Epic Snare Mic Shootout – 31 Mics in All! Listen Up!!

If you’re wondering how much difference the snare mic can make, you’re about to find out. I recorded 31 different mics, some classics and some new, to let you hear which one(s) you may need to add to your mic collection.

Buying Microphones at Sweetwater is Better!With an incredible selection of the best mics at every prices point, FREE expert guidance from your personal Sales Engineer, and valuable extras like our 2-year Total Confidence Coverage Warranty, Sweetwater gives music makers more than any other retailer. For friendly, expert guidance, call a Sales Engineer now at (800) 222-4700!

Why?What Mics?What to Listen ForLet’s ListenLudwig Black BeautyA&F Gun ShotHow Did We Do It? The Technical DetailsPhoto ScrapbookEven MORE Snare SamplesAll Together Now – 32 Mics at the Same Time!!Triad-Orbit to the RescueAdditional Snare Recording ResourcesCredits

A snare mic comparison? I suspect you looked at the photo and thought the same thing that most people do.

Why?

Beyond the trite “because we could,”
the truth is that I’m like every other engineer who has a favorite snare-drum
mic — one they’ve probably used for years. As engineers, we’re always searching
for something better. Something punchier, tighter, with more impact, or more
detail. Something that gets us closer to that ideal snare sound we hear in our
heads.

I’m the same way. Like a lot of
engineers, I’ve used a Shure SM57 on snare forever, combined with my favorite
preamp and favorite EQ and favorite compressor, and have developed my favorite
settings. It works for me. I know it, and I know what to do to get the sound I
like. But, if something — some mic — came along that sounded better to my ears,
I’d switch in a heartbeat.

So, the search goes on for a better mousetrap (mic). I’m always listening to new or different mics to find mics that have a different character. Sometimes, it’s easier to gather up a bunch and listen to them all at the same time (though not many people have that opportunity). The last time I did that with snare mics was in 2007. It was an epic gathering of 16 snare-drum mics on the snare (plus three underneath and a pair of overheads). I snapped a photo that you may have seen — it’s been passed around on the internet for over a decade now, usually jokingly referred to as a “snare press conference.” It gets memed and retweeted several times a year. (I saw it again even as I was writing this article.)

The photo of the original snare mic shootout that I did in 2007 that has spawned so many memes. We recorded it at Classic Recording in Franklin, TN, with 16 mics, including three different Shure SM57 flavors. How many of those mics do you recognize?

What Mics?

Well, it’s 2021, and there are lots of new mics you (and I) may not have heard on snare drum. I was very eager to try them out. It was clearly time to do it again. So, this time around, I chose some industry standards that have been around for decades and some newly released mics. There are 19 dynamic mics and 12 condenser mics all on the same snare drum.

Dynamic Mics

AKG Perception P4Audio-Technica AE2300Audio-Technica ATM230Audix i5Avantone Pro ADMBeyerdynamic M 201 TGBeyerdynamic TG D35DElectro-Voice ND46MXL LSM-9 POPShure 545SDShure Beta 57AShure SM57sE Electronics V7 XsE Electronics V BeatSennheiser e 604Sennheiser MD 421-IISennheiser MD 431 IITelefunken M80-SHTelefunken M81-SH

Condenser Mics

AKG C451 BAudio-Technica AE3000Audio-Technica AE5100DPA 2011DPA 4011Earthworks DM20Lauten Audio LS-208Neumann KMS 105Shure Beta 87AShure Beta 98AMP/CShure KSM137Warm Audio WA-84

What to Listen For

Before we start listening, let me
answer the second question most people ask.

“No, I won’t tell
you which was my favorite!”

I’m often accused of being coy, but
the truth is my favorite mic may not be the same as yours, so I don’t want to
bias your opinion. I will say that there were several mics that surprised me
and changed my mind about what mic I’ll reach for next time.

I was honestly startled by the differences — not just the different frequency balances (EQ) but also in the way they responded to the dynamics of the drum within a single hit. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

This is a spectrogram display of a Shure 545SD microphone on a Black Beauty snare-drum hit as displayed in iZotope Insight.

The left axis is time — the initial strike begins
in the center and proceeds to the left. You can see the decay in the ridges
that trail off to the right. The longer those ridges, the longer that sound
persists.

