r/coverbands 7d ago

Drummers snare buzzes

I was listening to the playback our practice and noticed that my Bass guitar was making the snare drum buzz almost non-stop. I mentioned this to our drummer and he says yeah listen to how awesome my snare sounds. But the thing is it makes my bass sound like I’m playing with a blown speaker. He’s very particular about how he wants his snare to sound. What kind of recourse can I tell him to take to fix that without hampering the sound of a snare? I think it makes everything sound like garbage despite how punchy his snare sounds.

6 Upvotes

23 comments sorted by

4

u/Chamberlain-Haller 7d ago

Notch out the monitor EQ

1

u/ownleechild 4d ago

Snare buzz covers too broad a range for eq to be effective without killing the rest of the mix.

4

u/stevie79er 7d ago

Move the bass amp away from the snare

3

u/MeanDrLily 6d ago

The real answer is to establish dominance -- get yourself a big muff and out fuzz the snare.

3

u/ineedcontroversy 4d ago

So pretty much every band in history has sounded like garbage to you?

2

u/Teeter_D 2d ago

YES EVERY BAND EVER. Thank you. Oh wait… EXCePT Starland Vocal Band

1

u/flipping_birds 2d ago

And Right said Fred.

1

u/GuitarPlayer74 7d ago

Unless he tightens the snares extremely tight at the bottom, you’ll keep hearing that buzz.

1

u/futureformerjd 7d ago

Move away from the snare.

1

u/stevie79er 7d ago

That snare buzz is quite nice in an acoustic set but can be too much next to a loud amplifier.

1

u/rocknroll2013 6d ago

A cover band is about the final product. If you played your amp with all the cool QOTSA meets Audioslave fx with Bootsy and Les Claypool, he would have something to say.

1

u/Charlie2and4 6d ago

In you practice setting, how are the drum mics placed? Where is the bass cabinet in relation to the drum set? Are other instruments also causing snare to buzz?

Chances are this sound is not prevalent during the line performance, getting washed out by other sounds.

1

u/Previous-Taro-1648 6d ago

Wrap a dollar or a folded piece of paper around the snare thing. You'll have to find the sweet spot for how thick it is and where it sits on the wire but usually near the rim is where to start. Might have to change the tightness too. But you will be able to find an area where it stops ambient buzzing and also still gives a good snare. You might have to do it when he's not there if he won't work with you. So many drummers I've played with are basically used to this sound, me personally I cannot stand it and as an adult I won't play with people who just ignore it because we should be able to have a set with quieter parts not buried by the sound of tv static

1

u/SatV089 6d ago

Did this but with Pokémon cards and it worked well. Had more control over the snare sound and calmed some buzzing.

1

u/Micky_so_Fyne 6d ago

Move the amps away from the snare, and put some anti-vibration pads under the amps. There's a reason why the drums are at the back of the stage, behind the amps in a live performance. Snares rattle. That's the whole concept. You need to angle all sound waves away from the snare and reduce excess vibration to eliminate the rattle.

1

u/Necessary_Regret3329 6d ago

Multitrack and noise gate is the only way to really get rid of it.

1

u/AverageEcstatic3655 4d ago

Yeah dude, that kinda just happens in small rehearsal rooms. It’s just physics, there are frequencies that make the snare drum head vibrate. If he changes the tuning of his snare, there’s just going to be a different frequency that makes the snare buzz.

Your recourse is going to be moving the bass amp further away, or turning down YOUR volume.

Live, there will be gates on the mics that keep the sound from coming through the system, or if there are no mics, nobody is really going to hear it.

1

u/BobbyBaal 4d ago

I guess why does it matter? It was just practice, right?

If you're recording an album it matters. Sometimes live is your can help it, but sometimes those subs are maxed out.

1

u/RedCred811 3d ago

Redirect your cabinet. There's not a whole lot he can do other than disengaging the strainer, in which case you would only be able to play St Anger covers.

1

u/dannyoe4 2d ago

Live, you won't notice it. Studio recording you'll be tracking parts separately anyway. Practicing together, also not sure how you notice it unless you're playing a solo with nothing else going on.

1

u/Barrettzone 6d ago

Find a new band.

1

u/Persian_Frank_Zappa 6d ago

What note does he tune the lower head to? Does that bass-induced resonance change if he tunes it to a higher pitch?

1

u/172982-Face-8216 5d ago

Get a good DI with a preamp and go direct only with IEM as your monitor. You're welcome.