Let the drum sing

ordinaryH

Member
For the past year I've been using a Yamaha stage custom birch snare, and I have struggled to get THAT sound that I envision when I hear a great snare: open, warm, articulate, dynamic, and every wonderful quality immaginable from a single snare. In this pursuit I have been tinkering with every variable to achieve auditory harmony: I changed myriad heads from double-ply to fancy single ply's for reducing ring; heavier hoops to dry the sound, moongel, O-rings, and tuning the top and bottom heads in numerous combinations.....yet THAT all-satisfying sound eludes me. I realized after all this tweaking that I can't make any snare sound perfect. I also can't make a birch snare sound like a maple snare, i can't make it sound like a COB snare, I can only make it sound like a great birch snare. Exactly as my drum is meant to be.

In other words, I believe that a snare drum, based on its individual properties (wood/metal, thickness depth) should be tuned to its innate sound and strengths. For the case of my snare, I've tossed aside the heavy hoop, the fancy heads; and put on 1.6mm steel hoops and a coated G1 and let the snare drum sing as it was meant to sing. I love the new sound because it's how a birch drum wants to sound. Ringy, bright, with great a great crack on the accents. It's not hindered by moon gel, o-rings, etc. it is a drum that sounds as it should.
 
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