crank those two bands to their full +15... now turn up the input gain until the "distortion light " glows red until around the kik hit when it should go green again... if you feel like it, add the transient designer to that as well... either across the channel or as a parallel event.

This can make even the whimpiest snare sound like a monster... though depending on whether or not, or more importantly how you use the Transient Designer it can actually get a bit too big for the track if you're not careful.

Best of luck with it.

chrisso · 13th June 2004

The SPL TD is good, also as far as comps go, the Spectrasonics 610.

Cluster · 13th June 2004

Just setup my Spectrasonics 610 and it's very nice. I think I'll have to get the SPL after all...

sadworld · 13th June 2004

Quote:

Originally posted by chrisso
The SPL TD is good, also as far as comps go, the Spectrasonics 610.

what makes the spectrasonics special? i haven't researched it yet, is it a straight forward compressor?

11th June 2004	#1
Cluster Gear nut Joined: Mar 2004 Location: Brooklyn Posts: 135 Thread Starter	Adding decay to a snare drum How do you add decay to the snare ? I've been listening to Fiona Apple "When the pawn" produced by Jon Brion and the snare on the first tune (You're all I need) just kills me...any advice? __________________ Christian Cassan Producer www.christiancassan.com

11th June 2004	#2
Jules Gearslutz.com admin Joined: Apr 2002 Location: A Yank in London, UK Posts: 17,808 1 Review written	I find a compression on the undersnare mic (when I can remember to put one up) with an ADR vocal Stressor adds 'length' to the undersnare sound. A copy / mult of the snare smashed with a compressor.. Also adds length... tuning? __________________ Jules Add your reviews to the new reviews area! Gearslutz on Facebook Follow my GS picks on Twitter

11th June 2004	#4
scotty-o Gear maniac Joined: Oct 2002 Location: D.C. / MD Posts: 222	SOMETIMES I find a short non-linear reverb tucked in just right under the snare can add percieved decay without sounding reverby. Sometimes -Scotty __________________ "It's just like being in a reverb sandwich" - D.R. "It's those rock and roll hours...... really graves without flowers" - Lowell George "I wish more musicians were more interested in their "performance" than the "technology" that lets them appear to be musicians" - mixman499 "He was playing a Fender Precision with flatwound strings, like God meant for man to do." - Jim Dickinson

13th June 2004	#16
Fletcher member no 666 Joined: Jun 2002 Location: Durham, NC Posts: 10,108	The Transient Designer is indeed magic... and so is an SSL "LogicFX G383". You run a mult on the snare, send one side through the desk, another one through a Transient Designer [or you can just send the original snare track through the Transient Designer... matter of taste], and another send from the mult into the G383. Find the "whack" and the "bap" of the drum with the bandwidth pretty tight, open the bandwidth to taste, then crank those two bands to their full +15... now turn up the input gain until the "distortion light " glows red until around the kik hit when it should go green again... if you feel like it, add the transient designer to that as well... either across the channel or as a parallel event. This can make even the whimpiest snare sound like a monster... though depending on whether or not, or more importantly how you use the Transient Designer it can actually get a bit too big for the track if you're not careful. Best of luck with it. __________________ CN Fletcher Professional Affiliations: R/E/P Professional Recording Engineer and Producer forums - serious hobbyists welcome SoundPure.com mwagener wrote on Sat, 11 September 2004 14:33 We are selling emotions, there are no emotions in a grid Roscoe Ambel once said: Pro-Tools is to audio what fluorescent is to light

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11th June 2004	#3
crypticglobe Lives for gear Joined: Mar 2004 Location: Nashville Posts: 2,522 2 Reviews written	SPL Transient Designer... do a search. It's like magic for that.

11th June 2004	#8
Drumsound Lives for gear Joined: Jun 2002 Location: Bloomington Il Posts: 5,185	Don't forget room mics.

11th June 2004	#10
echorec Lives for gear Joined: May 2003 Location: Europe Posts: 1,256	You can actually use something like this . It works surprisingly well with acoustic drums. Trigger it from the live snare, use the white noise and adjust filter and decay to taste.

12th June 2004	#11
sadworld Gear maniac Joined: May 2004 Location: bay city michigan Posts: 262	i did a search on the spl and sounds like nothing bad can come, everyone seems to like it.... so it's basically a glorified compressor is that true? kinda like the distressor. could anyone compare the distressor and the spl transient disigner? similar units or totally different? thanks.

13th June 2004	#17
chrisso Gear Guru Joined: Oct 2002 Location: Oz Posts: 16,836	The SPL TD is good, also as far as comps go, the Spectrasonics 610.

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