Help me tune my snare please

Hey guys. I am having some serious problems getting my snare to sound remotely good. It is a steel snare (unfortunately, beause I love the CRACK of a wooden snare)... the dimensions are about 6"x14"... i am not sure of the depth... 6-7.... Please, help me out

How should i tune my top head in relation to my bottom.... should the batter be tighter than the resonant head? vice virsa? .... how tight should my actual snare wire be?

I DO have "moon-gel" type dampeners... where should i put them? should i even use them? thanx for all the help guys!!!! (I will soon be posting a thread about my bass drumm too, but after i get my snare to have a nice crack!)

dw says to tune the top heads the same as the bottom, this is really hard to {censored} up, so start their, and then mess around with it until you like the way it sounds. moongels go on the batter head, find a place you like them, and if you don't, don't use them.

somebody posted this in another thread a few weeks back. it's a pretty good video for beginners.

I have the batter tighter than reso on most of my snares. All the details are done individually as far as how tight each head should be as well as the snare wires, it will just take good old fashion trial and error. Play around for a while and once you've got a good idea of what's going on, stop by a music store and check out their snares. Find one that has a good sound and check how tight the snares are. Then turn off the snares and check out each head's tuning.

Well thanks guys. I am not a beginner, but I just cannot get the sound out of my steel snare. Personally I prefer a wood snare, but right now, my steel snare has a "dead" sound and I cannot get a crack or even a pop. I was hoping not to have to do the trial and error thing for the thousanth time, but it seems that there is really no "sure-fire" way to do it... Thanx again:)

I don't know if my way is the correct way, but I make a snare bed on my bottom head, I tune the lugs on either side of the snare wires tight and the outer lugs loose, it makes a U shape in the head that the snare wires lay into.

The top head I just tune by ear for the tone I'm looking for, usually around 85 on the Drum dial, but after a few hours playing the lugs loosen so I adjust it often by ear... I use a piece of moon gel about an inch off the rim, somewhere around the Evens logo..

Hope that helps.

Tunning drums can be tough. My teacher could always get a great sound out of every snare I ever heard him tune. I believe he always said to have the reso head one octave higher than the batter. (half for the toms). Start off slow and loose and gradually tune tighter until the drum "opens up" for lak of a better term. You'll know the sound when the drum gets there. If you go too far it will start to sound choked. Every drum has this "sweet spot" Get it there and you shouldn't need any form of muffling (unless you like that type of sound). The snare "ring" (sound) will blend perfectly and not fly "over the top" of everything else.

I've heard him tune wood, brass and metal snares like this and EVERY time the drum sounds amazing.

Good luck with it. It can be a challenge....just trust your ears.

What kind of steel snare are we talking? A cast steel snare or one of the cheap pieces of crap that come with $500 import kits? I never got a good sound of a bad snare.

My method is to put the snare side head on and tune it up until it gets nice and ringy, almost choked. Then I put the snares on and tension them medium or so, they buzz nicely but don't choke the drum or rattle too much. Then put the batter head on and bring up to a point where it starts to have a really strong sound, where it hits you in the head. From there I might tune both heads up until it has the crack I want.

My resonant head is usually two one to two full steps (or so) higher than the batter. If they are tuned to the same tension, the snare sounds loose and sloppy and buzzes too much. But if the top head is too loose, it sounds weak and too much like a tom. I like a decent amount of ring and tons of crack but nothing choked.

Two turns above finger tight on top. When you get to 1.5 turns go up in 1/8 turn increments checking it for sound. Two and a half turns above finger tight on the snare side. When you hit two turns, go up in 1/8 turn increments for the last 1/2 turn. Stop when you like it. Use the cross lug star pattern. If you start your head set right, finger tight, a good snare.. or even not so good a snare. You should be in tune and walk a way happy.

All of my dynasonics.......... this is what they get. It seems to work well for the rest of them also. For most of them...... I dont even need to fine tune. Tensioned right there...... works.

This is a great way to do it... so easy, thank you very much! I was reall looking for a rule of thumb like this. But please explain what you mean in your last part

"""""All of my dynasonics.......... this is what they get. It seems to work well for the rest of them also. For most of them...... I dont even need to fine tune. Tensioned right there...... works"""""

Thanx alot:)

If you are talking about a cheapo ghetto steel snare, like you might find on a budget kit, it can be really difficult to get a good tuning done. If you are tuning it correctly, and still not getting a good sound there is something else you could try.

My solution was less expensive than a whole new decent snare, but not free. Get a cast rim for the top at least to replace the pressed/bent/whatever rim they come with. Tuning stability goes way up, note definition goes way up, you get a better crack out of it, and it will probably last longer than the rest of the snare itself. I think the cast rim i got was $40 or $60, it was a few years ago though. It was totally totally worth it for my snare.

I personally love the cheepo 6.5" snares that come on the budget Ludwig kits after the cast top rim treatment. That is all i use. But then, i am a pretty cheap bastard, so YMMV. If you try it, just make sure you get one with the right number of lugs!

-chris

The back seven are Rogers Dynasonic snares from 1967-1984

The back seven are Rogers Dynasonic snares from 1967-1984

CAUTION!

Perfect. hollow, rim shot zone

Lately I've been a fan of cranking the snare heads tighter than I used to do. I think I held back too much in the past. Not sure if that will help in this situation or not.

