Music Production - How To Get A Great Snare Sound on Your Recordings

In this episode I will show you how to get a great snare sound on your recordings. I discuss tuning, snare length, how to dampen overtones, rimshot verses center hits and how to mic the snare for the best sound.
Records To Check Out That I Produced and Recorded:
Jump Little Children itunes.apple.c...
Crowfield - Goodbye, Goodnight So Long Midwestern itunes.apple.c...
Needtobreathe - The Reckoning itunes.apple.c...
If you are interested in purchasing The Beato Book please with me at [e-mail]
KZbin - / rickbeato
Facebook - / rickbeatoproduction
Instagram - / rickbeato1
Twitter - @rickbeato
www.nuryl.com
www.rickbeato.com

[@krusher74]

Lars Ulrich has left the chat.

[@JC-sj2pd]

😂

[@Sundaydrumday]

🤣🤣🤣😍🤣💀💀💀💀💀

[@spaceburger80]

/werenotworthy 🤜🤛

[@benevolentsun]

First step to get a good sound for recording 1. Step: buy a Ludwig Supraphonic. You're done.

[@mariaulfah2813]

Step 2, (optional) make samples from led zep moby dick.

[@norskov]

def. a "must bring to session" kind of snare! this video applies to any snare, FYI

[@briansnead4787]

How to get a good sound for your kit... Take out a loan or sell your first child...

[@thesuccessfulbarber]

Acrolite is a fatter sound

[@SD9Driver]

LM400 or LM402 is also decent choice. He is right about the throw-off, I upgraded the p-85 to the p-86 millennium .

[@johnpatitucci7919]

I really enjoy how you focused on the mechanics side of the recording and the drums rather than the mixing side. It shows that it has more to do with the instrument than the way it's mixed. Something I'm trying to convey to my band mates. In music, you can't polish a turd.

[@anth0rama]

So I dig out my Shinedown CD, look at the back, " *produced by Rick Beato", cool! Thanks for the great vids!!

[@RickBeato]

Cool! Most people think I play the piano and teach theory. Haha! I always have people writing to me saying I had no idea you were a producer :)

[@xydex99]

Rick Beato to be honest your set up and equipment should speak for itself

[@renaissongsmann8889]

You don't have to listen to too many until it shows up ... "I did this for so-and-so on their record" ... but some people I guess don't pay much attention? It's actually the one thing that made me interested in the first place. I've produced one record ... wish I could do it as "work" ;-)

[@ryanhingorani4019]

"It's got a lot of Bonham end" 11:11

[@joeyhanneman7177]

Bottom

[@sebwarren7918]

LOL! Rigby Otto is the closed caption translation of your name. Gold.

[@PirahnaheadDetroit]

Seb Warren Music hilarious

[@michaeljuliano8839]

Hitting consistent rim shots is all in the positioning of the snare. The snare should be set so that a well-practiced stroke (like a full Moeller Stroke) always lands as a rim shot. This takes the guess work out of the rim shot allowing the drummer to effortlessly play rim shots (I've been drumming for 18 years). Unfortunately, it's too late to develop this once the drummer is in the studio, but it might be something worth mentioning if the drummer is hitting inconsistent rim shots and doesn't have a fragile ego (yeah, right).

[@betteroffdead79]

If rim shots are inconsistent in the studio, better to try to convince the drummer to avoid rimshot at all in my opinion. Very delicate matter, highlighting drummer deficiencies during recording can be a session destroyer thing...

[@highvibee]

There’s two kind of drummers, those who hit the drums and those who play the drums. ;)

[@victorpradella]

Oh man, you produced Needtobreathe's The Reckoning. I Love this record. Amazing Job, Congrats!

[@WesHampson]

3:27 "Anybody that grew up listening to Led Zeppelin is a rimshotter" Called me out 👀

[@queenpurple8433]

I thought the supraphonic was the most recorded... and I swear I heard that from you on another video Rick. But maybe I’m crazy

[@hurricanus]

A Black Beauty is technically a version of a Supraphonic.

[@queenpurple8433]

@@hurricanus ooohhhhh

[@johnpatitucci7919]

"Faster songs need shorter snare lengths".... I wish you were Metallica's sound tech for St. Anger... lol.

[@waltonbrown]

Thanks, great info, especially tuning the snare wire to the tempo of the song.

[@matturner6890]

Don't be afraid to throw it intentionally out of tune, too! That can also work depending on the song. It seems to makes it pop through more as opposed to blending in with the rest of the mix, but again it really depends on t he song. Tends to work better with a short decay too I've noticed.

