A common issue in multi-track drum recording is snare drum ring. A little resonance is no bad thing but too much may not suit the production you are working and can cause stand out too much, more so when working with compression.

Snare ring can be reduced with EQ but by doing so drum timbre can suffer. It’s well worth getting the best possible sound at source from the mic. The next time you record a kit which you feelmhas too much ring on the snare, don’t fix it in the mix, work with the drum to get better sounding recordings.

There are many different approaches for taming over-resonant snares, from sticking strips of tape across the head to a range of gadgets designed specifically for the job. But which are best?

There is no clear answer to that as drummer and YouTuber Stephen Taylor proves in his video 20 Hacks To Instantly Fix Snare Drum Ring. In this video Stephen demonstrates many different ways of dampening snare drums by playing a basic beat back-to-back.

If you frequently record drums check this video out as you may be surprised how some of these tricks sound.

1. Moon Gel

2. Wallet

3. One strip of gaffer tape

4. Two strips of gaffer tape

5. Drum Dot

6. Switching to an old used snare drum head

7. Using a ring cut from an old snare drum head

8. Towel

9. Sticky Hands

10. BFSD - Quesadilla cloth heads

11. BFSD - Shining Donut

12. BFSD - The Shining

13. BFSD - Medford Square

14. BFSD - Steve’s Donut

15. BFSD - Round Sound

16. Drumclip

17. Drumtacs

18. Tape + paper towel

19. Aquarian Studio Ring

20. Paper

21. Aquarian Duradot

If you record live multi-track drums in your studio we would love to hear your thoughts on this video:

• Which snare dampening approach did you prefer the sound of in Stephen’s video?

• Do you use any of these?

• Do you muffle your snare drums differently? If so, please let us know how in the comments below