Behind The Mixer

Learn Church Audio Artistry | Church Sound

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I created a frog.  It wasn’t intentional.  Naturally, I’m not talking about a real frog but just look at that photo!  You’ll never read a mixing book that says, “make the snare’s EQ curve look like a frog in water.”  If you do, immediately stop reading the book.  Seriously, when it comes to snare mixing, the last place you want to be is behind the mixer.

There are three factors in creating a good snare drum sound:

1. The snare drum.

Snare drums don’t all sound the same just like all acoustic guitars sound different.  Even with a house drum kit, a drummer might bring their own snare because they like it’s sound.

Know that each snare has a unique sound.  This is the baseline sound for the mix.  Use the same mic and the same EQ settings with two different snares and you’ll get two different results.

Consider these three different snares:

  • PDP Blackout Maple Snare
  • PDP LTD Classic Wood Hoop Snare
  • Pearl Chad Smith Signature Snare

By looking at them, you can almost hear the tonal differences.

Material composite, drum size, drum head skin, all of these are factors. Even tuning makes a difference. Snares can be tuned to match whatever the drum tuner decides is to their liking. To generalize, there can be a low or high tuning (true for any drum).

Stand near the drum kit while the drummer plays the snare. This is the sound you’ll be mixing with – not against. Don’t try making it sound like something it’s not.

2. The microphone.

A microphone should be paired with an instrument and so it is with miking the snare. The Shure SM57 pairs great with a snare drum because of its polar pattern and frequency response. I polled some techs and their pairings include the Telefunken M80, Heil PR 22, Heil PR 28, dpa 4099, and the Granelli Audio Labs G5790, a modified Shure SM57 designed for tight spots.

And don’t think mic designs are the same:

Photo’s are nice but let’s get real – we need to look at specifics. They can have different polar patterns, different sensitivity, and they don’t have to all be dynamic mics. For example, the Heil PR28 is a dynamic mic while the dpa 4099 is a condenser. While all of these characteristics do make a big difference in how a mic treats sound, frequency response is a major factor never to be overlooked.

The frequency response of a microphone alters the tonal characteristics of the snare drum. Take just one snare drum from above, like the Pearl Chad Smith Signature Snare and mic it with three different mikes. The result is three different sounds. And we haven’t even touched the EQ portion.

For comparison, here are the frequency response charts for the Shure SM57, Heil PR28, and the dpa 4099 (Note the charts with multiple lines are showing the differing frequency responses when not on-axis with the sound source):

Shure SM57

Shure SM57

Heil PR28

Heil PR28

dpa 4099

dpa 4099

Note snares can be miked both on the top and bottom.  Here are a few combinations folks sent me this week;

  • Ben Salzmann: Beta57 on top, SM81 on bottom.
  • Daniel East: Audix i5’s both top and bottom.
  • Micah Webner: Audix i5 top, SM57 bottom.
  • Deron Yevoli: MD421 on top,  Heil PR31BW bottom
  • Jamie Ivey: Heil PR22 on top, Sennheiser e904 on bottom.

3. The EQ work.

I told you this is the last place you needed to be and now you know why. EQ’ing can only happen after we listen to the natural tone of the snare and consider the mic(s) we are pairing with it. Here’s an example; take a snare tuned high and pair it with a mic that has a large high-end boost. Want to cut the highs in the mix? It’s not going to be easy as you’re mixing AGAINST what is being sent, not mixing WITH it.

At this point, you can be as simple or as creative as you want. How do you want to mix a dual-miked snare? How do you want the snare to sound for the song? It’s not a matter of “how do I use the equipment,” it’s a matter of “what would sound right and how do I get there?” By having the right snare and microphone combination, you’ve got the hard part out of the way. (I know this isn’t always within your control)

I like a single-miked snare. That’s not to say I won’t fall in love with a dual mic setup next weekend. A single mic setup is a good place to start. By establishing a good single-mic sound, moving into two mics, you already know how to get a good sound from one. Make sense?

The Sum of the Parts
The guidelines listed below are a STARTING POINT in mixing the snare. All of the sounds of the drum kit (and the whole band for that matter) have to be considered. The right sound for the snare for a particular song might be really flat on its own. I cover this idea further in the article, Why You Should Create a Bad Sounding Instrument

Here are a few mixing ideas based on my experience.

High-pass filter

A mic like the SM57 has the low-end rolled off. I will roll off a bit more if I notice a positive impact on the sound. I’m not going to roll off more just to then flatten the snare sound. If you’re running an analog board, hit the HPF switch and listen for a difference.

