Ideas on how to create great power ballad power snares....

Hi Guys,

Having sorted my delayed cross-stick verb am now moving onto a cracking ballad snare hit.

Im not needing as big as say, the end of "The Boxer" :0) but I'm sure you know what I'm thinking of.

Is it just as simple as a gated reverb, 'cos I aint hearing that working here. I'm guessing snare sample selection is as critical as Velocity? Sizzle Kit maybe?

Thrown open to you Gurus.

Cheers

Jedi

First off, follow Papa's advice and tap a good deep source that's rich in low frequencies ... then follow this instruction:

On the source track: Look to boost some freq in/about the 200hz range for meat and look in/about the 1-4k range for snap. Make your sweeps (Q) wide. You'll hear the energy peaks when you find them. Remember, your ears are your best guide. No other changes needed here, but look for clipping on the eq and eliminate it by rolling down the input.

Open an aux bus: In this bus's (that's clumsy) effects area, insert a brick wall limiter, like the Boost thingy. Hammer it hard ... in/around say a 9 setting (source dependent). Eq the aux buss like a HUGE wry grin ... w/ the low end slightly boosted higher than the high end. Place cross point of the low gain (use a hi pass to roll off the deep air/mud under 40k ... but leave a bump -->) circa 100-250 hz (to be adjusted to taste source dependent) ... and cross point of the high (best use a shelf) at about 2-3k (to be adjusted to taste etc ...) ... completely eq out the middle w/ a wide whatchamacallit ... you know ... that thing that's not a hi or lo pass or shelf. Yeah, that one.

Open another aux bus: Insert the transient plug that comes w/ Sonar. Find the preset that says ... something like "Rings on" "Rings Dark" "Rings Bright" ... something to that effect. (pardon the pun). No eq needed here, it's done by the plug.

Make sure that both the aux busses are 100% effect NO DRY.

Insert both above aux busses into your source channel ... making sure that each goes to the same bus out. (i.e. Drums submix/stem) Leave both aux busses at 0.

Leave the source alone. Play w/ the aux feeds (source out) levels in the source channel until you get the sound you want. Remember again: Listen critically, your ears are your best guide.

Good luck!

Kev-

Absolutely correct if one is going for a big Phil Collins snare sound ... but the reference was the POW from "The Boxer" ...

Although as I listen in my head ... that could be interesting.

fx send> fx channel w NICE verb followed by a gate in the fx bin.  simple as that.

and to add to the above... try layering some snares too, for that larger than life sound....and no reason for just one verb either.  gated with another verb on top for a decay tail too.

K dub


Absolutely correct if one is going for a big Phil Collins snare sound ... but the reference was the POW from "The Boxer" ...

Although as I listen in my head ... that could be interesting.

Actually he said,"Im not needing as big as say, the end of "The Boxer"..." (Which, BTW way, was recorded in an elevator shaft)... 

papa2005

K dub


Absolutely correct if one is going for a big Phil Collins snare sound ... but the reference was the POW from "The Boxer" ...

Although as I listen in my head ... that could be interesting.

Actually he said,"Im not needing as big as say, the end of "The Boxer"..." (Which, BTW way, was recorded in an elevator shaft)... 

Why yes, yes he did.
 
 

thanks.

a big snare really comes from the overheads.  High pass the overheads until you are just hearing the snare and the kick (then eq to get the sizzle out of the cymbals), next add another eq with a bell at 100hz and crank it and add light compression - remember you are doing this only in the overhead buss 

Now go to the snare track and add generous amounts of compression (don't make the attack too fast or you will compress the transient of the hit), also crank some of the mids.  Add reverb to the snare, using the wet and dry control to determine how much reverb is needed, create a buss with a compressor on "pump" and send the snare to this buss.  Add some saturation to the track

Next clone the snare track and replace the snare with a single sample (a hard hit, which doesn't change in velocity, I nomally use one from my steven slate samples), this will act as a helper track to keep the volume consistent without smashing the snare with a compressor.  Blend this track to taste