How to Re-Amp Snare: Salvage and Mix a Bad Sounding Snare Drum

For more info about the online recording school go to: www.creativesoundlab.tv

[@mixskywalker0078]

Ive been engineering and producing records for over 13 years (aka: making money for services) and this is the 1st snare re-amp i have ever seen. That sounded amazing. Props to you thinking outside the box and coming up with a solid solution rather then pull the sample/trigger card. I hate to use samples myself because your drum sound shapes the character for the entire recording, it's the 1st shot at putting your stamp on it. To all my fellow engineers, stop chasing what your hearing from your mentors but commit and create your own sounds. Think outside the box! Cheers... Good job brother, really impressed with this video..

[@creativesoundlab]

+Mixskywalker Thanks man!

[@beedoovideo]

Hahaha, I think you could make a fortune with Metallica fans and reamp all the snares from St Anger.

[@butt_woman1493]

Metallica could win back a lot of fans if they just disowned st. anger

[@jasonzenobia4459]

beedoovideo hilarious!!!

[@TyCrawford]

I came here just to see if this was the top comment. Thanks for not disappointing

[@andrewt248]

I was skeptical, but, dude, that sounds amazing. Nice work.

[@creativesoundlab]

+andrewt248 Thanks! I was skeptical too when I first tried it.

[@johnmorrison8618]

I do this all the time on acoustic and electronic drum tracks. Love the sound particularly of a fender twin's spring reverb on a snare. If you're feeling adventurous you can run the whole mix through an amp or maybe an old boom box and blend it in parallel to your master. Cool to see there's others using the same technique. Great content - have a great time recording and creating!

[@TheRealSorav]

This really impressed me. I don't usually subscribe to KZbin channels even if I enjoy the videos, but this proved to me that you are a real sound engineer so now I have. Keep it up.

[@hardsap]

the best reamp video i've seen

[@acsguitaradventures4186]

Never thought about this. Very interesting technique!

[@marcomizzoni8323]

From one engineer to another, way to think out side the box. Truly brilliant.

[@creativesoundlab]

+Marco Mizzoni Thanks!

[@DynamicRockers]

Niice! I've heard about this technique a long time ago when samples and triggers did not exist But I never saw it actually. It was about the snare drum in Fine Young Canibals " She drives me crazy". David Z, the engineer, said " I pumped the processed snare and blended through an Auratone speaker set upside down atop another snare drum, which rattled the metal snares and gave the result some ambience and even more high end". That's an awesome idea!

[@thesuccessfulbarber]

This is why I subbed to your channel. You're the real deal!

[@julianwest4030]

Wow! That sounds a lot better than one might expect! I'm really impressed.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks! Much better than the original!

[@joshuadavis8535]

This is amazing! I would have never thought of this. thanks for posting!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks Joshua!

[@foketesz]

This is really, really clever, and brilliantly implemented.

[@Gruhak]

This is probably the best trick i have seen drum wise. Is this your idea or did you pick it up from somewhere? Your videos are grear, very educational, keep going!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks for the complement! While it's not a very common technique, I'm not the first to do it. I had to do a lot of experimentation on how to get the best results, and using a microphone on top is a result of my own experiments.

[@tommibjork]

Hi, nice to see someone else use this technique. I used to get big kick sound using same "speaker reamping" with a 50 litre plastic bucket. Not kidding. It's all about the resonance.

[@florabee9283]

This is saving my life! I’m not being dramatic- the hours of frustration and tweaking to try to salvage the drum session are now going to be cut way down, allowing me to actually live! Ha! My dumb ass recorded a band live and the drummer had the snares off or something whack so the bottom mic just picked up garbage, and we’re all in the same room wearing earplugs so I saw the meter moving on the channel and thought- we good! No! We were not anywhere close to good! Now with this method- I can have a real, proper snare instead of whatever I managed to fake with a stack of plugins and crap. Also room snare without the swishy cymbals from the untreated room and guitar amp bleed! (now scrounging for wood scraps) Thanks!!!!!!! This is life changing, well, for me anyway on this specific project.

[@NOTSERP69]

love your content dude. keep up the hard work!

[@ChristianIce]

Great, fantastic, and also funny to do. As for guitars? Mh, eq matching, that's a life saver.

[@Charlyfromthenuclearcity]

Came here from HoboRec. Excellent channel, subscribed after reading 3 video titles.

