I’m in Knoxville, Iowa this weekend playing some shows with my friend Elizabeth Hunnicutt.  Her music is a mellow, acoustic/pop vibe, and last night I used the paper-on-the-snare trick that I mentioned a few weeks ago in the “Snare Tone” post.  It was really great… and this was in a live setting.  It helped the song to have a distinguished feel from the other songs in the setlist, aside from just sounding cool.  Another thing I did in conjunction with the paper was to loosen the snare wires a ton… to add length to the sound.  The paper cuts the high end out of the tone, but in so doing it also shortens the sustain of the drum significantly.  So loosening those snare wires can add some girth to the “dead” sound of the paper.  Actually, Risen Drums has been putting notched throw-offs on their snares lately – meaning the snares don’t just have two positions (on/off).  Instead, a notched throw-off provides 4 options: 1) an “on” position, 2) a “loosely on” position, 3) a “really loosely on” position, 4) an “off” position.  So to loosen the snares, all I have to do is reach down and notch my throw to the “really loosely on” position.

 Anyway… try it sometime.  A few sheets of paper and some loose snare wires.  I promise you’ll love it.