animal69tx Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Im a band director from Texas and at a recent marching contest the percussion judge said the snare drums sounded to "OPEN"...Im a brass guy and dont have a percussionist on staff so I was hoping I could get some help here on what this means and how to fix it. He suggested I look to tuning the snares diffrent so they wouldnt sound so open. If you could help me out I would really appreciate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlamMan Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Im a band director from Texas and at a recent marching contest the percussion judge said the snare drums sounded to "OPEN"...Im a brass guy and dont have a percussionist on staff so I was hoping I could get some help here on what this means and how to fix it. He suggested I look to tuning the snares diffrent so they wouldnt sound so open. If you could help me out I would really appreciate it! Did you ask him what he meant by "open"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastone Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 What type of heads are you using as a "dry", very articulate sound is pretty much what's in vogue now. Maybe he's hearing extraneous overtones that are affecting the clarity of your batterie percussion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actucker Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Open is a really vague term. Without getting a chance to ask him what he meant by it, you can interpret it a lot of different ways. He could have meant that there were too many overtones, usually an issue of low tension on the top head. If you stand near the drum and play on it, and you hear a high pitched ping, you might try raising the pitch of the top head or lowering the bottom head. He may have meant that there was too much snare response, which would be adjusted by either tightening or loosening the snare mechanism (there is a sweet spot where it gets the most resonance from the snares themselves). You could also put a strip or two of stick tape on the bottom of the snare side head, holding the snare guts in place, thus drying out the sound some. Some general rules about snare tuning: - higher bottom head means more vibration from the lower side of the drum, thus more snare response and overtone - lower bottom head means less tone from the drum (and often less projection), and dries out snare response - higher top head means more articulation, and less ring - lower top head means more overtone and fatter articulation - the closer the top and bottom heads are to the same pitch, the more resonant the tone of the drum will be. - the higher the overall tone of the drum is, the less sustain of that tone there will be - the closer each gut is in pitch to the rest of them, the more the snares will ring - the most important thing is to make sure that each drum sounds the same as the one next to it, as you will get the most clarity from that situation. There are about 8 million different ways to tune a snare drum. If you like the way your snare drums sound, leave them alone. The drum judge who told you they are too open has his own opinion, but he's just a guy. Another guy might tell you that they aren't open enough. I wouldn't worry too much about it, unless you start to get that comment consistently. One thing about tuning that you might consider when deciding what you want your drums to sound like, is the fact that the more ring, and snare response you have, the harder it is to hear the exact articulations. If your players are young, or inexperienced, having "open" drums, might actually be better for you than a tight articulate sound. If you have stronger more mature players, you might go for a shorter sustain in order to show off their ability to execute clarity. Hope this helps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Doherty Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) What type of heads are you using as a "dry", very articulate sound is pretty much what's in vogue now. Maybe he's hearing extraneous overtones that are affecting the clarity of your batterie percussion Frank. I've always found that you know what you're talking about. I don't know if this is a small school with a limited budget or a big school with a large budget. I agree that the first question to be asked to the judge is " What do you mean by dry?" The next question is "Can our instruments handle a more tight tuning, especially if we have budget instruments"? Can we afford new/upgraded heads, etc. I think you get my concerns. Kevin Doherty (kdoh) Edited October 4, 2011 by kdoh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSU GRAD 82 Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 Im a band director from Texas and at a recent marching contest the percussion judge said the snare drums sounded to "OPEN"...Im a brass guy and dont have a percussionist on staff so I was hoping I could get some help here on what this means and how to fix it. He suggested I look to tuning the snares diffrent so they wouldnt sound so open. If you could help me out I would really appreciate it! So, you need a drummer on staff? Where are you in Texas? I'm looking to get back to Texas (civilization) close to Houston or Dallas. If you see this, shoot me an e-mail through the board or at williammax@cox.net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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