It is good to remove low-end frequencies from all microphones that aren’t focused on a low-end instrument. For instance, it’s good to use an HPF on vocal mics. In the case of snare and cymbal mics, they aren’t focused on low-end kit pieces so they are another good place for using a high pass filter.

Gating

I’ve tried gating my snares but have never been happy with the results – at least for a general snare sound. I’ve gated the snare for a song to get a specific sound but for all-around mixing, I tend to skip it. If you’ve found a great way to using gating on general mixing then drop in a comment below and let me know what you did.

Out with the bad

I’ll sweep my mid-range with a 6 dB cut and find the area of offending frequencies. It’s that area you drop and suddenly you think, “now THAT sounds much better.” In the case of the frog EQ I mentioned in the beginning, I didn’t find that spot and rather found a huge boost is what was needed. Some day’s, it’s like that.

Sculpt to fit what you hear in your head.

At this point, you should have a sound in your head that you want the snare to match. It’s that internal reference sound. You know what sounds good, you just need to make it a reality. Is there too much snap? Not enough? Is it perfect the way it is? (this is where that snare/mic pairing pays off) Or does it still need some work?

And here’s where I have to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t tell you exactly what to boost or cut and where to do it. It all depends on YOUR snare and YOUR mic and YOUR room and YOUR drummer and…eh, you get the point. I will give you a few places to start.

  • Snap and presence: 3 kHz to 12 kHz. The higher you go, the less presence and more snap.
  • Body: sub-500 Hz if you need to give it some substance.

The Take Away

Know the tone of the instrument, pair it with the right microphone, and then step behind the mixer. Only then can a good snare mix be created.
Question: What mic do you have on the snare?

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Comments

  1. The source is where I always begin, this being said, if, the drum itself sounds bad, there will be no “fixing” it, in fact, attempting this route is, IMHO, contradictory to good recording technique. Replace the snare. On the current snare which we are recording, we have a 57 on top, and an original, Sennheiser E609, not the 609 Silver, this microphone is all black and sounds nothing like it’s Silver sister, which I find to be a little “harsh,” and “fizzy.” The E609 Black if, you will, can be difficult to find as Sennheiser stopped making the microphone and released the 609 Silver, supposedly to reach a lower price point (Bad Move). We own a pair. If you can find one, buy it. The 609 Black is a fantastic microphone. Great on electric guitar, snare, and toms. The 609 Silver? We own one. I like it on sax but, guitar or, snare? No!

    Reply

    • Sometimes the reason for mics to sound different is they were dropped hard and it changes frequency response – NEVER for the better. If you have the opportunity to compare your silver E609 to another Silver, you “might” find they sound different and the other silver may be more like the black. Or, it may be the difference between black & silver that you are hearing. A test will tell, however, make sure the silver you are comparing to is in good shape or you may have a third different mic sound! I recommend everyone test compare the same model mics if they have more than one, at least once a year. I found it VERY surprising what can happen to mics when they are dropped – even on a carpeted floor, especially condenser mics, which should never be dropped. I have the equipment to make differential tests or to sweep for frequency, distortion with level, etc, but just a voice test and compare or put both on an instrument like a snare on two different channels and compare one against the other is usually good enough. I often find resonant peaks and shifts in response and level due to what I call “normal use”, which includes occasionally being dropped.

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  2. I’m typically prone to choose the ol’ 57 for my snares. I single-mic them, but part of that is that I run a volunteer team and I like to keep the drums simple (except I double-mic the kick). I’ve used other mics and like them, but for the sound that lives in my head a 57 gets me the closest. Really enjoyed the article, thank you for impressing the subjective aspect of audio!

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  3. I’m the sound tech at my church for about 5 yrs. now and I’m having trouble with the EQ’s of my pastor. Is there any way you can either show me the graph or let me know the basic frequencies and gains of a pastor? I understand that every voice is different but, if I can get a foundation to work off of then maybe it’ll sound better than it does. Also, how does the de-esser work? My pastor has a lot of trouble with his S’s. I don’t know about the technical aspect of everything yet; therefore, I’m just playing the guessing game. Anything helps, thank you.

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  4. I use an expander on the snare, all drums for that matter, sounds less abrupt on the open close, nice smooth in and out. I’ve seen this done with DBX XL266 and I do it on the M7CL and it works well. You don’t get as much Isolation from other drums but that’s not the entire point, and if it is, then it’s better than not gating.

