drumming secrets

Hello Juan,

Maybe a bit unusual, but this is a question from a bass player....I hope that's ok!

Our drummer uses a metall shell snare drum that he got with his drum kit when he bought it. (I have to be honest with you, I have no idea what brand the kit is!)

The sound of that snare is awefull; it produces a very long sustain, and a disturbing frequency that hurts the ears. Besides that it is also very loud and penetrating. In fact the whole band complains about this, but we don't seem to be able to find a solution for it....

Have you got any ideas to reduce the sustain and solve these problems? We have noticed that it happens in our rehearsal room and not so much on stage. Our room has a tile floor, but up against the walls we have put up curtains and carpet. The other instruments don't produce these nasty sounds at all and haven't got no problems with too long sustains!

Thanks for hearing us, and maybe you can help us out!

John Calves (SF, Ca)

Hi John, 

I think it's great to have a question from a fellow musician who works together with drummers! In that way we can learn from feedback that comes from outside drummers' territories... I think it's very interesting what our colleague musicians come up with! 

Your discription of what borders you about the sound of the snare is very acurate; if the whole band complains about it, it must be very bad! 

Reading the information that you give to me about your rehearsal room, I get the impression there are many factors that lead to the sound problem of your drummer's snare drum; a room that reflects certain annoying frequences (mid and high freq.) and a snare that probably isn't tuned right! You also write that the snare produces a long sustain.... Most possible fact that I can think of, is that the room reflects certain nasty frequencies more than others and therefor you get the impression that the snare is the main problem here.... The room reflects those frequences and then the snare picks it up and so the longer 'sustain' is being produced....almost like 'feedback' in a PA system 

Well, I have no trick for you guys, I am sorry, but I do have a tip for you. First make sure that you have the snare tuned at it's best; probably a bit higher pitch will help to make it more solid! Have a look at "All about Drumkits" on this site and learn how to tune a snare drum. 

Then about your room; it will help if you could give me more information about it, by sending me some measures and sizes of the room (length, width and highth) and make some pictures of the matrial you are using to 'dampen' the room. From there I could give you better advice, and more precise anwers, ok? 

Good luck and come back with more detailed info please. 

Kind regards, 

Juan