Source
r/psytranceproduction•
captf

Getting started with Snares?

So, there is an utter wealth of information out there regarding the kick and the bassline, but something - as a newbie to electronic production - I'm struggling to find good info on is the snare.

So, I don't care if it's about samples or synth'd. Single sound or multiple layers.
What resources have people found - or can even just anecdotally share - out there?

Because it's just far too easy (it feels) to make it sound like you let Lars Ulrich design your snare...

edit: since this is an attempt at a newbie resource, if you're giving advice, could I request that a little detail about the why and hows are also given?
For example, if advice of 'EQing is key' is given, please explain what should be listened for in the EQing (if possible)

Posted Sep 30, 2019, 2:52 PM UTC · edited

1026
mrfoxinthebox•

I tend to layer my snares transient with subtle white noise

3
GeorgeGulati•

You might find this useful:

https://youtu.be/DAHYiueAOhQ

2
captfOP•

Without clicking, I bet that's the dash glitch video? :)

2
GeorgeGulati•

Yes! Sounds like you already checked it out 👍

1
selectyourlocation•

What are you trying to achieve? Can you post an example?

1
captfOP•

Not really trying to achieve anything yet. This is mainly for a collection of educational resource.

1
warrenXG•

EQ->reverb->transient shaping

1
_psykosen_fra_mosen_•

Transient shaping? Would you mind elaborating it a bit for us newbies? ^^

1
Atsetalam•

It's like a compressor. It controls thw attack, delay, sustain and decay of whatever you put it on.

2
_psykosen_fra_mosen_•

thanks!

1
_psykosen_fra_mosen_•

Word, I can't find any good stuff on snares either. Or at least not much

1
Feschit•

Please show me how you synthesize a lars ulrich snare. I would love to use those in my techno productions.

That aside, I make my snares by layering a sine/triangle with a pitch envelope on it with some kind of noise. The important part is that the noise comes after the transient.

1
Psy_Ren•

the colour and timbre of the snare sample you pick is just as important as all the technical shit everyone here is mentioning. if the snare sounds like shitnin contrast to what u want it there for, all the eq/transient shaping/compressing/reverb/whatever will not help and amounts to trying to make a turd shine like quartz. you will usually not want to use just 1 sample either. layering is your friend. layering is where eq and compression really help a lot. maybe u like the meat of 1 snare but its transient is garbage. maybe u need some filtered white noise to add body. maybe you need to put a small little click in with the snare to give it the same bite it had when it lands on the kick if your arrangement has it going elsewhere. think of the snare like an audio photoshop image. u dont just cut out a picture and leave it there all by itself in photoshop, you make a super detailed collage. think of the snare in this way. make the details designed for your track's timbers specifically.

1
ziqada•

I advise you to watch this :) Don't think there's any better tutorial on basic drum synthesis.

Apart from the stuff mentioned in the video: if you are feeling lazy and don't want to spend hours on a snare, you can tune any snare by layering it with a sine of the frequency you want to fit your kick (you have to fit the ASDR to your taste) and EQing the low end out of the sample you use. If you mix it properly, you replaced the transient with a tuned one :)

1
Cybilopsin•

This is not something you'll hear a lot but a really good trance snare sound can be had simply by making a short burst of gaussian noise with an exponentially decaying envelope

1
Mtat78•

They are overrated.

-1
Ombortron•

Maybe, but it's still a very important facet of music production in psytrance (as well as most genres of modern music...).

2
Mtat78•

Maybe but I don't think so. I don't see how it is more important than a squelch, a breath reverb or whatever. Change my mind.

-3
Ombortron•

Who is arguing that it's "more important" than those other things?

I don't need to change your mind about an argument that nobody is making here except you.

While I do think the snare is one of the more relatively subtle primary elements of psytrance (relatively subtle compared to things like kicks and bass lines etc), it still plays a crucial role. There are plenty of songs I've heard that have benefitted significantly from having just the "right" snare.

OP was just asking about how to make better snares in this genre, and that's a perfectly valid question.

6
captfOP•

I think they're just looking for an argument...

Nothing productive is being given by them. Even an explanation on why it's overrated would have been of some use.

2
Mtat78•

Who is arguing that it's "more important" than those other things?

If you say they are crucial and don't use other rythmical sounds in the same frequency spectrum you are certainly implying snares are more important.

0
kostur95•

I don't see how synths are important for psytrance, I make my own samples by recording two rocks hitting a tree. I DoN't SeE HoW SYnThS aRe ImPoTeNt cHAnGa mY mInD

3
_psykosen_fra_mosen_•

nice with the changa reference

2
captfOP•

There's a huge amount of info on squelches too. And I'm not going to deny that squelches are part of the defining sound of psy.
But there's nowhere near as much on snares. Which is the reason for my post.

1
Psy_Ren•

dont worry. he uses steven crowder's "change my mind" statement. i wouldnt take advice about snares not being important unless it was coming from someone who actually makes badass snare sounds and still thinks that way about them.

1
EternallyWarped•

I'm not a fan of dry, loud snares, but a snare sample can be fiddled with so much that it no longer sounds like a snare. I like soft, gentle snares, not eyeball-cracking snares.

1