What Makes a Good Snare Drum Sound?

The drummer, heads, sticks, rims, shell, snares, and the room. The complexity comes from the fact that all of these variables can be adjusted in several ways, creating almost infinite good snare drum sound possibilities.

1. Proper Stroke

The way a snare drum is played has the biggest impact on how it will sound. Sure, these other things on the list are important, but not as important as how the stick makes contact with the drumhead and rim.

Whether the stroke is a rimshot or not, the end of the stick should contact the center of the drum. This will provide more control over how much the drum rings after being struck.

2. Tuning

The snare drum sound depends on three primary tuning decisions.

The first one is to decide if the snare should be high or low.

The second issue is the intonation of the drumhead, which is how even the tension rods are pulling the head down beyond the bearing edge.

Lastly, the relationship between the batter and resonant heads will impact the snare drum sound character.

 3. Drumhead

The choice of drumhead depends on the kind of snare drum sound you want to achieve. Heads come in different thicknesses, one ply or two, and can beat coated or clear. Plus, the type of material the head is made of impacts the sound, too.

Thinner single ply heads resonate more and produce a more lively sound. If the head is single ply, it won’t have another layer to cancel out sound waves. This could be the sound you’re looking for, but it won’t be the kind of drumhead that will last long if you’re playing it hard.

The double ply coated head works for most players and most drums. I like to go back and forth between the single and double ply, and I’ve learned that the single ply works well on certain drums. The double ply, however, sounds good on all of my drums.

Coated drumheads offer response for brushes as well as more definition on the lighter ghost notes. Since your snare drum sound is mostly about dynamic range and response to various strokes, you’ll want the coated head to do some of the heavy lifting

4. Rims

Diecast hoops add more mass to the equation and do not carry vibration well. This leads to a less resonant snare drum sound, which is bad if it’s not what you want. The diecast hoop, however, will produce a heavier drumstick sound, which means more wood sound on cross sticks and rimshots.

The flanged hoop lets the drum ring more than the diecast hoop. It requires more precision to get a consistent sound from the drum, especially at louder volumes. The cross stick sound, for example, has a very specific sweet spot that can be harder to find with a flanged hoop.

5. Snares

The strainer is the hardware on the drum that tightens or loosens the tension on the snares. You can turn the knob to make these adjustments or simply throw the lever to disengage the snares completely.

Tighter snares will choke off the resonance and produce a crisper sound, while the looser tension will open up the drum and you’ll hear the snares buzz for a long time. The range of tension in between the tightest and loosest settings is generally where the snare drum sound finds its best tone and resonance.

But who says you need to have the snares engaged to get a good sound out of the drum? Snares off is one of my favorite sounds. Drummers like Danny Carey of Tool have mastered this snare drum sound, so check him out of you have yet to experience it.

6. Shell

Common wood snare drums include maple, birch, beech, mahogany, oak, and poplar. With the exception of birch, wood drum shells produce more low and mid frequencies than highs. Birch cuts through mixes well without losing the body that low frequencies provide.

Metal shells are often steel, aluminum, brass, copper, or bronze. Although all of the metals have a lot of high frequencies, each type of metal has a different character based on the amount of lows or mids it produces.

Steel has the most high frequencies in relation to its low frequencies and more mids than lows, which is why a steel snare drum rimshot cuts through the mix. That John Bonham snare drum sound has so much high and mid frequencies that it carves out its own space in the mix.

Besides traditional metal and wood, another material's gaining popularity among modern drummers: acrylic. Beatello's God of War' Acrylic Snare Drum, with its seamless acrylic shell, offers clear, high-projection sound and fast decay, making it an ideal choice for drummers seeking a unique, modern sound.

7. Diameter

The diameter of the drum influences the pitch range of the drum. Smaller diameter drums, like a 10 or 12 inch, create higher pitched sounds, while larger diameter drums, like a 14 or 15 inch, created lower pitched sounds.

A good snare drum sound will come from a well-tuned drum that respects its diameter in relation to the pitch it’s tuned to. You can crank up a larger diameter drum so it’s high pitched, but the sound quality can drop off fast.

8. Depth

The drum depth provides body to the sound. It moves more air volume the deeper the drum gets. This is important because smaller diameter drums, for example, can have a full sound if they are on the deeper side of the dimensions.

Different depths don’t impact the pitch of the drum. If a smaller diameter drum is on the deeper side, like a 7 inch depth, the added body to the sound can make up for the lack in diameter.

If you want to experience the true power of a masterful deep drum, I recommend this cost-effective snare drum. It's the latest upgrade from Beatello!