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      • Each drum varies, i have slopes from 2.5-4:1 all my attacks are pretty fast (0-3) and releases are all over the place, faster on snare and kick, slower on toms. At the end of the day do what sounds good! Hopefully, this gets you started.

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  5. I personally am a huge fan of the sum of the parts. There is a certain sound I want out of the snare and I will let other instruments emphasize other frequencies in the spectrum (i.e. kicks, Toms and even cymbals). If I can hear that something is wrong but just can’t isolate it with the EQ I too like the boost method, but usually do that before the rest of the band is playing, so I can get away with it. For the snare, I like to use an expander rather than a gate as I find that the gate even with a fast release and slow attack time really messes with reality when the drummer actually uses some dynamics and starts playing softly. My last comment is that even using the same kit every weekend with the same mic in the same position, I still check the snare every week, because every drummer is different in how they play the kit. Some play quite forcefully, some play with a lot of precise, crisp, but controlled snap, and some play with a lot of finesse but because they are often hitting the heads more gently, I need to add more highs to the instrument to recapture the attack/snap of the drum.

    Reply

    • Trent,
      I always teach the sum-of-the-parts but since you’re the second person mentioning it, I’ve updated the article with a break-out box on the Sum of the Parts. I also added a bit more on removing low-end from non-low-end mics.
      I totally agree with checking the sound when only the drummer changes. Another piece we’ve seen with brutally humid days is how that humidity affects the sound of the drums. Our sanctuary isn’t kept at a constant temp due to the large size. Every once in a while, that makes a difference. Once the first practice has started on Saturday, I’ll wait a while before working on the drums, if they sound noticeably different. By waiting, the temp /humidity change in the room will usually bring them back to life with only minor adjustments required.

      Reply

  6. 2-mic setup. On a piccolo snare, I’ve been adding a dynamic, cardioid AKG 224E to the bottom. It has a dual element diaphragm that is both very flat, and condenser-like in its fast response. The snare drum has a very short snare sound that the top mic (owned by the drummer, and I forgot make and model) just doesn’t get much of it at all. I get plenty of “the meat”, but no sizzle.

    Since the bottom mic is in such close proximity to the kick beater, I gate the bottom mic only. I’m using a digital console that doesn’t allow one channel to key open a gate on another, so I use a special cable to tap the top mic signal, and I route that to an external gate key input. the gate signal path is wired through the bottom mic channel insert as usual. Now the bottom mic is only open when the snare is struck.

    Since I don’t need any more fundamental added, I run the bottom channel hi-pass filter to at least 800Hz. This allows me to add snare snap to the sound as needed. And I still reverse the polarity.

    Because the sound of the drum is so short, I use an aux mix to feed a reverb set to a slightly delayed, somewhat short, but dense reverb to fatten up the sound a bit. I mix the reverb separately from the snare mics because I don’t always find it necessary to put very much or any snare in the system because it’s many times loud enough without any or very little help, but I can still add some snare verb to taste as needed.

    The gate key input is unbalanced, so I wire the cable thusly: top channel insert plug is shield to sleeve, and (+) to both tip AND ring of a 1/4″ TRS plug. This allows you to tap off, or “wye” the signal so it still passes through its channel normally. The other end is a 1/4″ TS plug wired shield to sleeve, and (+) to tip as usual.

    You may find this approach a bit unusual, but it does provide me with options. Needless to say, I don’t care much for piccolo snares in contemporary music, but instead of complaining, (who listens anyway) you do the best with what you get.

    As the article mentions, there are so many ways a snare drum, or any drum can sound. One night, the drummer broke the top head of the snare, and his spare head ended up with his son. I took a quick trip home, grabbed my very old Roger Dynasonic Snare, and replaced his piccolo. What a difference. It sounded so much better that I almost want to bring it to gigs.

    Reply

    • Michael, great stuff in your comments. I should have included more info on the dual mic set-up and polarity switching. Cool idea on the delayed reverb, I’ll have to try that next time.

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  7. Chris, thanks for the laugh. My wife thinks I’m goofy, but that was a given. For some reason she doesn’t get EQ humor, Monty Python slides past her too though.

