How to make your snares pop! – Music production tips
Image credit: Matthijs Smit
Don’t let your beat fall soft or your hits get lost in the mix! Use these simple tactics to get your snares snapping.
Your beat’s all there, it’s building up. The bass is rising, the kick is pulsing, and the drop is about to hit. And then… it falls flat and all the emphasis is gone. Getting a snare to punch can be vital to an influential mix so it’s vital to know how to make it happen.
Getting your snare to pop and drive your beat to the next level doesn’t have to be complicated. In this article we’re going to discuss some techniques and tips that will help you to get your snare cutting through the mix for a sick dance beat, powerful hip-hop rhythm, or whatever other kind of masterpiece you’re creating.
Read our guide through in order or skip to a section below:
- Choosing the right snare sample
- EQing your snare
- Compressing your snare
- Adding effects to snares
- Mix other instruments
Choosing the right snare sample
We live in an age of limitless samples. The internet has made thousands, maybe even millions, of snare sounds available to us. Picking the right snare can seem daunting. It’s nice to find just a few that you really like and cover a broad spectrum of sound that you can keep in your library. This prevents the endless scroll through.
Whilst mixing your snare will definitely enhance your sound within each mix, pick a sample that sounds good to begin with. If you end up mixing your snare too much to fit into your mix then you’re going to lose the essence of your sound. That is, of course, unless you’re being experimental.
Find the right snare sample for your mix from sites like RouteNote Create.
EQing your snare
Whatever you’re using to produce your track, you should have access to an EQ. This allows you to play with the dimensions of your snare sample by pushing or limiting different frequencies.
Generally, for a snappy snare you want to boost the mid to high frequencies a bit to give it more pop. As the snare is the response to your kick drum’s call, you want it to take up a higher part of the spectrum after the kick drum takes the low end. Cut some of the low end of your snare if it is sounding muddy.
iZotope give the following great guide:
- 100 to 250 Hz: somewhere in here, the meat of your snare is going to reside
- 800 Hz to 1.5 kHz: somewhere in here, you’ll get a nice crack out of the snare
- 8 kHz and above: somewhere in here, you can get your snare to sound extra crispy
Boosting around the 200Hz mark is good advice. However, always remember: Drop before you raise. If you’re having to boost your frequencies loads to get it to stand out, you’re losing good sound. First of all, try dropping the frequencies and/or gain on the sounds that are competing with your snare before raising it.
Don’t EQ the snare solo. You want to hear how your snare sounds in the mix, because that’s exactly where it will be. It can be tempting to solo your snare to get the frequencies right, but when it’s in the mix it will be bouncing off of the other tracks. You need the context to get the mix right.
Compressing your snare
Compressing your snare can give it more punch by containing the sound for a more whip-crack like hit. Experiment with your parameters to find a sound that suits both your snare sample and the sound you’re going for in your mix.
Start with a slow attack and a ratio of around 4:1 then time your attack so that you feel it is fitting into your mix smoothly and with presence. Reduce your threshold slowly to find the punch you’re looking for. Around minus 2-10dB of reduced gain is generally going to be where you want to end up.
As always, let your ears be the judge and slowly tweak the settings until it’s something you’re really happy with.
You can also sidechain your other instruments in the mix to the snare. This allows it to punch through even more. The snare is so quick that it shouldn’t have any noticeable swelling impact on the rest of your mix with a subtle sidechain.
For more advice on sidechaining, check out our article below:
Should you add effects to your snare?
There are a plethora of effects you can add to your samples and instruments to tweak and enhance their sound. But beware, effects can also muddy the waters of your soundscape with too much going on.
Saturation and distortion are great effects for adding some grit and power to your snare sample. Use it in moderation for some beef, but don’t overdo it as it can make your sounds harsh or overpowering. Pushing the gain too hard may destroy the dynamics of your sample.
Reverb is great for giving your snare some impact, making it sound like it’s reverberating around a simulated space. This can give your sample depth but too much and it can lose it’s punch, so use it wisely.
Delay offers a similar effect to reverb in terms of creating an auditory space. It is a much more prominent effect that can create interesting rhythmic patterns but may detract from a punchy snare by multiplying a single big hit.
Mix other instruments for clarity
As mentioned earlier, sometimes it’s not your snare’s fault that it’s not cutting through your mix. Everything works together and if you have other channels that are too loud or samples/synths that are taking precedent in your snare’s most important frequencies then they’re going to dampen your sound.
Working your way through other instruments to work out where each part of your mix is coming out is generally vital to refining your mix. Bringing those instruments into their own lane and cutting them down may just be the final missing ingredient to bring your snare to the forefront of your second beat drive!
Panning is an important part of mixing to create width and space. Panning some instruments to the left and others to the right will make a mix wider but also gives emphasis to the sounds in the middle. This can be a great way of carving out a space for your snare and kick drum to really drive the beat.
Find loads more mixing and producing advice on the RouteNote Blog and YouTube channel. Like this video in getting your levels right and ready for distribution: