# What has replaced the snare drum?



## teknoaxe (Apr 17, 2010)

Hey everyone! I'm TeknoAXE, and pleased to meet you!

So, I am somewhat of a weekend composer. I compose most of my stuff on Sonar 8 and VSampler and then post it on youtube. I don't think I'm an expert or anything, but I enjoy it and I'm not too shabby at it either.

Here's a couple of my recent works...one which is kind of sort of still in the works....





 Dedicated to a friend that's been suspended on youtube.





 I remixed a video of someone I'm subscribed to, and composed the background music.

My question revolves around the snare drum, though. It seems that contemporary composers of Movie and Video Game soundtracks seem to shy away from the snare drum in favor of something with less snap to it, and I can't figure out what they use in its place. Is it extra Bass Drum or Timpani? I'd like to try out more compositions that shy away from the snare as well, just as long as I've got adequate percussion to compliment what I'm doing.

Again, nice to meet you all!

Matt


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I don't really know the answer, but I'm wondering why shy away from the snare? I think it is very effective at evoking a martial feeling if that's what the piece requires. Is it just too old fashioned? It reminds me a lot of Christopher Franke's soundtracks to Babylon 5 from the mid 1990's. I know Steve Jablonsky uses a lot of explosive boom samples and filtered deep floor tom sounds in his soundtracks. Well worth looking up his work if you are not already familiar with it.





I enjoyed your pieces. Thanks.


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## teknoaxe (Apr 17, 2010)

I think the purpose of shunning the snare is to give a lot of scenes in Movies and Video Games more of an earthy feel to it, more of a pseudo multicultural appeal to the beat while still maintaining something that can go fairly fast.

Here's a song from Halo 3, that sort of demonstrates it:





But now that you mention it, it might be merely floor toms from a drumset. But especially in the end of the song, it seems there are other pieces of percussion at work.


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## teknoaxe (Apr 17, 2010)

Weston said:


> I enjoyed your pieces. Thanks.


Also, thanks for listening.


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## teknoaxe (Apr 17, 2010)

Whoah! I THINK I FOUND IT! The toms are a great choice, but I found what I was looking for in the Renaissance Faire!

They're the first set of drums that come up in this video. 





What are they called? Are they just snares without the snare?


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