[@theopinson3851]

You can also modulate the pitch of a rimshot depending on where you hit (and how thick that portion of the stick is)...doesn’t always have to be dead center. One of my prouder moments in my old band was I switched from a lower (center) rimshot to a higher one for different sections of the song based on the harmony of different sections. I don’t know if anyone ever noticed but it sounded a lot better to me.

[@russwilson2305]

You can go to a dollar store and but holiday window stickies. You can cut the 4 leaf clover, hearts, or whatevs, into rectangle, if ya want. Works just like a Moon gel, for a fraction of the cost. A pack costs a buck, obviously!

[@jamessaldana2022]

Great Vid...Sir you seem to be one of the only Pro's on KZbin , who are actually teaching us relevant information on production techniques in an organized and concise manner, without any name dropping or BS. Thank you for sharing...

[@RickBeato]

+James Saldana thanks James!

[@nathanricker1]

The most badass name he could drop would be his own sooooo....there’s really no point in that

[@drbassface]

The Beatle’s “HELP!” seems to be the most obvious example of a Beatle’s Snare tuned to the tonic “A”. Very cool.

[@remix2112]

Great content on this channel! Drummers with limited budgets: placing a full sheet of regular printer paper on your snare head will also work if you literally have nothing to dampen your snare. Just lay it right in the middle. Add another sheet or 2 if you want more dampening. Again, this is the cheapest, last resort method, but it works.

[@dizzolve]

7:10 very nice. My preferred sound. I'm a rimshotter

[@antonytsakiris9109]

why the album of aerospace does never came out; That was very good track. Is something that i can do to listen or buy the whole song that you played as an example;

[@JC-sj2pd]

I thought the lm402 supraphonic was the most recorded snare?

[@migzhaleco]

How did he get the Eb pitch? I honestly don't hear the Eb. I hear dominating frequenices such as F, D and a little bit of C at the tail of the sound. Is it just me? I'm not questioning ears at all but I just don't hear an Eb.

[@Channel5Nouzz]

I really like your videos, your personnality and authenticity. You will help a lot of musicians in the process. Thank you!

[@user-oz6vy5ch8o]

I like to hit my snare with a fly swatter .. ... try it,, you'll like it .. it goes :" flawp" FwwwwaP ... Fwadollop .. ,, not sure what genre... maybe jazz.

[@guitarz99]

get a good sounding snare, 90 percent of the way there

[@noblej05]

I've always liked your videos... Then you go and say Ludwig throw offs are no good... Now I love your videos. THEY ARE GARBAGE. Ludwig can make a drum.. Hardware they cannot...

[@texxred3657]

I wish this was out many moons ago. Over 30 years to figure out a lot of this. But not some of the finer details. Great knowledge and communication.

[@carlostorres1171]

5:40 Rick suddenly remembers women exist lolol 😉 😉 😉

[@Jaasau]

Why didn’t the Airspace album not come out? Those guys sounded awesome.

[@craigusselman546]

If your Lars a large pasta pot is ideal. Ps im not a drummer but I could amuse myself for hours with just that snare sounds so good.

[@cresk]

I know it’s thee years old, but it’s still very relevant and useful. Thanks Rick.

[@cop70s]

A rimshot is a stick technique used to produce an accent. It is not a style of drumming. Ringo Starr used more rimshots than John Bonham. Dave Grohl used a lot of flams, but never rimshots. They are more popular in funk and r&b nowadays, but can be heard pretty extensively in classic 60's pop and surf rock.

[@StraightNoChaser86]

The bit about rimshots is not quite correct.

[@THEQueeferSutherland]

Center hitting > Rimshotting Everyone can fight me.

[@FerretPercussion]

If you can only do one of the two, you're wrong.

[@dragnfli520]

That was probably the most comprehensive snare overview! Learned a lot, thx!

[@jamesbarron601]

felt furniture feet can achieve the same effect as Moon Gel and costs pennies comparatively. Great video!

[@Dolphins-ov5oe]

That “Slam” song was pretty cool. Anyone got any info on it ?

[@bennyh4950]

@dolphins13718: Fins up my brutha!!! Tua is here and a Superbowl WIN within 3 years. Bank on it!!!

[@Alpha_7227]

Could you make a clip of how they get that snare sound on a song by Amy Winehouse called "Moody's mood for love", it has like a ska or dub sound which is so distinctive and reminiscent of that genre.

[@mixingdude]

I would add two things to this great lesson: 99.8% of the time, you want to flip polarity on the bottom snare mic. Also, the SDC mic should be cardioid and have a -10 pad. You don't want to use omni SDC's for snare.

[@TimSuliman]

Bill Bruford was the king of the rimshot. This was very informative, thanks!

