Snare tuning

[Dawgkikker]

Put a new reso head on the snare today. Wanted to go a little thicker far a fatter sound. Got the sound I wanted, put the snares on and now have the worst snare buzz ever. Ive tried everything I can think of to eliminate it and nothing works. Any suggestions ?

[wolvie56]

Tape the middle strands by themselves wrapping them up and thereby turning them off doing it with one in the middle and one near both ends with masking tape. Leave 4 or 6 on each side. I like 4. Nice fat sound with minimum buzz. Still have active snare action. A lot less snare buzz.

[Texdrumr]

Great tip Wolvie. I think I read on here somewhere that you can also loosen the 4 lugs that surround the snare wires a bit, making them less active. I may have that wrong, but I seem to recall this from a post recently.

[wolvie56]

Yeah. I actually said that before as well as some others members did too I think. But that method barely effects the buzz problem. Plus it messes with my snare side tuning. I really hate snare buzz, especially when recording. The tape thing works the best and doesn't eliminate your wires totally. I think the less they sell is 16 strand snare wires. Less wires, less snare buzz, right? = Fat snare sound.

[Dawgkikker]

I swapped out my snare strings for nylon straps and that helped some. Now Im getting a (tingy) sound. Thought one of the heads may have been tuned too high but that isn't it. Hmmmmm

[stuperprohero]

Constant snare buzz or only when a particular Tom is struck?

[Nechre]

Is it a high pitched whine, or is it just a standard buzz?

[late8]

I swapped out my snare strings for nylon straps and that helped some. Now Im getting a (tingy) sound. Thought one of the heads may have been tuned too high but that isn't it. Hmmmmm

Tighten down the reso head by 1/4 turn to see if that gets rid of the tingy sound. Did you loosen your snare stainer by 1/2 when you swapped out the snare straps to the nylons ones? If not, there might be too much tension on the stainer and not giving the snares enough room to breathe hence the tingy sound.

[Dawgkikker]

Constant snare buzz or only when a particular Tom is struck?

It was excess buzz when the snare batter was struck. I think the straps I used put the snare wires in a bind. Basically the the tnsion on the snares were not uniform all the way across. I think I have that taken care of

Is it a high pitched whine, or is it just a standard buzz?

More like a "ting" as if you were hitting a hollow glass.

Tighten down the reso head by 1/4 turn to see if that gets rid of the tingy sound. Did you loosen your snare stainer by 1/2 when you swapped out the snare straps to the nylons ones? If not, there might be too much tension on the stainer and not giving the snares enough room to breathe hence the tingy sound.

Ya I did loosen them a little. I'll give it a try later and see what happens. I WILL get it right. Even though it's aggravating it's kind of cool to experiment.

Thanks guys.

[MattDrums]

What kind of wires are you using?

Thicker heads are more rigid. Thinner snare side heads will conform to the wires a little bit more and can offset problems with wires that are bent or aren't soldered flush. Thicker heads won't conform as much and those stray wires will sit up off the head a bit and buzz like crazy.

The "ting" sounds like a dominant overtone. Change the pitch of the head and it should go away.

[Dawgkikker]

Ive tried everything guys. I appreciate the help but I think I may take it by the drum shop and see what they can do. I have tuned and re tuned. Swapped heads and resos. Went to less strands on the wires. Still pretty much the same thing. About ready to give in and use my old 1980s Ludwig metal snare.

[Russ]

I always use a thin reso. Anything else just doesn't translate the sound correctly, on the reso side. For batter though, i've found you get a lot more tonal freedom to experiment and tailor your sound. Try other batter heads for it if your current setup is boring you to death or in need of a new tone. For me the bottom is absolutely crucial to use a thinner head on, mainly because it's working with a set of wires and the top isn't.

[drumstix]

I stuck two strips of paper on the resonant head at the ends of the snares. I got the idea from the Aquarian Hi-Performance resonant head (the one in the pic below). Much tighter sound once I did that.

[marko138]

I stuck two strips of paper on the resonant head at the ends of the snares. I got the idea from the Aquarian Hi-Performance resonant head (the one in the pic below). Much tighter sound once I did that.

That's an interesting concept.

[gatlin5]

That's an interesting concept.

X2. There some great ideas here I am going to try myself.

[stuperprohero]

Thanks Marko, now I'm considering retackling my snare buzz. Lol. That's yet another option you've brought to our attention.

[Dawgkikker]

Thanks guys. Im still reading and gonna work on it. Im thinking a different batter may be in my future. Been using a Genera Dry for a few years now. May look into something different. The dry worked great on my metal snare but this is a maple. Can't give up.

[thunderstruck]

I stuck two strips of paper on the resonant head at the ends of the snares. I got the idea from the Aquarian Hi-Performance resonant head (the one in the pic below). Much tighter sound once I did that.

I have this reso head on 2 of my snares. It is a pretty good snare side head, and I think it did reduce some of the buzz.

[Shawn76]

Thanks guys. Im still reading and gonna work on it. Im thinking a different batter may be in my future. Been using a Genera Dry for a few years now. May look into something different. The dry worked great on my metal snare but this is a maple. Can't give up.

Try an Evans Hazy 300.I use that and the Evans HD Dry for batter on a Maple snare and I get no buzz at all. I have found this combination works for several snares as far as sound and snare buzz goes. Every snare I get my hands on I use this combination now. I have tried other heads and I haven't found anything better to use.

[Dawgkikker]

Im currently using a Genera Dry batter and an Evans glass 5mil. I went with that because the drum shop I deal with was out of the Hazy 500 (5mil). I may give the Hazy 300 a go. I played some Starclassics at our back up rehearsal spot last week and he was using Remo Amassadors and the snare sounded magnificent.

[truckerdrummer]

the evans resonant glass is a tom reso, is it not?

[Dawgkikker]

the evans resonant glass is a tom reso, is it not?

drum shop said it would work. You may be right though. FWIW our vocalist who is also a drummer tuned that thing up tonight and it sounds great. I think once I reached to point of frustration I was doing more harm than good. All's well that ends well.

[onegourd]

not unlike drumstix method.
as i always say, stick a standard business card under one side of you snare wire approx. 2 inches from the rim. never fails to give me the sound i like, with no buzz, period.