[@creativesoundlab]

Ah yes, he did the kick drum reamping right? Great dude and channel.

[@craig7810]

You my friend are a genius. I will certainly be trying this technique. it's given me an idea of Re-amping a kick through a bass amp.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks man, let me know how it turns out!

[@frozencons]

This channel is fantastic.

[@LasseHuhtala]

Very clever technique, i'll be sure to add it to my tool box. Thanks!

[@creativesoundlab]

Lasse Huhtala Thanks!

[@AllenPendleton]

That's one of the coolest things I have seen in a while

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks.

[@LudwigVanKinder]

OMG my mind just blow away, i'd never have thought about doing this O:! it's owsom

[@onemanpiano]

I've been thinking about this for a while and I think you might be able to use an exciter transducer instead of a typical speaker. In this setup you would put the exciter directly in contact with the head. It will control the ring of the head, but you could add a reverb tail if you want more head ring. The other thing with using an exciter is that you can play around with placement on the head whether you put the exciter in the center or more off center where drummers normally hit the snare. You can pick up a Dayton Audio exciter for about $15 bucks at Parts Express or DigiKey. I think the transducing will give you a much more aggressive attack than inducing a buzz through an external speaker. I'm gonna buy some of these real soon. So I'll report back at some point if/when I do this at my studio.

[@2latuile]

I actually learned that trick in the early/mid 80s when working as a tape-op, the resident engineer often used it on rythmbox snares to make them sound a bit more realistic...

[@creativesoundlab]

Very cool to know that trick. I got it from Michael Wagener.

[@Mr_A_Mia]

great advice! thank you for all your videos.

[@ShredShed]

Thats incredible. Killer sound

[@djentlover]

This is just plain genius. Thank you!

[@citizennobody5518]

I really like your lo fi approach its very similar to what I'm doing at the minute - using what you have in a creative way to get a distinctive sound rather than rely too heavily on the standardisation of recording techniques that seems over dominant today.

[@lukesuperflyjones]

YOU GIVE ME HOPE

[@MrBendertheOffender]

I'm just amazed!!!!!! I've had similar issues and had no idea how to fix it... suscribed!!!!!!!

[@creativesoundlab]

MrBendertheOffender I was amazed too when I first tried it! Glad it can help you with your mixing too.

[@gribb5967]

I first read about this in Tape Op about 15 years ago or so, and have been using it on and of ever since. In my case I was just looking for more of the "snare" sounds since the drum had plenty of pop but no rattle. I just took a Yamaha floor monitor that was laying around and plopped it right on top and then mic'd up the bottom .I was so excited that it worked I darn near peed myself. I like tour tweaks and will have to give it a shot. Finally a use for that old Crate 12" speaker.....

[@theComaCalling]

Dude, seriously, this is brilliant!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks man!

[@jeffmclowry]

Pretty creative dude! Thanks for sharing.

[@YeeVeeX]

Man... you are a genius. Great video!

[@fourthlayer]

This is nothing short of brilliant!!!

[@eminence55]

Loved your vid! Brilliant idea with excellent results

[@creativesoundlab]

Chad Parker Right on. Thanks!

[@thesensoryman3997]

wouldn't have guessed this one - very impressive, and creative

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks man!

[@bydre]

This is insane. Great tip to know! Thanks for sharing

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@gian5902]

I was blown away with this! great videos, I use ableton for recording too. Greetings from Chile!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@highfidelity71]

Hey man...Thank you for your tutorials man...Seriously...They are really great man..

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks man!

[@Davicokeiro]

Really cool, man! Great idea! Congrats!

[@creativesoundlab]

Davicokeiro Thanks. Let me know how it works out for you.

[@void870]

It's nice seeing this trick in other parts of the industry. I learned this when I was still in school at CRAS.

[@creativesoundlab]

Nice, yeah not the first one to do this, but I added my own twist.

[@void870]

I had a teacher say, "If it sounds good from where you're standing, put a mic there." There's no right or wrong way to do it, if it sounds great.

[@Stefan-]

Contrasting The Void Great advice from your teacher !! In my experience recording and mixing is mainly about listening, i mean really using your ears. People can tell you to do this and that, use this compressor and set your EQ like this and its going to sound great, but if you dont use your ears to tweak it for yourself it will probably sound like crap. Great video BTW !!

