YOU'RE the engineer, what would you do?

[superpenguin79]

Piccolo snare toss for distance. Proceed from there.

Seriously: fuck a piccolo. Replace that with something at least five inches deep and you could probably get away with one mic, drummer depending.

dude, that is pretty funny with the piccolo snare toss idea. I think there should be a competition for that somewhere. heheh

As far as recording them, I agree that a nice 5 inch regular snare will do better any day over piccolo. The only time I use piccolo for bands is when they have to have that snap sound and refuse anything else for harder rock/metal acts that have come through town.

[bradb]

I brought along a snare, about 5in deep, wood, with one of those Bear kevlar heads. Totally dry, (how I like it.) but it didn't sound as good as this particular piccolo...

any opinions on the Bear Kevlar heads for recording?

bb

[chetatkinsdiet]

I've always found that a dry head or totally muffled snare sounds like ass when recorded. You need a bit of ring and whatnot from your snare to make it stand out in the mix. On a wooden drum, which should be a bit warmer than an average metal shell drum, just try a regular coated head. Ambassador or Evans G1...whatever you prefer. Try that. It's probably one of those instances where the dry drum sounds great to you soloed, but in the mix it's just not happening.
later,
m

[gog]

i agree with chet, a coated ambassador is the standard in my experience... a little ring does make the drum feel more present and open in the mix. if it is overbearing on a particular drum, just wrap a couple quarters in cloth or duct tape and make a little pad that you can tape down on one side at 12 o'clock on the head near the rim. when you strike the drum it will pop up and let the drum ring and then sort of "gate" it when it comes back down on the head. it is more subtle than a zero ring and experiment with different size and weight of pads till you get something that works for that drum. i've had good success with this method... good luck.