Taking a snare drum for a test run
There was a time when I exhibited at drum shows. (Why I stopped might be a future topic. Or not, we’ll see.) So I’ve watched hundreds of people trying out snare drums, in lots of different ways, at my booths and other places. Some of them came away with some acquaintance with the drum. Most didn’t.
I remember one visitor at a particular show who would come by my booth year after year, sometimes twice on the same day. The conversation went like this … every time, every year:
VISITOR: Hi, this one looks great. Can I try it?
ME: Absolutely, that’s why it’s here.
VISITOR: Mind if I tune it down?
ME: Sure, go ahead. Need a drum key?
VISITOR: I’ve got one, thanks. (Tunes down the batter head, then takes a pair of sticks out of his back pocket and fires off ten or twelve rimshots as hard as he can hit.)
VISITOR: Hey, that sounds really great. I really like it. Thanks! (Moves on to the next booth and repeats the process.)
So what did he learn? Well, nothing except that rimshots can be ear-splittingly loud, and I’m betting he already knew that.
What do you try to learn when you’re first trying out a snare drum? Besides looking at the fit and finish, some good things to find out are the drum’s character and feel, its operation, its dynamic range, its tuning range, its responsiveness, and its tone – what I like to think of as its “voice.” Here are some ways to get to know the drum, up close and personal. The first step is to set up the drum in neutral – heads, tuning, and wire tension. This is the only way you’re going to be able to compare it with other snare drums. That means using a very standard set of heads – a single-ply 10 mil coated batter head and a single-ply 3 mil clear snare side (resonant) head. Granted, this might not be your personal favorite head setup, but it’s truly more important to choose your heads later based on the drum than to choose the drum based on the heads – and the only way to get to know the drum itself is to eliminate the variables thrown in by the many head choices available.
Tune the snare side head fairly tight but not over-cranked – you want it to be able to vibrate freely against the wires. Try for even tuning if you can – some snare bed profiles will let you do that, others won’t. Even tuning will maximize the vibration of the head, so if you can’t get near that it’s a good thing to know. Tune the batter head to a medium tension to start, again going for even pitch all around because that’s going to give you the purest note and longest sustain – possibly not the way you like to tune, but right now you’re just trying to find out what this drum can do. (You may have other tuning methods or preferences. Just think moderate settings – this is for evaluation, not performance.) Loosen the snare wires until they are just reacting when the drum is struck, then slowly bring up the tension until the sound is slightly crisp and there’s no sloppy rattling of wires. Do not tighten them further – the more they press against the head, the more they’re damping it.
Now you’ve got the drum set up to do its maximum. Do some light tapping with the snares off, out at the edge and then moving toward the center. Listen to the ringiness and overtones as you go ; you can always reduce these things later, but you can’t add them if they’re not there. Listen to the clarity of the note. Repeat with the snares turned on. Try some quiet rolls the same way. Listen for the sound of the wires – see how light a touch will get the wires responding. Listen to the tone, the attack, the warmth of the sound. Then do the same thing at medium volume and loud volume, then at very loud volume. Take a double stroke roll from as quiet to as loud as you can play and see if the character of the drum changes as you go. Does it respond when very quiet? Does it choke when very loud? How does the sustain change from the edge to the center? Try some cross-sticks and rimshots using various placements on the head. Then tune the batter head down and do all this again. Tune it up high and repeat a third time.
Finally, go play the snare drum with a kit, using low, medium, and high tunings of the batter head.
At this point, I like wrap up by thinking about the personality of the drum. Is it aggressive? Is it smooth? Is it precise? How do I hear the voice, in terms of lows, mids, and highs? What music genres do I hear it working well for? And one more big question – how does it make me feel when I play it?
So now, you and the drum are pretty well acquainted. Based on what you’ve learned, choose the heads that will get the sustain, overtones, and attack where you like them. Find the tuning that’s the sweet spot for the way you want to use the drum most often. And go forth (as they say) and let you and your snare drum bring out the best in each other.
