How to Make Snares Sound Fatter

Using thick drum heads will deepen the sound. Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images Making snares sound fatter can be accomplished with the right tuning, the appropriate drum heads and the right drum technique. In recordings, drums are often professionally engineered with audio editing applications to improve the sound and add reverb, or fatness. While audio engineers give a skewed perception of what snare drums actually sound like, you can still make some minor changes to improve the natural acoustic sound of your snares.

Step 1 Purchase the thickest snare drum heads you can find. These drum heads are much denser and will provide a thicker, richer sound. Look for a head 3 millimeters or thicker.

Step 2 Unscrew all of the nuts and pull the old snare drum heads off. Then replace the snare drum heads with the new thicker drum heads.

Step 3 Screw the heads into place by tightening the screws in a circular motion going around the rim of the snare drum.

Step 4 Tighten the snare drum heads to ensure they have a good tone and the skin of the drum stays slightly loose. Loose drum heads will provide a deeper sound since they don't vibrate as quickly as tense drum heads.

Step 5 Hit the snare drum in the center. By aiming for the center you can improve the overall sound of the drum. The drum will resonate most clearly when you strike in the middle of the drum.

Snare drums have an indefinite pitch, so there is no way to use a tuner to tune your drums. Use your ears and listen to recordings of drummers you like, and tune the drum to match their sound. You must experiment to find a good compromise between being too sharp-sounding and too thudding.

References

"Simple Steps to Snare Drum"; Anthony J. Cirone; 1991