Synthesis Tutorial: White Noise Electronic Snare Drum

Introduction

In the last synthesis tutorial, we created an 808 Kick drum using Logic Pro Xs ES2 synthesiser. In this tutorial we will be creating a snare drum using Logic Pro Xs ES2 as well, but this time we will also be making use of Logic’s stock effects plugins. However, unlike our last tutorial we won’t be using an actual “waveform”. Instead, we will be using “white noise” to create our snare sound.

White noise is different from other tonal waveforms in that white noise contains a wide range of frequencies, all of which are produced at the same volume simultaneously, as opposed to our four tonal waveforms which have a fundamental frequency and a decreasing level of harmonics of the fundamental, each with a different mathematical relationship depending on the waveform in question.

However, because white noise is “random” and contains a wide range of frequencies at the same volume simultaneously, it also means that it cannot be pitched. So unlike our 808 kick which was made using a sine wave (pure tone) and could be pitched to various keys, this snare sound will have only one un-changeable perceived pitch.

In addition to this, the sound produced is very electronic sounding and is therefore limited to electronic music genres, (think Kanye Wests, I Wonder) or perhaps in game or movie sound design. With this being said, learning the steps and processes behind it is useful and transferable for many applications.

If none of this makes sense but interests you, be sure to check out my earlier article on synthesisers and also my 808 kick drum tutorial. Without much more left to say, let’s get started.

Tutorial Steps

1.) Start by opening a software instrument track, then insert Logic Pro’s ES2 Synthesiser.

2.) Next click on the ES2 drop down preset menu and go to “Tutorial Settings”, then select “Analogue Saw Init”. This will give us a good place to start.

3.) We can now start designing our snare sound. Start by switching off oscillator 1. This can be done by simply clicking the green 1. Now switch on oscillator 3. Again, this can be done by simply clicking it.Then turn the dial on oscillator 3 from a saw wave to “noise”.

4.) Move the square in the mix triangle all the way to the bottom corner. This will give you a 100% noise setting. If you hold down a key, you should hear a distinctive white noise sound (sounds like a TV with no signal).

Before

After

5.) Next drag the “Sustain” on “ENV 3” down to around the half way point. This will give you a sound that has a shorter sustain time, thereby simulating a percussive hit more. At the same time you should also increase your “Release”, which will give your sound a nice tail end fade. This change should be noticeable enough if you hold down a key.

Before

After

6.) Now we can change the timbre of the white noise by turning  the “Tone” dial from all the way “Bright” to all the way “Dark”. Following this, adjust the “Distortion” increasing it by 1dB. This will help fill out your sound as well as giving it a more brittle snare like sound. Both of these settings are a matter of taste and you can play around with them with varying effect. However, it’s probably a good idea to go easy on the distortion.

Before

After

7.) Following that, insert an “Enveloper” in the audio effects plugin strip. The enveloper, can be found in the “Dynamics” category. We will use the enveloper to give the snare some click at the “attack” stage. To do this, simply increase the “Time” for the attack parameter to around 65ms. Then increase the “Gain” by 100%. This will make the click at the attack stage more impactful. If you hold down a key you should now hear something very reminiscent of a snare drum, albeit very electronic sounding.

Insert "Enveloper" in Audio FX

"Enveloper" Before

"Enveloper"  After

We could stop here, however, if you hold down a key and don’t take your finger off you'll notice that a white noise sound keeps on being produced. We don’t want this, because a real snare has the initial hit then a fade until there is no sound. To recreate this effect we will be using a “Noise Gate”. This effect controls the volume and like the name implies can be used to shut off a sound after it falls below a certain level (Threshold)

8.)  Insert a “Noise Gate” into the audio effects plugin strip, it too will be found under the “Dynamics” category. Change the “Threshold” setting to -19dB, this setting means that every time the volume falls below 19dB the volume will be cut off. After this, change the “Release” setting to around 250ms. This creates a fading out (Release) effect.

Insert "Noise Gate" into Audio FX

"Noise Gate" Before

"Noise Gate" After

9.) Lastly, we will add some additional distortion. This will fill the snare sound out a little bit more and should also give it more crunch/bite. Insert a distortion plugin into the audio effects channel strip. These can be found under the “Distortion” category. I used the standard Logic Pro X “distortion”. However, you can use whichever one you like. I then increased the “tone” to 7500Hz, however, this can be done to taste depending on the sound you're going for.

Insert "Distortion" Audio FX

"Distortion" Before

"Distortion" After

As a final touch, change the voice setting on ES2 from “poly” to “mono”. This will disable your ability to play chords, while also centralizing your sound source. Resulting in a sound that’s more typical of a percussive instrument. At this point you should have a sound that is snare-like. If not, take a close look at final image BELOW and make sure your ES2 synthesiser matches it. In addition to this, make sure your effects plugins and plugin settings are also similar to images throughout the tutorial.

Conclusion

If you followed each step correctly, you should now have a very electronic sounding snare drum. You could enhance the sound further by adding some compression and EQ, but I will leave this up to you as those two effects will be almost entirely a matter of taste.

I hope this tutorial was helpful and provided a little more insight into sound synthesis. Don’t forget you can tweak and change parameters to your liking and this is only a guide. Until next time, happy synthesising.