[@aaronocelot]

ah hah! bottom miking too. I had tried both separately but not together. Thank you!

[@1001STONED]

Show how to recording drums with 2 mic in different ways

[@shamicentertainment1262]

Im a self taught drummer and only just learned what a rimshot actually is. I didn't know people hit the rim and the center at the same time. I'm watching dave grohl play drums now and it's quite noticeable now. I always thought a rimshot was hitting outside of the center near the edge of the rim

[@solo2r]

Black Beauty's are brass. I like the 6 1/2" Superphonic Chrome Steel snare sound

[@Nephilim-81]

Amazing Mr. B. You are a great teacher. ✌️

[@catvssnake6639]

Very helpful thank you! I'm a songwriter adding snare hits into my acoustic songs and I had a friend (drummer) come tune my snare for me, but I wasn't sure if the higher frequency "ring" on my snare that I can now hear meant i had stray frequencies, but now i realize that ring is supposed to be there. Some dampening should do the trick for me.

[@mattholland7954]

I had no idea anthony bourdain played drums

[@SacramentoBeerShow]

lol i was just thinking when i get old i hope i still have all my hair, it's grey, and i embrace the sideburn

[@martywhite1084]

Matt Holland He doesn't. He's a producer and a brilliant guitarist..

[@martywhite1084]

Club Soda Yep. In the old days, back on the prairie after the war, the Civil War, my grandfather used to listen to the latest Sinatra album. He couldn’t wait for him to come to town. Now he’s waiting for Dave Mustaine’s solo album. It’s embarrassing.

[@FLORIDAERO]

Hell yea. We grew up on Zep Sabbath and Priest.

[@EightiesTV]

Anthony Bourdain plays a harp now.

[@JFi96]

I don't necessarily believe one would need a specific kind of snare drum or need to hit rimshots to sound more like a rock band. Rick Beato ! You have seriously got me thinking about this, I'm recording a rock album and my band and I certainly don't intend on sounding like an indie band... in fact the thought kind of grosses me out! We use lots of distortion, guitar solos, heavy vocals, and lots of differentiated drumming.. and when I asked the drummer about rimshots, this was the first he had ever heard of non-rimshots to sound 'indie'. Is it seriously necessary? I don't want to sound like an indie band, we want to make quality produced rock music. I'm just so confused by this rim-shot thing :(

[@michaelkeene5950]

There's a guy on Reverb that 3D prints the 57/SDC pair clips and sells them for like $12 as I recall? It's nice and firm, but has just enough give, to fit several different SDC's I have that are different diameters. It fits my 451's, my Slate ML-2, my Lewitt LTC-140 Air's which are thicker and my Blue Hummingbirds which are a little thicker even still. He also happened to live about 4 miles from me (I live in L.A. So it's not a shocker), but I had him print me some SM57 90 degree angle converters. I think I paid $15 for each of them. I have Audix D2's, D4's and D6's that I really like on toms as well as some other of the usual suspects and cool choices, but when I really want to get some extra transient out of the toms, for instance if I'm recording something that will be heavy on the room mics and we're using coated tom heads, 57's are an often overlooked, but excellent choice for toms. The only downfall being their size (though they're still smaller than 421's and in my humble opinion I think they sound better on toms. The 90 degree angle converters make them easier to place on virtually anything. Both are a good investment. He makes a clip for XY miking of overheads with SDC's as well as a clip for the angle used in the ORTF technique which I can't say I've ever bothered trying. XY with SDC's and a wide spread pair of LDC's get's me plenty of stereo spread, He also makes better clips for 421's. Because the stock 421 clips are kinda the worst. He makes a few others for various miking techniques, but the 57/sdc clip and the 57 90 degree converters have come to be indispensable for me. His Reverb store is called "Soundcast Studios".

[@moonkef]

Watching for he second time Rick great sounds! A lot of tips you give that I already do myself in my studio, the Wow effect on guitars, the attention to detail regarding snare de tuning and tuning it to the song etc nice to know I'm doing some things right! The track by Essex has a little bit of Kings X ''Fool You'' vibe to it.

[@joshuasy10]

Bro this is actually really helpful and informative thanks man

[@SOLDbyYOU]

I…can’t…NOT…” rim shot”…. Over 40 years of playing… my left hand automatically “ finds” the rim shot placement… and it continues to dial it in…. It’s in my hands ..and out of my control… unless I spend a LOT of my three brain cells to …NOT

[@vksolanki]

Rick. One of today's most bad-ass singer songwriters, Patty Larkin, has fallen with severe spinal issues. As she recovers, hopefully fully, would you be willing to show how to get her guitar sound? "Might as well Dance" would be a great one IMHO.

