snare drum on

[DON IOTAE]

what makes this album sound so different is that danny has the snare drum on. and massy's production is fuckin right on. but mainly, the fact that DAnny has the snare drum on.

its kinda like what makes pushit (salival version) sound different than the ÆNIMA version. and it's not the difference in the percussion, but the bass line at about 3/4 of the song. there's a change in melody, which enhances the song (and the meaning)

but yeah, after ÆNIMA, danny turned the snares off. it sounds great, but undertow stands out. also theJuiceofsatan mentioned some good reasons for this. check out his thread as well.

so, do you think this snare issue has something to do with undertow sounding raw-er?

[(self(other]

Seems to work.. also seems that he brought it back on 10kd

[DON IOTAE]

nah dude, XKD is snares off!

[vedran]

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure he was using a different snare or tuning it differently also. There are quite a few parts on Aenima and Lateralus where Danny will turn the snares on and it doesn't have quite the "snary" sound to it as on Undertow, like the snares are tighter or the drum is tuned higher or something; or maybe it's a slightly larger snare on Undertow, smaller on later albums? Not sure, either way the snare noise itself seems less pronounced and like it has a faster decay, so it's harder to pick out sometimes since he has them off so much. But yeah, during a lot of the louder, "rockier" parts of songs, Danny will usually turn on the snares no matter what album. Any drummers/audiophiles/people that know their shit know what exactly makes for the differences in snare sound between Undertow/Opiate and Later releases? Or is it just a recording thing? Anyone, anyone at all?? Sweet post, by the way, Iota.

[DON IOTAE]

(...)Sweet post, by the way, Iota.

thanks for appreciating. i thought so too...

i assume youre a drummer, or have been around sets and shit. so, you can decide to turn on your snare just like that at a particular part of a song? i would imagine that sometimes the snare may sound diferent and it may seem like the snare was on... is that a possibility?

i havent heard any snares on in XKD...

[vedran]

Yeah, I drum, and if you practice the motion like any other thing about drumming, it becomes easy enough to simply flip the snares on in between beats. How fast you can do it depends on how much you practice and how good you are at it. (Not to be a prick if you know this, but the snares are turned on by a tiny fip-switch kinda thing on the side of the drum, it brings them up to where they touch the head so you hear them, or lowers them so they don't vibrate when you hit it) Danny, master drummer that he is, does it all the time no problem. There are some snare-on parts on 10kd, but he has been using them less and less with each album. The first track alone has snares on most of the time. You can hear them best(I think) when danny does that fill about 2:40 into the song. It's right after the "you all need it too, don't lie" and before "why can't we just admit it". The accents (what you hear best) are things of two notes each decending down the toms, but in between each of those notes you can hear ghost snares on the off-beats, with a really loose snary sound. Listen for it, hope it helps. Most of the time it's hard to distinguish between snares on and off in Tool songs anyway, 'cause the delicate snare sound gets buried in the mix when there's a lot going on. Now, if anyone could tell me what the hell the difference between Opiate/Undertow snare sound and later albums is, I could die happy...Tuning? Recording? Different drum? all three?

[DON IOTAE]

Yeah, I drum, and if you practice the motion like any other thing about drumming, it becomes easy enough to simply flip the snares on in between beats. How fast you can do it depends on how much you practice and how good you are at it. (Not to be a prick if you know this, but the snares are turned on by a tiny fip-switch kinda thing on the side of the drum, it brings them up to where they touch the head so you hear them, or lowers them so they don't vibrate when you hit it) Danny, master drummer that he is, does it all the time no problem. There are some snare-on parts on 10kd, but he has been using them less and less with each album. The first track alone has snares on most of the time. You can hear them best(I think) when danny does that fill about 2:40 into the song. It's right after the "you all need it too, don't lie" and before "why can't we just admit it". The accents (what you hear best) are things of two notes each decending down the toms, but in between each of those notes you can hear ghost snares on the off-beats, with a really loose snary sound. Listen for it, hope it helps. Most of the time it's hard to distinguish between snares on and off in Tool songs anyway, 'cause the delicate snare sound gets buried in the mix when there's a lot going on. Now, if anyone could tell me what the hell the difference between Opiate/Undertow snare sound and later albums is, I could die happy...Tuning? Recording? Different drum? all three?

great, descriptive post. ill be on the lookout for the snare!

oh, and in answer to your last question: Danny.

[ajp1982]

A good indication of whether snares are on or off at to listen for 'ghost notes'. They're the ones which are'nt accented and generally bounce off the drum head lightly. You wont hear them if the snares are off (if anything the sticks hitting the head), but you know it when the snares are on. If I have totally confused you, listen to the groove Danny plays on 4 degrees.

[DON IOTAE]

i totally know what the ghost notes are; a friend explained that to me once. Actually, now that I think about it, i can hear them on 10000 days, the song.

[ajp1982]

Awesome! Cant always assume people know what you're on about. You know what they say - ass/u/me!

A.

[DON IOTAE]

;)

[Liam]

this was a decent thread. whats the go with "Spamola Trapola"?

[DON IOTAE]

wtf?

[DON IOTAE]

i must say, it's tastier to play without the snares on...

[crincled]

tastier!

and to make this bump worthy,

on the other hand, we have, for example, T&L in which danny turns the snares off. the snare sounds like a tom tuned up pretty high - and that gives the great tribal effect to the drum playing (which is also present in the grudge) that would otherwise make the snare sound out of place. fucking love it.

any other songs you've heard where you can clearly tell when the snares are on/off?