Snare Eq: How To Get Phat & Punchy Snare Using Eq

Snare Drum Eq Settings

Last time we looked at how to use an Eq on kick drum and bass sounds. Today I will be sharing with you a snare eq guide to help you get a phat and punchy snare using an equalizer. But before you start adding EQ on your drums, check if there’s any phase cancellation and tune your drums.

Check Phase Relationship

The 1st thing you need to look at is whether the snare was recorded live or are you using samples. If it’s a live snare the 1st thing to check is phase. If there’s phase cancellation then the snare won’t be punchy.

People think phase only happens when using live recorded drums but that’s not true, most people layer different snare to get a big sounding snare drum. This can also result into phase cancellation, so make sure you check the phase relationship of the snare drums to see if they work well together and benefit the entire mix.

Snare Drum Tuning

Have you ever heard of drum tuning? I once did a tutorial about tuning drums in my old music production blog but I’ll do another one in the near future for this blog as well. Basically tuning a snare drum makes the pitched elements blend well in the mix especially the low frequencies.

Snare Eq Guide

As you know, there’s a lot of different snare drum sounds out there. So there’s no one EQ setting that will work with all snare sounds. You’ll have to be hands on to see which eq settings will work best for the material you’re currently working on.

If your snare drum is too wimpy/weak then give it a small boost around 60Hz-120Hz. Below 60Hz is where you’ll find the rumble so make sure you cut that out using a high-pass filter. If you’re snare drum is not wimpy then remove everything under 100Hz you won’t need that.

The warmth of a snare drum is mostly found around 120Hz-200Hz this part of the spectrum fills out the snare drum. To get a snappy snare sound then boost around 6kHz-8kHz this will also add presence to the snare drum.

250Hz-400Hz is the muddy area of the snare drum. 2kHz to 3.5kHz is where you’ll find the crunch of the snare drum. To emphasize the phatness and punch of the snare drum a boost around 195Hz-250Hz will do the trick. Also add some air to your snare to make it shine by making a boost at 10kHz.

To help the snare cut through a mix then use an eq to cut other sounds where the snare hits. Sometimes you might find that the eq settings are not the problem but the level adjustment of other sounds are overpowering the snare drum so make sure you got the levels of other sounds right.

But if the problem is the snare eq settings then this guide should be able to help you fix that. Hope you find this tutorial useful, let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. Also browse the site for more tutorials on mixing as well as mastering.