Snare Drum and Acoustics of My Room

[jaguar36023]

I received some new Puresound snare wires in the mail today. They are Puresound custom 20 strand wires. I have a Pork Pie Big Black brass snare. They definitely made it sound better, and I am happy with my purchase. I have my snare sounding great in my opinion. I have an Evans HD dry batter head on top of an Evan's Hazy 300 snare side with one piece of moongel at the bottom of the batter head. I have the snares tight and the heads tight as well. The drum has a quick LOUD crack with a slight ring at the end.... perfect.

But anyway, I have always had a problem with snare buzz with snares. I had a drum set for almost a year now and have always had the problem. My first snare was a Gretsch Catalina ash 14 x 5 and it buzzed the same as the Pork Pie. Each drum I hit on my set causes the snares to buzz and occasionally the tv in my room will cause the snare to buzz - not incredibly loud or abnoxiously, but the wires buzz. Now mind you, I really do not mind the buzz. It's a SNARE DRUM they are supposed to buzz and it is natural. Also, most of the buzz gets drowned out when playing the entire kit. But I still think it's odd that everything in my room causes the my snares to buzz. I installed the new 20 strand Puresound custom wires, and now the buzz is almost worse. So I'm like ?.

An idea that occurred to me recently is: could it be the acoustics of my room? Doesn't it seem odd that the tv and every drum on my kit makes my snare buzz? Again, the buzz really doesn't bother me, but I am still curious to see what the deal is? What do you think of my idea that it's the acoustics of my room?

[jordison515]

What's the dimensions of your room? If you're playing in a relatively small room, it'll buzz, no matter what. I always tune my toms a little higher than normal, so that gives it more snare buzz, but if you downtuned your toms a bit lower than usual (just a tad) it really does help against buzz. You could stick a playing card in between your snares, although that would give it all crack and no ring, which from what I read wouldn't be perfect for you, and it's not perfect for me either... but it's worth a shot.

[jaguar36023]

thanks for the tips Jordison. The room is small but not incredibly small. I'd say the dimensions are around 12 x 12 feet.

[Kazaamski]

Snare buzz is a fact of drumming. It can be minimized, but it's easier to just accept and love the buzz in the long run. My tv makes my snares buzz too. 5 snare drums buzzing can get quite loud if the tv is sending out the right frequency.

[jaguar36023]

Here's my room. You can see too that my drums are set up directly in the corner. I'm wondering if that has something to do with it too.

UPDATE: tried the playing card... successfully removed all buzz but at the expense of the snare! lol... the wires were non existent leaving the snare sounding like a tom

[jaguar36023]

Nice Zaamski! lol 5 snares! It's good to hear that though from another drummer, cause it seems like people only have buzz problems with one tom.

"accept the buzz"!!!!

[Pearl MCX Man]

My room is about your size and my snare does not buzz that much. If it did I woud tune up the hi tom a 1/8 higher and see if that helps or tighten the snare wires a little bit more. Good luck.

[yohin]

I agree with Kazaamski, you should just "accept the buzz".

My snares start buzzing if I yell at the right frequency.

[Screwy]

The only way to eliminate the snare buzzing 100% is to have your drums in a vacuum. Then unfortunately you wouldn't hear them either as there would be no air to carry the sound waves.

[jaguar36023]

Haha ya your right Screwy and Yohin. Like I said, I have definitely accepted the buzz and I kind of dig the sound honestly, but it's my curiosity that got the best of me. Usually when people mention snare buzz, it is only the high tom. So I thought I was the only one in the world whos snare buzzed slightly when every drum was hit and sometimes when the tv reaches certain frequencies! Lol, but now I now I'm not alone

[Titus]

How do you like the PP BOB snare? I LOVE mine. It's got a TON of pop, and the rimshots are just awesome I think.

I will play around with it tonight and see about the buzz. I remember years ago it bothered me... but lately I can't recall really hearing it.? I can tell you this, I have a small strip of duct tape on the wires right next to the rim of the snare which I think holds them in place a little more so there is less vibration. I still get a good snarey pop though.

[dropdtune]

Use the throwoff and then not hear snare buzz at all in the room during TV, if ya like. But its sounds like you like to hear the snares. If you tune up a small notch may rid it as well. The tom influence on snare buzz can be eliminated by hanging a dishtowel off the snare (down the side adn below of course) between the interfering tom and snare. Works for recording, but of course live or jamming with others just about everything will buzz the snare, and it all sounds good in the wash anyway.

[livewire80]

are all your snares tuned the same? its all about the tuning me think be it high or low. have you tried tightening the four lugs around the snare wires a touch more?

[jaguar36023]

How do you like the PP BOB snare? I LOVE mine. It's got a TON of pop, and the rimshots are just awesome I think.

It really does have an incredible pop man! I have it tuned to where it's a quick loud POP with a little ring at the end... it sounds awesome

are all your snares tuned the same? its all about the tuning me think be it high or low. have you tried tightening the four lugs around the snare wires a touch more?

Yeah I have tried that Live... no dice

[Kazaamski]

What are the tensions on your snare drums? I recently re-tensioned all my snare drums to 3 full turns on top, 2.5 turns on the bottom. It really cut down on the sympathetic buzz. Just something to think about.

[jaguar36023]

ya it might be that, but I love the sound of my snare right now so I'm reluctant to change it. I don't remember how many times I fully turned the tension rods. i want to say around 4 for batter and 3.5 for reso.

[Kazaamski]

man, i thought i had my snares cranked.

[jaguar36023]

ya I just took a guess though... I'll have to count next time

[Titus]

I forgot to take a pic of the little bit of duct tape I have on mine last night but I was listening to the snare while playing other toms and there was a slight buzz. but it was really really faint. I remember with my old steel snare (that came with my pearl forums) that the buzz was way worse. I think with my BOB snare I have the wires tuned really tight, I have a little tape on them on one end to minimize looseness even further, and have the heads fairly tight.

the only downside I have to this snare is dynamics... it is soooooo hard to play soft/quietly. but man the rimshots are awesome!

[livewire80]

must be tuning vs acoustics on this, jag. not much more you can do. put a partition round the kit or try moving the positioning of the kit.