Cowbell Snare Trick

[affinitysound]

ive heard of a trick to sharpen up your snares and give them a hard "snap" sound by layering a cowbell over the snare. ive tried it mixing it with eq's but i just cant get that effect. if anyone knows a little more detail about this help me out. thanks

[wavez]

cowbell and snare? lol

layer ur snare with rim

[goldphinga]

well you may laugh but this is one of the techniques that Bob Power uses and his mixes are amazing. He talks about it and many other techniques on one of the red bull music academy lectures which you can find on this here interpipe .......

[rickrock305]

Originally Posted by wavez

cowbell and snare? lol

layer ur snare with rim

LOL right back at you, its an old and pretty common trick.

[GL Respect Due]

Affinity:

Don't sweat the cowbell technique B. Powers mentioned. Tribes drums don't hit the way they do because he layered the attack of a cowbell with the snare. Some factors that do contribute to they're sound are: SSL 4000E/G EQ, SSL 4000E/G compressor, SP1200, Lexicon PCM60/AMS RMX reverb, 2" tape, Break selection - and how the signal was captured to begin with. Good luck.

[wavez]

damn, guess i have to try it myself. If i think about it, then its like, now way that its gonna work

[kennyd03]

Originally Posted by adamatic

The key with that technique is subtlety, put the cowbell or clav really low in the mix, it just barely has to be there to work. You can also try adding stuff like a 808 ht to add more body to a papery snare.

I've put in claps real low under a snare drum to help the attack.

I find myself layering kick drums more than any other percussion sound - usually one for the attack and one for the meat.

-Kenny D

[Dog_Chao_Chao]

Hum, i just had a tracking session last week where I was looking to get a peculiar snare sound to use for R&B drums. So i tried out this trick but instead of a cowbell I used a little splash cymbal..it worked, not sure what your´re looking for though.

I think the key here is trying out everything you can think of until you get very near. Then you start thinking about EQ/COMP etc. I´m sorry but a SSL wont do much for you if the source is too far from what you´re looking for. Maybe the cowbell/snare trick just won´t work for you, or with your snare and cowbell, or with your room, or with your music style...So what? Try something else.

You could also try the old trick of sticking a snare upside down into a loudspeaker and then send the sound of the tracked snare through the speaker so it triggers your snare. Then MIC to flavour.

[cynic one]

songs always need more cowbell...

[GL Respect Due]

Dog Chao Chao:

I'm assuming the SSL comment was directed at me. My reply was based around my knowledge of the projects that made Bob Powers famous, (Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory LP, Roots - Illadelph halflife LP). See, i'm hip to what break beats they choped on those LP's, what samplers they used, what desk, what outboard, etc. I felt compelled to let 'Affinitysounds' know that the cowbell trick is more or less worthless in getting him any closer to that magic snare drum. Thiers so many other more important factors involved, one of which is not layering cowbell attack.