5 Minutes To A Better Mix II: Snare Drum Distortion - Part 9 of 31

The snare drum is one of the most important parts of a great mix. If you find it getting buried beneath your other tracks as a mix progresses, you might need more than EQ to get it to cut through appropriately.

Adding What Isn’t Already There

Instead of simply trying to boost a frequency on the snare drum, it can be beneficial to add harmonic information that wasn’t there in the first place. You can do this by slapping on a simple distortion plugin to the snare. Used subtly this effect can be just what you need to get your snare to shine through a dense mix.