The right axis is frequency — the lowest
frequencies are displayed on the left, where you can see the 100Hz scale mark,
and get higher farther to the right.

The vertical axis is amplitude (or loudness),
so the brighter colors (like the highest yellow peak, the orange, then the pink)
are the loudest frequencies.

Interpretation

The fundamental of the snare drum is the highest yellow peak (labeled 1). Moving right, the secondary peaks are the tone (pitch) of the snare (2). You can see that they linger (decay) longer than the initial impact. The attack (bite) of the snare (3) is in the 2,000Hz–5,000Hz range, and that is where you hear the snare wires. And the highest frequencies from 5kHz and up (4) are the air — the highest part of the sound. In the image above, you can see that the fundamental (1) dies away pretty quickly, the tone of the snare (2) lasts for a while, the presence (3) looks pretty smooth, and the top end (4) is slightly rolled off, extending to about 11kHz. Here’s a different plot (angle) for that same Shure 545SD that allows you to see how the frequency levels compare.

What Does That Mean?

In the sound clips below, all the levels are matched so the fundamental (1) is identical in loudness among all the mics. Listen to the balance of the rest of the snare sound. Some mics capture more tone, some more snap, and some seem to make the snare drum ring longer. (How is that possible??) Ultimately, your ears will decide which mic sounds best to you. Don’t be swayed by looking at the graphs — they are just here to help you understand what you’re hearing.

Let’s Listen

All the dynamic mics positioned around the Black Beauty snare.

In these examples, you’ll hear a full
snare hit (x4) and a rimshot (x4) on the Black Beauty snare for each microphone.
(We also recorded buzz rolls and double strike rolls that are included in the download linked below.) We recorded extra mics (bottom snare and stereo overheads), that are included in the download but you won’t hear those in these clips.

All the dynamic mics were set up equidistant from the center of the head. Because there were 31 mics, we were unable to get all of them on the Black Beauty at the same time and still be able to play it, so we came back and recorded all the condensers in a second pass a few hours later. You will notice that the tuning of the snare went down slightly in the intervening few hours (it was not intentionally retuned).

All the dynamic mics around the Black Beauty snare with Nick D. playing.

NOTE: I had to decide whether to A) put all the mics in different positions and record the same snare hit or B) put up one mic at a time and record different hits. Ultimately, I felt the variations in the sound of different snare hits was a greater variable than the positioning around the drum. So, we put up the mics and recorded the same hit with all the mics at the same time.

Ludwig Black Beauty Snare

Snare Hits




Rim Shots




AKG Perception P4

Audio-Technica AE2300

Audio-Technica ATM230

Audix i5

Avantone Pro ADM

Beyerdynamic M 201 TG

Beyerdynamic TG D35D

Electro-Voice ND46

MXL LSM-9 POP

Shure 545SD

Shure Beta 57A

Shure SM57

sE Electronics V7 X

sE Electronics V Beat

Sennheiser e 604

Sennheiser MD 421-II

Sennheiser MD 431 II

Telefunken M80-SH

Telefunken M81-SH

AKG C451 B

Audio-Technica AE3000

Audio-Technica AE5100

DPA 2011C

DPA 4011C

Earthworks DM20

Lauten Audio LS-208

Neumann KMS 105

Shure Beta 87A

Shure Beta 98AMP_C

Shure KSM137

Warm Audio WA-84

A&F Gun Shot Snare

Nick D’Virgilio playing the A&F snare with all the dynamic mics on it.

Here’s the huge, 18-inch A&F Gun Shot snare with snare hits on all 31 mics.




How Did We Do It? The Technical Details

Here’s the gear we used to accomplish this ambitious task.

Snare Drums

For the snare drums, we chose a Ludwig Black Beauty, an industry standard, and we also wanted to try out the A&F Gun Shot snare because it’s beautiful, it’s huge (18 inches in diameter), and we could get a lot of mics around it! That’s important when you’re trying to put 31 mics on a snare drum!

Recording Gear

We mounted all the mics on K&M mic stands initially and then switched over to Triad-Orbit (T-O) stands (more on that later). We ran all the mics into Rupert Neve Designs Shelford 5052 preamps with no EQ or processing and recorded through the Avid MTRX converters into Pro Tools at 24-bit/96kHz.