I always tune the drum first with the snares off and just go for an overall nice sound. I also like to give the batter head a strong push in the center with the palm of my hand - kind of pre-loosening things after they've been tightened.

Bottom side snare tuning is tricky. I try different stuff with tightening/loosening with the lugs either next to the snare or the ones not next to it, but I haven't found a one size fits all approach. I do experiment with the tightness of the snares, too.

I recently got a used snare but the sensitivity in the middle of the drum just didn't seem right. I replaced the head that looked like a white coated ambassador with a real white coated ambassador and things were much better. Thus, obvious though it is, it can pay to experiment with different heads, too.

The back seven are Rogers Dynasonic snares from 1967-1984

You have a wonderful wife Ploughman. Mine would think I was crazy, maybe so, but so what.

Your pictures of your drums, and your drums are always very cool.:thu:

Good tuning technique also.

This is where I learned about tuning the bottom head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f312F4Nh0I

Thanks everybody, so much... I tuned my bottom head 2 1/2 turns past finger tight, and my batter head 1 1/2 turns past finger tight... Now, there is more crack in my snare than in Harlem... In the early 1970's that is... It sounds amazing, especially for a steel snare. It isn't a cheapy snare, but it also isn't a world-class snare. It was included with a 7-10 year olf Yamaha Stage Custom Pro. A really nice sounding kit, but I honestly didn't know how to tune a snare properly. Thanx, and now I do!

This got me to tune my snare better then it was.Thanks for the help!

Like I said in the post....... this works for most near any snare drum. The primary differences aside from quality of the drum itself..... would be the type of tension rods used on your snare. Some drums have much finer threaded rods. But that basic formula works. Ive used it for years and years and years. It was the recommended tension tuning from the Rogers Dynasonic instruction manual. Been in use since probably about 1963, when the Beavertail Lug was introduced.

I tune all my snares more or less the same. My technique is to really crank top head up, so much so that it becomes harder to turn the key. Make sure each tuning screw has the same tension. With the bottom head I crank that up rather high too, but not as high as the top head. As for the snare wires I have left fairly loose, loose enough that if you tap the edge - right next to the rim, you can hear the snares ring out freely, without sounding choked. By doing this it actually makes the snare sound deep, without actually have any of the heads tuned lower. I use this method on all of my snares, mostly 50's -60's premier olympics wood and steel, and a Premier modern classic maple. Works great for all of these. I guess a lot of it is down to preference, but i have had a fair few compliments on my snare sound.

In a nut shell - Don't be afraid to crank her up!

Hope this helps.

I tune all my snares more or less the same. My technique is to really crank top head up, so much so that it becomes harder to turn the key. Make sure each tuning screw has the same tension. With the bottom head I crank that up rather high too, but not as high as the top head. As for the snare wires I have left fairly loose, loose enough that if you tap the edge - right next to the rim, you can hear the snares ring out freely, without sounding choked. By doing this it actually makes the snare sound deep, without actually have any of the heads tuned lower. I use this method on all of my snares, mostly 50's -60's premier olympics wood and steel, and a Premier modern classic maple. Works great for all of these. I guess a lot of it is down to preference, but i have had a fair few compliments on my snare sound.

In a nut shell - Don't be afraid to crank her up!

Hope this helps.

Are you describing full (360 degrees) turns of each tension rod or smaller increments as turns? I tried this on a Pearl Omar Hakim snare I have and the batter head is very very tight after only one turn. Maybe I did too much finger tightening? Please elaborate a bit more. Thanks.

Try this. You can assume fine tolerance lug placement with pro drums so just count your turns. Start where the rod just barely engages, call that zero and start counting. Get one lug into the minimum contact zone then give every lug the same turnage. You should end up with very even low tension. Then proceed with Ploughman's instructions.

Start with your head evenly seated, all lug screws in and loose. Bring each lug down to the rim without putting any pull on it. Then gradually increase the tension on each lug, working across teh drum in the cross lug pattern 1-6-8-3-5-10-2-7-9-4 untill everything is finger tight. Then bring up each lug in that same pattern in 1/2 turn increments until you are at 1.5 turns, then bring it up more gradually, using the same pattern at 1/8 or at the very most 1/4 increments, checking yourself for tension and sound. All of your lug locations should be very close in sound at this point. If you are playing with a brand new head, seat that puppy at about one full turn and continue.

If you start putting two full turns on each lug working around the drum, yer gonna have a wipeout.

Thanks everybody, so much... I tuned my bottom head 2 1/2 turns past finger tight, and my batter head 1 1/2 turns past finger tight... Now, there is more crack in my snare than in Harlem... In the early 1970's that is... It sounds amazing, especially for a steel snare. It isn't a cheapy snare, but it also isn't a world-class snare. It was included with a 7-10 year olf Yamaha Stage Custom Pro. A really nice sounding kit, but I honestly didn't know how to tune a snare properly. Thanx, and now I do!

I don't think crack was around in the 1970's?

Anyways, the most common tuning mistakes I see are snare drums too loose (buzz and thud), bass drums too tight (boingy), and toms too tight (really boingy). For the most part, rock and pop music the last 15 years has been all about snares with plenty of crack, toms with deep, low tones, and kick drums with lots of attack and low end.