of a good sound that the raw bass drum or toms contribute , snare drums probably jump up to 60 % or so . A dull snare with overly rattly snares or strange overtones is never going to get close to the studio sort of sound we desire . A 13 ” piccolo snare isn ’ t going to be a good fit for the mellow 80 ’ s ballad sound we need for the mellow call to worship hymn . In other words , the choice of snare drum and its tuning is going to be a bit of a make or break for the overall quality of your worship band mix — no matter what console and fancy digital PA gear you have .
Of course , these are just rough percentages and I ’ m keeping my ‘ all things considered ’ sort of caveat in place for these claims . But if you at least somewhat follow the math , it should also follow that the drum overheads are really only helping to pass along drums that already sound good in the optimal cases . Where the unfortunate ripple effect starts to creep in is where the snare is just horrible , and the snare mic is in the wrong place and the drum overheads are a pair of knock-off SM58s . Again , there isn ’ t a console in existence that will be able to turn that scenario into a slick Nashville-ready polished drum sound . But given a good snare source sound and an appropriate mic , the overhead mics won ’ t need to be as carefully positioned and futzed with to produce a good cohesion of the drum submix . So maybe ‘ garbage snare in , garbage drum kit sound out ’ is not too much of a stretch .
So before suggesting the church spends extra money on upgrades to the bass drum perhaps think first about the snare . Before reaching for the credit card to grab a new audio console , how about scoping out a couple more affordable mic upgrades ? It would cost even less to invest in a drum key and some time spent replacing the snare drum head with a
hole in it ! All of this is to say that we need to really think about all of the contributing factors to the sound that reaches the congregation — from source to mic-to-mic placement to the PA . Not all components contribute in the same proportion from source to source and you may find that there are cost savings to be had via a more strategic approach . Happy mixing !
Jeff Hawley A 20 + year music industry veteran — equally at ease behind the console , playing bass guitar , leading marketing teams or designing award-winning audio products . He currently heads up the marketing for Allen & Heath in the US .
96 January 2025 Subscribe for Free ...