pfunkallstar
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« on: May 09, 2008, 09:41 PM » |
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I have a Pork Pie 7x13 maple snare drum. I just put on a new Remo Ambassador and I tuned it to a descent tone, but when I switched on the snare and hit the drum, there was almost no snare sound and sounded like a tom but with vibrating snare in the background. I played with the snares (loosening and tightning) but I still sounds terrible. I really need to get this snare up a going, I have no others and I have to play show soon. HELP!
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Chris Whitten
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« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2008, 10:11 PM » |
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Sounds like a bottom head problem. It's possibly too loose, or very, very tight.
A safe place to start on snare for me is medium to tight on the reso (snareside) and medium on the batter.
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dmhdrums
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« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2008, 12:17 AM » |
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I agree with Chris that it's a snare-side head problem.
And just a tip- if you need an emergency fix for this just take a bit of tape thats longer than your snare wires are wide [electrical tape works best], and literally tape your snare wires to the head. This is a drumline trick that saved one of our snare players when his head popped 15 mins before contest and we couldn't get his head tuned up right.
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jnyman
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« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2008, 02:25 AM » |
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and... if you recently changed out the wires or the bottom head, make sure you've routed the string or plastic strip correctly. It is possible to mount the snare wires wrong and prevent them from proper contact with the head.
Not that I've ever done that, just before a gig... but I saw... umm... I saw a FRIEND do it... yeah, that's the ticket...
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New York Frank
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« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2008, 07:45 AM » |
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and... if you recently changed out the wires or the bottom head, make sure you've routed the string or plastic strip correctly. It is possible to mount the snare wires wrong and prevent them from proper contact with the head.
Not that I've ever done that, just before a gig... but I saw... umm... I saw a FRIEND do it... yeah, that's the ticket...
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The secret to my tone is - always plenty of fresh Fruit Of The Loom underwear on hand
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pfunkallstar
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« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2008, 02:09 PM » |
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I got my snare to sound alot better, but now it has a large overtone. This has never happened to me before  What is causing this large overtone. |
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Chris Whitten
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« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2008, 04:14 PM » |
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It's fairly normal to use something to dampen any unwanted overtones.
But it sounds like you'll save yourself a lot of time if you book a couple of tuning lessons with a local teacher.
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pfunkallstar
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« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2008, 04:40 PM » |
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It's fairly normal to use something to dampen any unwanted overtones.
But it sounds like you'll save yourself a lot of time if you book a couple of tuning lessons with a local teacher.
I don't have the cash to be spending on tuning lessons. lol. I used some moongel. but my snare sounded way to dry. |
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dmhdrums
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« Reply #8 on: May 16, 2008, 08:05 PM » |
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I used some moongel. but my snare sounded way to dry. I used to use MoonGel on my snares all the time...now I only use it if I need that really closed off sound or if I need a little help in the volume department... Funny that the only suggestions that I'm giving you are "use some tape" [maybe I'm a tapeaholic] but you might try some tape on the batter head. I perfer masking tape for this. |
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pfunkallstar
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« Reply #9 on: May 16, 2008, 11:13 PM » |
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I used to use MoonGel on my snares all the time...now I only use it if I need that really closed off sound or if I need a little help in the volume department...
Funny that the only suggestions that I'm giving you are "use some tape" [maybe I'm a tapeaholic] but you might try some tape on the batter head. I perfer masking tape for this.
the main thing is, is that I hate muffleing. lol |
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Bart Elliott
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« Reply #10 on: May 16, 2008, 11:23 PM » |
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I have a 30-minute video lesson entitled The Care & Feeding of Drums in which I discuss and demonstrate some basic Snare drum tuning techniques. I wouldn't say it's thorough (more coming soon), but you might find something useful. Here's another article I've written: Basic Drumset Tuning. |
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pfunkallstar
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« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2008, 03:04 PM » |
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I have a 30-minute video lesson entitled The Care & Feeding of Drums in which I discuss and demonstrate some basic Snare drum tuning techniques. I wouldn't say it's thorough (more coming soon), but you might find something useful. Here's another article I've written: Basic Drumset Tuning. My snare still sounds like crap. I am really really extremely frustrated, I really just felt like throwing the @$%# thing down my stairs. I just bought a emperor coated skin and put it on and it still sounded terrible. I am really pissed off for the time being. Is there any other suggestions out there? ? |
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TamaDrummer
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« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2008, 03:39 PM » |
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YouTube has actually been solving my tuning problems for a little while here now.
Do a search for Bob Gatzen. Cool guy; knows his stuff.
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People won't always remember what you said, and people won't always remember what you did, but they will ALWAYS remember how you made them feel.
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pfunkallstar
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« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2008, 03:53 PM » |
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YouTube has actually been solving my tuning problems for a little while here now.
Do a search for Bob Gatzen. Cool guy; knows his stuff.
Yea. I've done everything in the book. Plz no more video recommendations. I've personally E-Mailed the guy also. Nothing has worked... |
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Chris Whitten
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« Reply #14 on: May 18, 2008, 04:35 PM » |
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Save up for a tuning lesson!!!!!!!!!
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pfunkallstar
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« Reply #15 on: May 18, 2008, 05:13 PM » |
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What about the fact my drum is so deep? There has to be some sort of a technique to tuning deep drums, something different than thinner drums.
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pfunkallstar
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« Reply #16 on: May 18, 2008, 05:52 PM » |
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I have to play a show so I just cranked the batter and resonating head down tight till I got a "forced" crack (Defiantly over tightened them but I'm desperate). This made me wanna just get rid of my pork pie and buy a thinner drummer. Big snares are to much of a hassle. I'm probably just gonna pick up a brass or steel snare, I'm becoming less of a fan for wood snares.
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Mister Acrolite
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« Reply #17 on: May 18, 2008, 06:29 PM » |
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Oh, for heaven's sake - take a freaking lesson with a real live pro drummer. If you can afford a PorkPie snare, and multiple heads for it - you can afford one drum lesson.
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I just found out most of the recordings I'm on were actually played by Bernard Purdie. my drummerworld page |
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pfunkallstar
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« Reply #18 on: May 18, 2008, 06:34 PM » |
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Oh, for heaven's sake - take a freaking lesson with a real live pro drummer. If you can afford a PorkPie snare, and multiple heads for it - you can afford one drum lesson.
Its a export porkpie meaning it was 200 bux. Plus I got the heads on sale for 5 bux a peice. I also was so frantic cause I needed it for a gig which I have tomarrow. |
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Chonson
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« Reply #19 on: May 18, 2008, 10:10 PM » |
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Have someone in the store show you how to do it -- when I worked at a store I did a lot of tuning-crash-courses.
If you're having difficulty it's likely you'll have the same difficulty on another drum. Better to work with what you have and get the basics down.
For the snares... you've probably got the tension on the heads tight to over-cranked. Back the tension off a bit. Now, take your strainer and with the snares ON, back the tension down to about half of the total range. Now physically tighten the snare cord/ribbon/tape in the strainer and butt. Don't crank it so it's already super tight, but make sure they are cleanly engaging the head. If you turn the drum upside down (as if you were going to play it) and the snares sag away from the head, they're too loose. Go back and tighten them.
Now flip the drum back over and tighten the strainer until you get the snare sound you like. Remember, it's as much about the tuning as it is the snare tension, but this method should be a quick and easy way to rule out the snares themselves as the culprit.
Beyond that, just make sure you're using snare side heads on the snare side and you should be home free.
Sorry if any of it seems obvious -- not the intent to annoy. Just want to rule out the obvious problems.
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