[@PaulyStax]

pretty significant improvement! Awesome.

[@mikoajdobber2425]

It sounds awesome :) Great video

[@sejuyz]

I´m a fan of your work!

[@coreyreynolds3585]

Wow! Did not expect that to work at all. Great trick as an alternative to triggering.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks for the kind words and let me know how the technique works for you!

[@cmd_f5]

that sounds beefy and natural after your reamp sesh. Don't usually hear about this but the few times I've seen it done it's impressiv

[@jcamargo04]

You took a very shitty sounding snare drum and turn it into a pretty decent one. Interesting technique, very impressive.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@legacyg6]

Once again you have shown me something that I needed to see! I just did a session the other day and there was some major hi hat bleed on the snare track (I blame it on poor drumming technique, but that's a different discussion altogether). I will be giving this a try! I'm so glad I stumbled across your channel and can't wait for more content! :)

[@creativesoundlab]

+Manofmanytallets Yes, a little. You can adjust for this and the amount will be depending on your system. If your unsure, you can always play a hi hat track through the snare reamp rig, and see how much of a scoot back it'll take to make it right.

[@tmmphono]

6 years ago I attended to a masterclass with Roy Cicala (Record Plant) where he taught us this technique. In that moment I thought "is this really happening?" :) Unfortunately he passed away a couple years ago. Btw, you're providing one of the best content on the internet. Seriously, congrats.

[@valentinfaline3397]

Creative Sound Lab hello could you please tell us how do you wire that speaker is it going directly through a di box via your daw or is it much more complicated than that. Btw your show is awesome. Thanks for sharing precious knowledge.

[@SamBassal]

Great video mang, seriously creative.

[@creativesoundlab]

SamBassalDrums Thanks!

[@HandsUpDK]

Subscribed. Very interesting ideas, and awesome results.

[@creativesoundlab]

YoYo .Kidz Thank you!

[@marshallcornbread413]

thanks for posting this man !

[@jasonzenobia4459]

Really, really nice, brother. :) thank you! Excellent videos :)

[@TheLeon1032]

holy shit bud, world class!! great results!!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@VSPhotfries]

That was the cleverest damn thing I ever saw. Good one, man!

[@creativesoundlab]

Wow thanks man!

[@keith_hudson]

TheRev I agree. I thought it was brilliant.

[@johannestuovinen9208]

Very nice! You can also use small active speaker like Avantone mixcube or genelec 8081 if you are out of guitar speaker. Those monitors are heavy enough to stay on the top and center of the snare without anything to hold them to stay in place.

[@projectz975]

this is the wildest thing ive seen all week. true mad-science going on here

[@bartnettle]

You are passionate about post production mixing and I really like your style! Excellent!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thank you, and I'm glad my passion is appreciated. I'm going to start Season Two of these videos very soon.

[@bartnettle]

No worries. I love this stuff too. Good on you for doing it. Your space looks good, your got a pro approach and I am sure it will be successful. All the best with it! .

[@erichzann3414]

Man, you are the best. Thank you.

[@creativesoundlab]

+Erich Zann Thanks!

[@handssmelloh9173]

This is amazing!

[@RobertWilliams-bp9ge]

Very cool! I wish I knew this trick. Had a session that the snare was totally trash. Went and Re recorded the drums. Although it was worth it. I would’ve tried this first. Thank you!

[@alvagoldbook2]

This is freaking genius!

[@DamienWalshcomposer]

Creat video, the final drum sound is excellent.

[@ryanlachurrerra4044]

This is an awesome idea. I'm going to give it a try. It's got my mind turning over some ideas about an arduino controlled motor drum whacker(prob won't work) To accomplish something like this. Great video though

[@thirdfloorstudio180]

Wow!! That's awesome! Thank you so much! :D

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@DeadKoby]

Interesting concept. I wonder if a transducer could work in place of a speaker if it did touch the drum in a spot.

[@CodyCoates]

Well done man!!!

[@punk_rock]

Is it safe to connect 4 Ohm speaker to mic input? Microphone (like SM57) have 600 Ohm load, while speaker only 4; so is there any impendance problems like short-circuit of mic input? Thank you.

[@Scrapyy]

this is pure genius

[@jahvogs5241]

Very good tutorial!!!!!!!

[@michaelhurwitz56]

Brilliant! Nice Job!

