Snare quieting idea. Any input?

[NikoSeven]

I've been using a thin pillow case over my snare held down with a bike inner tube tied to form a Big "rubber band". You know to hold it in place.
Works good but I am wondering what you think if I loosen hold down ring on the batter head and then tighten it down again with the material included?
I just don't want to damage my snare before I try it.
What do you think?
Thanks!

[SPSLICK]

How about a mesh head?

[NikoSeven]

Would cost me money that I don't have...

[SunDog]

I think you should stop. Get a pad to play on or something, but stop doing that to your drum. Why is there so much aversion to volume when it comes to drums? I can sort of understand it from other people, but from drummers!? Come on!. It's like that joke. A woman befriends a rattlesnake, then one day the rattler bites her. "Why?" she asks, horrified "I thought we were friends!". To which the rattler responds "*****, you knew I was a snake when you met me". So my question to you is, what did you think playing drums would be like?

[NikoSeven]

I think you should stop. Get a pad to play on or something, but stop doing that to your drum. Why is there so much aversion to volume when it comes to drums? I can sort of understand it from other people, but from drummers!? Come on!. It's like that joke. A woman befriends a rattlesnake, then one day the rattler bites her. "Why?" she asks, horrified "I thought we were friends!". To which the rattler responds "*****, you knew I was a snake when you met me". So my question to you is, what did you think playing drums would be like?

Sheesh... What a tirade... thanks anyway...

[SunDog]

Sheesh... What a tirade... thanks anyway...

Sorry for being a jerk, I still think the snake joke is hilarious, and I did give you good advice in there. Get a pad. Pad = quiet, Drum = loud. Don't strap table cloths and or inner tubes (did I really read that?) to your snare. Good luck.

[Pearl MCX Man]

Like I mentioned before I think your Pearl snare sounds great the way you have it set up so why change. As for SunDog there was no reason for him to have answered the way he did and he should of left out the snake story.

[MDK]

I would think if you put anything between the rim and the head it may damage the rim, especially if it is a thin 1.6mm. There is some thin felt that 60 and 70's drummers used to put between the head and the shell on their bass drums but that cost money as well but you may have some thin felt like material laying around you could try. I have also heard of drummers just laying a thin towel over the head. Ringo Starr did that on his floor tom for a few songs.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...0-17&sp=-1&sk=

[NikoSeven]

Ok, I guess that's a bad idea, so I'll just keep with the way I'm doing it now. Thanks all for the input. Appreciate it.

[kay-gee]

A bar owner friend of mine here one day replaced the cloth on his two pool tables. I asked him for the old ones and he said "sure". I cut out circles exactly the size of the snare head inside the rim. I used homemade zero rings (from old drum heads), glued them to the circles. This gives the cloth a little rigidity around the edge and helps it to lay nice and flat. Long story short...it sounds amazing. Get a nice "smack" and wet snare sound. (Crunchy like walking on gravel LOL), but absolutely no sustain or nasty ring. Sounded great at the jam last week. Easily removed for brush work too.

all the best...

[No Me Metro]

Are you muffling the snare during practice because of noise concerns?

If a practice pad is not available, try a towel on the snare with the snare wires off.

Consider sometimes practicing with very thin sticks (pencils work) or brushes to develop a light touch.

[late8]

John's harmonica, a pack of smokes, loose towels and towels that were tied down with strings were some of the "tools" Ringo used to quiet the kit. Anything goes in drumming, but apparently nothing he used seemed to be directly under the hoops:

John's harmonica:



A pack of smokes:



Towels that were tied around the drum:



Chamois that was tied down to the hoop with string:

[late8]

Ringo's kick? Sometimes it was fully stuffed with no reso head:

[NikoSeven]

Wow Rich those are some awesome photos! Thanks for sharing. I'm thinking it's good enough for Ringo to cover his drums its good enough for me. Hope you're doing well.

[late8]

Wow Rich those are some awesome photos! Thanks for sharing. I'm thinking it's good enough for Ringo to cover his drums its good enough for me. Hope you're doing well.

You're welcome and I'm doing well, thanks!

I remember when the movie "Let it Be" first came out, I went to go see it and was really taken aback by what Ringo did to and create "his" unique sound and having Sir George Martin as the producer of so many iconic hits with the Beatles, I'm sure his influence helped shape the sound that will live for many days to come.

