Snare drums are an essential component in a lot of genres; from dance to hip hop and RnB and all types of metal and rock, snares really have an impact beyond just a monotonous sound. The usage of snare drum samples is dependent on the exact style of music, as well as the tempo of the songs they are featured in.
In urban music like hip hop and RnB, snare drum samples usually dances around beats 2 and 4 in the musical bar measurement. The kick in these songs usually takes place on one of the stronger beats, like the first down beat, and the reason for this is that the kick is more of a rhythmic statement than the snare, although the latter still has its place – and is very important indeed.
There are literally thousands of different snare types out there for use in computer music production. Two of the types seem to dominate the music scene, though, and these are the real snares recorded in professional settings and made available to beat makers, and the snare drum samples that are generated with different programming in devices like drum machines and keyboard workstations. The snare drums made by computers can also be very realistic and not synthetic-sounding.
Regarding effects, there are limitless possibilities you can spend years wrapping your head around. If you want to alter snare drum samples beyond recognition or to simply tweak them, have at it. From reverbs to distortion and delay effects, just about everything is available. What some music producers do is analyze the snare and determine what makes it sound so good, before trying to make the rest of the samples match its character. Coherence is the name of the game.
In dance music, the snare drum samples are often combined with the kick drums and ‘teamed up’ for beats 2 and 4 from the bar, with the kick hitting consistently from beats 1 through 4. This technique is used simply to relieve the ear of the persistent bass kick on every beat, and also serves other uses, especially if the snare and kick do not share the same groove template. This sort of an affect can result in a dynamic drum samples groove that is very pleasing to the ear and we can actually spot this in many club hits playing today. The technique has been popular for over 10 years now!
Using snare drum samples as best as you can is an art form, and it is an easy goal to reach consistently if you experiment enough. You need to keep an ear out for new methods and new techniques all the time, and apply what you want to your own tracks, not worrying about the fine things at this point.
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