Quieter Snare Is There Such A Thing

Witterings

Silver Member
Hi All,
Does anybody know of any snares that are quieter in relative terms to others.

I bought a lovely Tama Artwood 14 x 4 thinking as it was shallow it'd have less volume to use with my practice kit but it's got an unreal crack to it which is almost deafening, absolutely beautiful snare (pic attached) .......... but not great for practices in a small room.
Looking for something just for rehearsals so it doesn't need to be great quality as long as it does the job but the key is lower volume.

In the past I've put towels over snares but they always edge to the side and fall off at the wrong time or get in the way, is there anything else peole use to take the edge off and bring the volume down ???
 

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I have my big maple kit set up in my unfinished basement right now.

I like to practice like I perform so unfortunately the drums sound like crap in this room. It is deafeningly loud and the room is very reflective.

I cut out t-shirts for each drum that are an inch or two smaller than the drum and have them taped on with duct tape in two places so they'll stay put.

Of course, they don't sound good, but it cuts the volume way down and surprisingly the snare doesn't sound terrible.

Give it a try o your snare at least.
 
We all wish that a snare drum would have a volume button like a remote for the TV, but drums just don't work that way. You can make a drum quieter (using mesh heads) but this compromises the "drum sound" greatly. Thus, there is no such thing as a quieter snare drum. The only way to make your drum sound quieter is to train yourself to play softly. By keeping the sticks close to the head when you play you will significantly reduce noise. However this is much more difficult than playing with how you are accustomed to playing at a gig/rehearsal/on a practice pad. The payoff of learning to play quietly will improve your dynamics incredibly, so I recommend it.
 
I would think that a snare with fewer strands would make it some what quiter, since there are fewer snare starnds on it. The only other thing I would think to make the snare quiter, would be work on the snare drum technique. I don't really know what else would be able to make the snare quieter....
 
I have built a modest number of snares and have owned maybe close to 200. I built this cherry/maple hybrid and I can honestly say it is the quietest snare I have ever owned. I will not use it live, but it is awesome for rehearsals when I want to keep the harshness down.
14tond5.jpg


i do not understand the physics 100%, but I think the construction is the factor. It is a stave design with Cherry on the outside and Maple inside. So in essence there is double the glue from using the dual wood construction. And maybe it is not quieter as it is just tonally gentler.

here is a pic showing the sandwich wood construction, final thickness is about 7/16th.

28v63p1.jpg


One more thing you may want to try. Hard reflective inner surface also enhances brightness and volume, you might try coat the inside of the shell with a more porous spray coating, or some cloth duct taped to the inside the shell will be a less permanent muffling solution without sacrifice muting the head, thus changing the playing feel. experiment learn and have fun.
 
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Try blastics or broomsticks....

I tried them, have a pair in my bag and maybe if I used them more I'd get used to it but the feel is very whippy / swishy which I'm not overly keen on.
Think I may try cutting up old t-shirts as suggested or maybe even old towels and then taping them on to see what it does.
Cheers the help everyone !!!!
 
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