[kay-gee]

I still say try the pool table cloth thing (or something equivalent) It will look and sound a bit more natural than have things draped over the whole drum shell

all the best...

[FlayOtters]

I understand what you're trying to do.
Drums can be as loud or quiet as you want them to be.

You can get thin foam rubber and/or neoprene sheets in various thicknesses at various prices (from 27 cents to $60).
I would try cutting a thin sheet of foam rubber 2-3-4mm thick to match the drum size.
If it bounces too much use a little tape to secure it (but regularly remove and replace the tape).
Otherwise, perhaps a few of those microfiber towels they make to polish cars and drums, taped or tied on.
Just a couple of thoughts to get that "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" sound.

[late8]

I understand what you're trying to do.
Drums can be as loud or quiet as you want them to be.

You can get thin foam rubber and/or neoprene sheets in various thicknesses at various prices (from 27 cents to $60).
I would try cutting a thin sheet of foam rubber 2-3-4mm thick to match the drum size.
If it bounces too much use a little tape to secure it (but regularly remove and replace the tape).
Otherwise, perhaps a few of those microfiber towels they make to polish cars and drums, taped or tied on.
Just a couple of thoughts to get that "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" sound.

Check out this version: It's a different from the original release. You can hear the dampening Ringo used during this take.

[FlayOtters]

Check out this version: It's a different from the original release. You can hear the dampening Ringo used during this take.

That was good.
Sloppy as hell, but a great listen.
And yes, muffled drums, and you could hear him holding back on the cymbals trying not to overwhelm the band.

As far as muffling drums – rags on toms, upholstery in the bass drum, no bottom heads etc...
I swear it was all started by engineers/producers whose mikes were being overloaded by noisy drummers.
It took a good engineer to mike drums with 1969 equipment when all the drummers were trying to outdo each other for volume.
As a defensive measure they convinced the hapless drummer that he could just hit a dead tom and they could add echo, reverb and presence in the mix.
It was as if they were just triggering the sounds.

Of course that dead flappy sound developed from being an unfortunate necessity to a desired effect.
So you end up with the compressed flat drum sound on, for example, Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good To Me" as well as pretty much all the Eagles catalog.
It doesn't sound bad in context as everything on that track is compressed to within an inch of its life.
But that's not how a live drum sounds.

So Remo et al came up with progressively thicker and deader drum heads to get that dead studio sound at something approaching a live volume.

I don't know if it's a bad thing or not.
It can be easier to practice on muffled drums.
But I do like 'live' loud drums – Ginger Baker style.
Of course it's a lot easier to muffle a live sound than to brighten up a drum head that removes any character from the drum.
And it's hard to play at Bonham/Baker volumes at a small gig.

Just my five cents.

[late8]

That was good.
Sloppy as hell, but a great listen.
And yes, muffled drums, and you could hear him holding back on the cymbals trying not to overwhelm the band.

As far as muffling drums – rags on toms, upholstery in the bass drum, no bottom heads etc...
I swear it was all started by engineers/producers whose mikes were being overloaded by noisy drummers.
It took a good engineer to mike drums with 1969 equipment when all the drummers were trying to outdo each other for volume.
As a defensive measure they convinced the hapless drummer that he could just hit a dead tom and they could add echo, reverb and presence in the mix.
It was as if they were just triggering the sounds.

Of course that dead flappy sound developed from being an unfortunate necessity to a desired effect.
So you end up with the compressed flat drum sound on, for example, Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good To Me" as well as pretty much all the Eagles catalog.
It doesn't sound bad in context as everything on that track is compressed to within an inch of its life.
But that's not how a live drum sounds.

So Remo et al came up with progressively thicker and deader drum heads to get that dead studio sound at something approaching a live volume.

I don't know if it's a bad thing or not.
It can be easier to practice on muffled drums.
But I do like 'live' loud drums – Ginger Baker style.
Of course it's a lot easier to muffle a live sound than to brighten up a drum head that removes any character from the drum.
And it's hard to play at Bonham/Baker volumes at a small gig.

Just my five cents.

Great post. I enjoyed reading...it thanks!!

[FlayOtters]

Great post. I enjoyed reading...it thanks!!

Thank you!