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“Recording Snare”
Joe: Well, the snare would certainly be the first floor of the house. It’s the thing that most people seem to spot first when they listen to a recording. How it fits into a groove truly depends on the style of the song and the genre of the music. It could be a crucial cornerstone as it is in rock, or a subtle part of the ensemble as it might be in certain types of jazz. Once I ascertain my picture of the song, I then go about choosing a snare sound that is appropriate. My first move would be the actual choice of drum -- wood, metal, deep, piccolo, etc. I then would choose a mic condenser for jazz where the detail is important, and a dynamic for rock where the power and impact is most important.
Joe: The choice of drum is the key, and then the tuning is the next step. I take great care in finding the right character for the song. It might sound a bit “Spinal Tap,” but I find if I just bang the drum lightly with my finger I can get a sense of how it will sound for the song. It’s important to find a sound and pitch for the drum that sits in the right place against the lead vocalist. Sometimes the pitch of the drum can be right in the same spot as the vocal, leaving very little room to [allow both to play] an important role in the song.
Joe: For rock music I like to get clarity of midrange and the body of the snare from my top mic. I like the attack to be fast and audible. I might also use a second top mic that I may compress to add character to the shell tone of the drum. In most cases I use a bottom mic to gain some of the buzz of the snares.
Joe: I like to aim my mics at the center of the drum where the drummer attacks
the skin. For my tastes, this is the most focused and quickest sound. Aiming
towars the rim will get more ring and tone but might lack some punch. For phase
consistency I angle my bottom mic in a similar direction but place it electrically
180 degrees out of phase. Joe: I’ve recorded snares in echo chambers and school hallways, I’ve recorded them in 4x4 dead vocal booths for that Seventies funk sound, and I’ve used compressed and gated shotgun mics six feet high over the snare for a live, aggressive, explosive room tone. One of my favorite drum recording [techniques] was adding a cassette machine under the drum. The built-in compression of the AGC limiter in the recorder made the drum sound hyper-amplified. Every ghost note the drummer played on his snare came through in great detail. Joe: With analog it’s important you don’t hit the tape too hard,
because it folds the natural attack on the drum into the tone. That makes the
snare sound lifeless. With digital, the trick is getting the presence and size
without peaking. Digital distortion on snare transients sounds very nasty. Joe: With jazz I tend to go with fewer mics, and I also won’t use that much processing. I look for an overall natural, well-balanced kit and a lifelike tone for the drums. With pop and rock I tend to use many mics and then many more mics for room ambiance. I mix and match and rebalance, compress and EQ them to fit the particular song. I aim for size and power in the kit.
Joe: There have been many times where artists have gone around in circles looking for that sound, auditioning a dozen different snares for a song. Usually the key is in the tuning and the damping. Lately my favorite trick is to gaffer-tape the sheet music from the session to the snare drum head. It instantly sounds thicker and more focused, like a warm Seventies record. If you’re not using sheet music, a fat wallet comes in handy. From prestige artists like Julieta Venegas and Cafe Tacuba to critical and commercial favorites such as U2 and Beck, producer and engineer Joe Chiccarelli has helped create a wide array of special music during his 25-plus years in the business. We’re honored he’s agreed to share his thoughts on recording low-frequency instruments with us in this
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