It’s a bit of a meme among (some?) music producers that picking the right snare sound takes 12 hours and still ends up sounding like dogshit in a wet paper bag. This is more in the electronic / beatmaking circles as I understand, but I’m sure there might be some overlap with production involving live/acoustic drums as well.
So, I want to know some examples of snare drums that you love. Please try to describe why you are fond of it.
For me the one I think of first is the snare sound on Deftones’ album White Pony. It has such a satisfying crack paired with a big haunting room reverb. Example: Deftones - Digital Bath
I think I gravitate towards snare with some body to them, as in some lower mid-range. If I grab a regular 808 snare, I find I like to boost a bit of the 200-300hz-ish range to achieve that.
Some more examples off the top of my head: Blue Oyster Cult - I Love the Night
I also enjoy an oddball snare sound with character (at least I think it’s a (closed?) snare and not a tom) : Joy Division - She’s Lost Control
There’s the snare from Digital Underground’s Humpty Dance, which consisted of a snare sample off an old funk/soul record with a handclap overlayed over it. Then everyone sampled it, and it filtered out through rap to 90s R&B-adjacent top-40 pop and got overexposed, though arguably not unfairly.
There’s the massive snare from Fine Young Cannibals’ “She Drives Me Crazy”. Apparently they recorded that in Prince’s studio, using one of his drum machines (a Linn/DMX-style one with an EPROM of low-bit-rate samples, I’m guessing) and then blew it out by overdriving the hell out of it.
And then there’s the 909 snare, which was all over house music when it broke the mainstream.