[@JanPrze]

Man, I love Shinedown. It's great to hear you produced them. Love from Poland!

[@Dadagagarod]

Where can I listen to YYT album of Airspace ???

[@geraldcook8799]

No one has ever given me the time to correctly find tone on the drums. If I were to experiment with all of these snare factors I would go on for @ 3 days. I will by choice and consideration of the time, choose a mike and placement for the sound that I wish to hear!

[@TomiSimatupang]

Hmmm... This is the one part of this video I take with a grain of salt.. A lot of '60s - '70s inspired classic snare sounds would require the wire decay to be very short no matter what tempo the tune is in.

[@markshina3511]

The snare on “lover you shoulda come over” Buckley is superb. The snare on roundabout Yes has way too much ring

[@r.a.8590]

Lots of great bands in the examples that never released the albums. So sad!! Same thing happened to my band in 2017. Thanks for the great content Rick!

[@voxextremos22]

In other words if you want a good studio sound this is how you should do it. If you are a hard hitter or a touring drummer it might be wiser to use 2 play heads. I use a 3 play snare head and 2.5 play heads for my toms. Matt Halpern and Josh Eppard use Evans Heavyweight heads and thier drums sound amazing. There is no ply head that is the best though. Im sorry I don’t agree that 1 ply heads should be used for every drummer even in the studio. If a drummer is using thier own kit they should use their heads and tune them the way they prefer them with advice from the engineer. Fat snares sound muddy and flat to me.

[@christiancanalita6487]

Thank you! Great video....really helping with my schooling at Berklee.

[@jjcrews5667]

Kinda tells you how effective Berklee is! :) I went to Berklee....then went back to playing /recording for a living!

[@mickbrown815]

As drummer, do you usually record the band live to record the drums or do you have them record to a click track? Just wondering I have recorded both ways but didn’t know if you had a preference.

[@Meteotrance]

I suppose im an anoying drummer, cause i love play dynamic with ghost note and alternate with center hitting and rim shot when i hit harder but it's something i manage very well, especialy with funk, jazz and afro cuban music im not so rock oriented drummer.

[@stubkar]

Who is that band's biggest influence? {Just kidding, we all know} Side note: Same singer in first few bands?

[@WilliamMcCarthyIII]

What song was that by Crowfield? Sounded really good and I can't seem to find it online!

[@Sundaydrumday]

Man I couldn't figure out for the life why my snare side head detunes so much until I saw this video, Honestly I didn't think I hit that hard but I do get consistently placed rim dents in my sticks so I suppose I'm a rim-shotter lol...who would've thunk it

[@moondrums]

Love the snare on Shinedown track. Also I saw Junp little Children here in charlotte in 97. They were very popular here,. SLAM..great dums! wow.

[@richboshart1201]

Rick seems to dismiss drummers like me, who are primarily center hitters who use rimshots for emphasis or tonal variety, usually during fills or perhaps during choruses. It’s not an all the time or none of the time thing.

[@Harrysound]

Really enjoying your channel boss

[@arjunapartha]

Before you mentioned Matt Johnson..I was thinking “wow Rick, you really have a serious Jeff Buckley-type of drum sound there...” then you let us know why. 🤓You really captured his sound. PS- Airspace tracks dripping with awesome!

[@RecordProducerRob]

Of the recordings that you played which ones had the drums recorded in the live room you shot this video in? What is the ceiling height of the live room you are speaking to us in?

[@lifeisntagodardfilm]

The Jump Little Children sounded like a Pearl Jam Cover of St. Anger

[@robertdinicola9225]

Had a drummer in our band for almost 17 years. At the end of the night, it looked like a family of beavers lived behind his set!

[@Meteotrance]

Instead of ludwig theres a lot of brass and copper clone of the black beauty, check gretch or the tama iron bell for example or some sonor for wooden one Canopus do also a great job.

[@davidcarrizales3189]

John Bonham was not a rimshot drummer but he was one of the best deceiving & playing behind the pocket' drummers out there. Again, Ludwig 402 Supraphonic in my opinion is the best bang for your buck when it comes to overall sounding quality snare drums!

[@serdiezv]

There are some cheaper alternatives, with the Gretsch Steve Ferrone signature you'll get an amazing sound for less than $500 and really similar to a Supraphonic

[@TheFabioOrchedella]

You can see in live footage that Bonzo is rim shotting like 90% of his snare hits

[@Camcodrummer]

And then the lazy engineer puts a sample over your snare sound! Which seems to be the " new " way of doing it.

[@Joesfosterdogs]

your musical depth and breath continues to impress! was enough just playing the larry carlton solo off the steely dan video, but you are all over the map kinda good!

