Where did this snare sound originate?

November 24, 2016 9:19 AM

I've recently noticed a particular, highly pitchy snare sound in lots of trap songs (see eg the snare in this Clams Casino track). I'm curious as to (a) where it originated and (b) how it was produced (to my ears it sounds like a heavily band-filtered snare sample, perhaps layered with pitched noise). Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
posted by Frobenius Twist to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

Response by poster: I'm probably overthinking a plate of trap beans here, but one reason I'm really curious about this is because trap production is usually very spare: as far as I know, the well-known trap samples are all 808 and 909 samples with no additional production beyond simple pitch adjustments for snare rolls. This new snare sound, though, is highly processed, which seems to be a philosophical shift in production style.
posted by Frobenius Twist at 9:37 AM on November 24, 2016

Best answer: To me that sounds like a pitched down (as in timestretched, not fancy modern pitch shifting) version of the young chop snare (e.g.), which as I understand it is an (already quite processed) 808 snare.
posted by advil at 9:47 AM on November 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Not sure there's much of a definitive history of specific sounds really available, but the trap snare in particular is definitely A Thing. Southside is a producer who uses it pretty heavily (Future - Never Gon Lose). Wheezy Beats come to mind as someone who's evolved it a bit farther, and will pitch it around some and mix it up with high-hats (Young Thug - Harambe).

To me it sounds a pretty direct continuation of older southern rap, specifically like 90's Memphis devil rap (Three 6 Mafia - Mystic Styles). A lot of the recordings from that era are pretty lo-fi too, and have inspired a lot of contemporary lo-fi sounds (Lil Ugly Mane, etc.). So taking similar beats and lo-fi'ing bits of them seems reasonable.

_{oh boy, do I love thinking too hard about rap!}
posted by so fucking future at 9:50 AM on November 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also, while trap production usually is very spare and has a lot of space in it, the sounds are often far from simple. So I wouldn't agree it that it sticks to straight 808/909s very much.
posted by so fucking future at 9:56 AM on November 24, 2016

Response by poster: Nice! It's definitely the Young Chop snare (and a google search leads to hits as far back as 2013).
posted by Frobenius Twist at 10:09 AM on November 24, 2016

I'm hardly a trap expert, but to me it sounds very much like an 808 clap run through some eq/gate/compression.
posted by neckro23 at 5:27 AM on November 25, 2016 [1 favorite]