[@creativesoundlab]

thanks!

[@miked5487]

What a cool idea. Sounds way bigger now. I wonder if I could do this with toms as well. Question, what room mic are you using?

[@joelonsdale]

Hi Ryan. Great video. I've got good results playing the snare track out of a guitar amp combo on it's back with the snare drum batter down on the amp case. Your way is better though as the snare isn't meant to be played upside down! What speaker and amplifier are you using?

[@creativesoundlab]

I think it was a speaker from an old organ, and the amp was a QSC amp. Really you can use anything that will get the drum moving.

[@joekugelblitz4144]

That´s a cool idea :) ... Thanks for sharing.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@sergiovene1848]

Merci realy cool trigger methode for SD.Thanks from Antibes France.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@chinmeysway]

way cool. but how do you amp the speaker, and what is the room mic, and how is it stereo, if it’s just one mic. thanks!

[@paullennox2404]

bravo mate, bravo! That's commitment; the before compared to after is laughable. Have just sessioned about 15 of your vids straight!

[@frankierockson]

Brilliant! Thanks!!

[@TLAudioMixingMastering]

My only two questions are.. Did you re wire the cone with longer wires to keep it attached to the guitar amp? And What ReAmp box did you use?

[@xavkoston16]

I don't have enough inputs to add a snare bottom mic while recording for my band, this could be a very good trick to add punch attack and precision to my snare after recording ! But what kind of speaker do we have to use for this ?

[@denizdurdag]

This is gold.

[@Shadoworker]

Holy shit! Thank you!

[@JeremyDavisDeathHouse]

I love your videos man. I really love the fact that you use ableton as well. Are you going to namm?

[@creativesoundlab]

Would love to.

[@paolodigiovanni9839]

This is a really cool technique :) By the way, which console are you using for mixing?

[@wade123davis]

Great video btw You say you using an old speaker with an amplifier ? Are you keeping your settings on the amplifier at unity gain ? Another question is are you going from your Daw out to the speaker and recording through microphones and back into your daw ?

[@jeroenfigee]

And one step further would be to use this system when your track has a drummachine. What would happen if the drummachine triggers a live kit, a live snaredrum andvthe room. That one is on my list. Really cool video and loved the results. Kinda 4 times better then the toinky snare.

[@levimatulis6955]

Incredible.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@famitory]

would this work for taking a beefy snare and making it sharp and ringy, for a third wave ska piccolo snare kind of sound? it seems like the lesser amount of initial high frequencies and sharp transient might make it harder to get a good sharp sound.

[@creativesoundlab]

This technique works better for going the other way...a snare that has no body and poor snare fullness from the bottom and giving it more. It would be hard to add more ring.

[@sgperson101]

Incredible technique man! Can wait to give this a try, any idea how this works on toms?

[@creativesoundlab]

Hmmm, not sure. It might.

[@JUNKO____]

Brilliant.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@jazzsax8Vlad]

great idea. thanx

[@creativesoundlab]

+Vladimir Sergeev Sure thing!

[@josefrancisco6969]

Great video.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks man!

[@frankfeud]

amazing!

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks!

[@remora1]

HI! do you use a reamp box on here?

[@TheDintheSpace]

Your videos are great! I hope you get more views soon, it surprises me you don't

[@creativesoundlab]

TheDintheSpace Thanks for the kind words. Feel free to share them around and post them. I average one video a week released on Tuesdays.

[@askyles91]

THANK YOU FOR THIS~

[@creativesoundlab]

Alex Skyles Sure!

[@gordontubbs]

Your little intro "song" reminds me of the intro to the TV show Longmire. I like it.

[@creativesoundlab]

Thanks, I kinda went nuts with the vocal effects. The bands credits are at the end of the video.

[@gordontubbs]

Oh, lol, I meant the song at 1:56.

[@creativesoundlab]

gordontubbs yeah, I could see how it resembles that. No guitar on mine though, it's just a piano that I strummed with a sustain pedal holding a d minor chord I think.

[@talleric4523]

So i just found your channel an boy am i happy. Im stuck trying to figure how to make an acoustic Electronic drum kit hybrid. Id love to run the idea by you an hopefully you can point ne in the right direction.

[@creativesoundlab]

There's a really cool video on contact mics by the KZbin channel HoboRec you should check out. He does a electronic drum kit with it about half way through the video.