    We aren’t big enough to go too high up the price ladder, so we ended up going with the kit from Audix for the drum kit. The D5 started under the snare, but the spring rattling was killing the mix. I’m still trying to get the drummer into in-ears, so the wedge turns into a built in effect. Putting it on the top head, gave me the general sound I was looking for, a Dave Matthews snare from “Ants Marching”. I can get the attack from the stick, but I’m losing the body. I can add another mic but I think I would just end up back in springland.

    On a side note, the best thing I have been able to do is flip the overheads over and set them up on the crash and the ride cymbals. All I was getting before was a muddled mess with the mashup of sound behind the shield.

    Thanks again for the newsletter and all of the work that goes into it.

    Reply

    • Tom, now I have to listen to some good ol’ DMD! A problem I’ve seen with overheads is they aren’t placed on long enough booms. When in a full enclosure, I can’t get them “high and away” (what is this, baseball?).
      Drums and wedges, oh, I hear you there.
      Drummer: “just put the wedge right in front of me.”
      Me: “Do you mean in front of the kick, pointing up at all of the mics?”
      Drummer: “oh, ummmm.”

      John mentioned some good tips below. There are so many options we have with mics and placement and audio sculpting equipment. When I teach techs in-person, I convey the idea that there are typical EQ ranges that benefit a sound but don’t be afraid to try something different. That’s how I made the frog!

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  8. High-pass filter
    …

    Don’t forget, it is the sum of the mixed channels that matters, using a high pass filter on the snare can help to reduce the low frequency clutter from the other drums, (kick, and floor tom) an other bass instruments (bass guitar and the lower end of a keyboard ) with a low frequency component.

    To do this, get the drummer to hit just the snare with no other instruments being played and listen to the snare, switch the high pass on and off to determine what the high pass actually does to the snare sound .|Now get the band to play , listen to the snare’s pfl on your cans, switch the high pass on and off. This time, first of all pay attention to what you can hear when the snare is not being hit, does the snare mike pick up low frequency clutter from the other drums, (kick, and floor tom) an other bass instruments (bass guitar and the lower end of a keyboard ) with a low frequency component and then listen to the sound of the snare its self. Whether to use the high pass or not is a balancing trick, does the use of the high pass detract from the snares sound significantly or does it remove unnecessary bass clutter. Use this setting that has the most useful result through and keep the rubbish out and only attenuate it in the closed state to just accomplish this on your cans, switch the high pass on and of f to determin what it does to let the snare through and keep the rubbish out and only attenuate it in the closed state to just accomplish this.

    Gating
    …

    Again don’t forget, it is the sum of the mixed channels that matters, so using a gate on the snare can help to remove clutter like busy, rattling snares can help, even if you don’t completely close it and only reduce the signal by 6 dB or so. Listen to the snare on your cans, adjust the gate attack, hold and release to let the snare through and keep the rubbish out and only attenuate it in the closed state to just accomplish this

    Out with the bad
    …

    I prefer to sweep the mid range with a boosted signal(+12 dB) ,I find it much easier to find the worst nasty bit this way and then cut this frequency .I determine the amount of cut by reducing the level of this frequency until the it is obvious that it is too low, then I increase the level of this frequency until the level of this frequency is obviously too high and then I split the difference. If you have multiple swept eq’s ,repeat the process with each of these .You may find you have to re let the levels of the previous eq’s iteratively to get the best results. give it a go I find if you get rid of the nasty nits your left with the good stuff.

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    • I’ve tried both the boosting sweep and the cutting sweep. While the boosting sweep does work, it can throw off the musicians when they hear it in their monitors. I’ve had numerous techs echo the same sentiment. I said “can” because it depends on what is feeding into their monitors and how it’s configured.

      Thanks for the note on the overall low end and the sum of the parts. I should have included it – hard to focus on one aspect of mixing without going down several rabbit trails to really cover EVERY aspect. That’s definitely part of knocking out the unnecessary low-end and part of my process. That’s always a concern when mixing and why I encourage new techs to start with a mix template that includes engaging the HPF on all vocals as a place to start.

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  9. Great article and I can agree on most things.

    Lately, I tend to use a Beta57 on top and a SM57 on Bottom. On another Tour I “had to use” a Sennheiser e604 (since it was the only mic left that was available to me) on snare bottom (SM57 on top) and was quite surprised what I could make out of this combination. It really depends on the person mixing, the type of snare and the style of music.

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    • Luke…the style of music…now there’s a topic for consideration. This is one of those areas where it’s best when we can work with the drummer and we have access to the equipment we need. All of the work, from snare choice to EQ, begins with the end-sound in mind.

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