Mic Alignment

We ringed the snare with all the mics and then recorded a single strike. To make sure all the mics were equidistant from the center of the snare, we examined the waveforms (zoomed way in) to see where the sound started. We moved the mics closer or farther away until we had all the attacks aligned. We calibrated the levels so that the peaks were hitting -18dBFS. Here’s a photo of the waveforms in Pro Tools so you can see how closely the leading edge of the snare strikes are aligned.

Scrapbook – Behind the Scenes

Whenever we do these massive shootouts, it takes hours or days in the studio, and it’s always fascinating to watch it come together. Frequently, folks stop by to see the spectacle, and it’s always interesting to see what it takes to pull these off. So, here are some of the Director’s Cut photos of what it looked like behind the scenes when we did this.

The freshly unboxed mics on the mic cart, getting ready to be wheeled into the studio.

It’s not easy fitting 31 mics on a snare drum.

It took some time, but we finally got all the mics set and cabled up on seven Triad-Orbit stands, including the bottom-snare 57.

Here’s a 300-degree panorama of how the mics looked from the middle of the snare drum.

The overhead shot of all the mics finally in position around the A&F snare.

“You may be wondering why I called you all here...” Yes, it IS a snare press conference.

It’s hard to believe we actually got 32 mics on a single snare drum. Shawn Dealey and Lynn Fuston admire their handiwork.

Here’s a time-lapse of assembling all the stands and mics and getting them positioned around the 18-inch A&F snare.

Even MORE Snare Samples

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get all these mics together, and we wanted to hear all the options. So, we also had Nick play buzz rolls and double-stroke rolls on each snare. And you can hear those by downloading this Pro Tools session file. It includes all the snare samples (all 217 of them) and you can sample them for all your productions. Just click the link below.

Download Pro Tools Session

All Together Now – 32 Mics at the Same Time!!

Because everyone always wants to know, “What does it sound like with all the mics turned on at once?” Here you go.




Triad-Orbit to the Rescue

“We couldn’t have done it without the T-O stands. Well, we could
have, but we sure wouldn’t want to. And it would have been a mess.”

We started out the session using standard boom stands. You can see what that looked like below.

What a mess of mic stands. Here are the 19 dynamic mics in position.

The folks at Triad-Orbit were immensely helpful when we told them what we wanted to do. “We need to put a lot of mics on a single snare drum.” They even sent us some CAD sketches of how they could hold up 16 mics with only four stands (see image below). I said, “That looks cool. Now double it!! I need twice as many mics.”

After they wrapped their heads around the scale of what we were
trying to accomplish, we gathered up all the parts that would allow us to
assemble exactly what we needed. “It’s like Legos for recording engineers. If
you can imagine it, you can make it.” We ended up using double swivel joints to
get mics in places we couldn’t with any other stands.

Now compare the setup above (with only 19 mics) to the Triad-Orbit setup with 31 mics!

I hear you: “No fair — there are no mic cables!” The next photo (below) is what it looked like once we got all the mics cabled up. Still super clean. We used a seventh T-O stand with a 2/O2 Dual-Arm Orbital Boom to handle the cable management behind the snare, so all the cables went across the arm and then bundled into a single umbilical to the mic panel.

Here’s the final collection of Triad-Orbit parts that we used to hold up 31 snare mics.

It took lots of Triad-Orbit components to accomplish this gargantuan task.

Here’s what it looks like with eight mics set up on a single Triad-Orbit TM.

Additional Snare Recording Resources

Check out these other articles I’ve written about how to record snare drums.

How to Mic a Snare DrumBest Preamps for Snare DrumTips: EQ and Compression for Snare6 Tricks for Crafting an Awesome Snare SoundBest Mics for Recording Snare DrumsWhat Makes the Ludwig Black Beauty So Great?

Credits

Recorded at Sweetwater Sound. Engineered by Shawn Dealey. Drums played by Nick D’Virgilio. Second engineers: James Holk, Alex Weyand. Special thanks to Ryan Kallas, Steve Danielson, and Herschel Blankenship from Triad-Orbit for getting us all the parts we needed (and there were a lot!). Thanks to A&F for the loan of their huge Gun Shot snare.
The post Epic Snare Mic Shootout – 31 Mics in All! Listen Up!! appeared first on InSync.