On drums...

An area I'll be exploring soon. I have never in my entire life changed snare wires.

Start with the basic premise of choosing a set of snares that will best complement the snare beds on your drum. Remember the old adage, “Less is more”. There are few places where this saying applies more accurately than in choosing a set of snare wires.

· To get the brightest, most resonant sound from the drum and the most activity out of the wires, select a set of snares that are about ½ the width of your snare bed, generally 12-16 strands. That way, the part of the head that is most active (the center of the bed) will have the most impact on the sound and provide you with the most snare action (sensitivity and response).

· If you are playing in an environment where you want a lot of snare action, but would prefer a bit shorter decay, choose a set of snares that are slightly wider – approximately 3/4ths the width of the snare bed – usually 16 to 20 strands.

· In a close-miked studio environment, where you might want to get the maximum snare sound but decreased response and decay, try a snare unit that is wide enough to cover the entire snare bed – 20 to 24 strands.

· To further dampen the drum, use the widest set of snares available (assuming the snare bed is wide enough to accommodate them). This will focus the drum’s tone and reduce the length of decay as much as is possible without muffling or choking the drum. However, as the bow of the head decreases towards the edges of the snare bed, the amount of tension on the snares may have to be increased to keep the outer strands from bussing excessively. Generally, this tends to lessen the impact of using wider snares in the first place, but because Puresound snares are designed to be more active than others, the 24-strand model is wide enough to accomplish this effect while avoiding snare wire tension problems.

· In situations where an even drier, tighter, yet still musical sound is required, the off-set wires of an Equalizer model may be the ideal choice.