[@RickBeato]

Thanks!!

[@Joesfosterdogs]

hey rick...guys in my drum forum are really getting turned onto your drum production studio mic'ing stuff...i think you tapping this internet group will really send your numbers high...and thats a good thing...after watching your video on music schools and how HONEST you were...i was sold! plus your fathering is outstanding...that is most impressive your family...people want success like this...we need cats over 50 to the lead the way...you can have success and a strong family as well...inspiring!

[@brownhooque]

3:52 "Rim jobs are good because they're powerful"

[@jonnyMcSee]

That fundamental is around Ab, the prominent overtone is Eb

[@ArchambaultMark]

Thanks for turning me on to Crowfield. I like his voice. It reminds me of Burton Cummings and he is my favorite vocalist.

[@TylerRajeski]

Funny u mentioned dave grohl and josh freeze in the same video. Fast forward to today and freeze is drumming for the foo fighters

[@g_and_kikos_studio]

Rick I know this is an older video but if you see this do you have any tips on frequencies to cut or boost to eliminate a high pitched ringing on the snare

[@offshoretomorrow3346]

Confusing rim shots and rim clicks (cross sticking) there, Rick.

[@stubkar]

3:51 You're right, Rick.... .... Rimjobs _ARE_ good.... 😉

[@Mrmarkgriffin]

I dig all your videos, but the one’s you’ve done on drums (how to get a phat bass sound, this one) have been really interesting as a drummer. Love you work!

[@pisyunok]

Rick.) Please, tell what is song by Slam at 8:05? Neeeeeed to know.)

[@JoseMTamez]

Man, I love those snare drum sounds. Your right about the Ludwig BB snare, been around since the seventies.

[@TempoDrift1480]

You wanna really make your snare drums rock? Run a coated ambassador, coated diplomat or a genera dry on the bottom... You think I'm joking but it'll change your life.

[@RickBeato]

I have used coated heads on the bottom in the past. I had a Joe Montineri snare that was steam bent ash and I had a coated ambassador on the bottom and it did rock. I don't know why I got rid of it :(

[@randolphpatterson5061]

Ouch. For me, it was a blackface Tremolux head and cab, for$100 each.

[@electricladyguitarsdevonuk1414]

So, how did Gus Dudgeon get that really deep snare sound on Nigel Olsson's kit?

[@toneartsound]

Love it :) - Really amazing how the emphasis is on the drum tuning, sound of the drum and then mic placement rather than what microphone to use, compared to 95% percent of what is found on the net!!

[@andreybenassi1]

Thank you for making videos... Your channel is one of my favorites right now! By the way, waiting for the day you will make a CLA Drums Mixing Technique!

[@sweliam1]

Andrey Benassi CLA has a tut on AudioLegends.com, and an excerpt on Slate Digital's YT-channel where he mixes a snare.

[@mikeslay3294]

Great video, as a retired live engineer I appreciate your insight. I learned stuff and felt vindicated at the same time.

[@CassStevens]

with the subtitles on your name is 'Rigby Otto'. lol

[@PaulKretz]

Very-very nice material, just would like to listen to the examples in full quality (stereo studio recording, not roomy cam mic sound from monitors). I understand it's time-consuming (I do it myself), but it would be so much better! Looking forward to new series!

[@RickBeato]

Most of them are available on iTunes. I'll put links in the description

[@PaulKretz]

Major label records are rarely removed from YT nowadays (at least the number of them I dealt with). They just get monetized by the rights' owners and you can further have'em in your videos. So give it a try, it would be very interesting to hear you big works!

[@RickBeato]

+MrPbICb I put links to a few albums in the description. I have had 2 videos pulled off KZbin for using the recordings in my videos. They were both on wea which is what Needtobreathe and Shinedown are on.

[@lorduthor]

Any way to listen to that "Airspace" song?

[@Gluttonforpeace]

Keep going, Rick! All of your videos are so dope.

[@joerico9461]

U2 songs has both C or R shots but don't really listen to them

[@johndoba1627]

Still elusive is that staccato rifle-shot snare sound heard on much classic pop and rock...Nigel Ollson on "Rocket Man" is a prime example. Don Henley approximates this too: a very-staccato, truncated rifle-shot hit with little or no trash-can-lid after-ring... A mighty snap-hit sound, with almost zero after-ring...

[@AndrewBeveridge461]

"We're in this Together Now" by Nine Inch Nails is a great example of how tuning the snare to a pitch can be a focal point of the song.

[@t0wers_marcus]

I checked that out, great recommendation, thanks!

[@troy_branson_music1785]

How would I find that song by slam?