I'd say you need to get yourself a good snare drum. Completely uninspired sounding & lifeless. Now please excuse my blunt response I don't really mean to be this offensive. This is not my idea of a snare drum. Oxford? I never made it through high school and my snare drums sound better. Of course some of us are just plain geniuses and don't need much schoolinginging to get a good snare drum sound. What kind of preamp did you use, microphone? Why just a single microphone? Limiting no gating? Dynamic on top condenser on the bottom? Condenser on top dynamic, bottom? Dynamic top & bottom? Condenser small diaphragm, large diaphragm? Snare drum made in a reputable country or made by slave children?

What it sounds like to me is, Taiwanese low-cost version of the major brand stare drum tuned wrong. Chinese condenser microphone on top. Inexpensive transformer less preamp. Cracked plug-ins.

Have you ever listened to any professional samples? I mean, even old drum machines? Did you want a critique? I think not. Now lower the pitch, loosen the snare, use a SM57, dump the Oxford. You don't need no stinkin' Oxford. Stephen Hawking needs Oxford.

Brain surgery diploma from Mattel
Ms. Remy Ann David

Remi,

No, I didnt upload it to be critiqued. I just wanted to see what this particular snare sounded like with a couple 57's shoved on it (as is, no frills, much in the same way your everyday live sound guy would just stick the mic's there and walk back to the console). I didnt intend on making the worlds best snare sample! I just thought that maybe somewhere, on this big world of ours full of people with different tastes and different needs and different opinions of what sounds good or bad, someone could have a use for it. On many forums I have downloaded peoples home made samples even if I think they sound bad because maybe one day, it might just be the sound im looking for for a particular section in a song.

To answer your completely wrong guess :D , it was recorded with 3 sm57's, one underneath, 2 on top at different distances, going through ISA428 preamp (no gating or limiting) through apogee converters into nuendo, blended to MY taste, then added the sony oxford comp plugin, and no, I dont use cracks, I worked in a music store for nearly ten years and had the prevlidge of buying all my stuff (hardware and software) at very good prices. Fringe benefit of the job I guess. Thanks for your reply.

cheers,

Sammyg

p.s. I dont know the model of the snare as im not a drummer and it doesnt belong to me.

Well then, I sit corrected. But really, surely after working in a music store as long as you have, you've heard some damn fine snare samples. You know yours sounded nothing like professional samples. So I'm not really sure about this lowering of the bar to sounds that really aren't good that might be the sound you are looking for, which isn't good. And so the purpose of producing music with sounds that aren't really good is a good thing? I don't think that's the general consensus here? I might like using cheap equipment to demonstrate the skills of making good sounds. I certainly don't want to produce something of a compromise nature in the hopes that somebody might like it. So while you have obviously demonstrated your recording skills, given good microphones and all that, what's with the sound? I sure hope it's not that Oxford plug-in? But perhaps it is? I don't have the Oxford plug-in, maybe that's why my snare drums sound better. I use 57's also. I don't get snare drums like this. Maybe it's a phasing issue. Did you invert phase on the bottom snare drum microphone? That's how you get some fat. But there should be more snappy snare sound unless you've gated really heavily? And this is all without equalization mind you. I have used limiters with gates plenty of times. You don't want too fast of a release. Stomps the life out of it. So, please accept my sincerest apologies regarding my ridiculous nature. No hostility nor malice meant. I was just a little taken aback by the lack of sonic stimulation. I thought I was going to be wowed? I was. Wow, it's underwhelming!

Now how about some good snare drum sounds? Get to work.
Ms. Remy Ann David

Hey Remy,

no need to apologize at all, its all good. I agree with you on the "lowering of the bar" situation though. Yeah, had to invert the bottom mic. If anything, this thread demonstrates how even with some good gear, you have to work damn hard! I will take up the challenge and try to get a decent snare sound! will be fun!
First i'll have to learn to tune a snare correctly, off to youtube!

speak soon, hopefuly with a better snare sound ok!

cheers,

Sammyg
p.s. I usualy use hardware on snares so this snare sample was also a chance for me to see how the sony comp sounded on it, an all round experiment if you will.

Hey Remy,

is this better? Files are titled tama snare2 and 3 I think. I tuned the snare down, maybe too low? I added an AT4050 on top.

heres the link: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=11c9d78fbac175cbe5c3dee5769931ecc5885da6cdf5c3c5b8eada0a1ae8665a

Now that's what I call snare samples. Those are worthy for anyone to use. So you really do know what you're doing. That's good to hear. Some samples had more of the snare sound than others. I like those better. And your tuning of the drum was much improved. It has some tone with some snap. I like it. And it could be better still. But you are quickly figuring that out. Keep up the good work.

I've been snared
Ms. Remy Ann David

yep, can still be better, that was the 1st time I ever tuned a snare on my own, will practice more for sure. There is another thing I learnt from this excercise, 1) getting a good sound is hard work (mentioned earlier) and 2) Without some sort of "distant mic" be it "close distant" or "very distant" the snares to me sound lifeless. Whats your take on the 2nd?

I just found that the close mic'd 57 on top had thump but not a lot of character or openess, as soon as the at4050 was added it came to life and completed the picture. This is probably why overheads are so important to a good drum sound I guess.

cheers,

Sammyg