The few snare drums I’ve seen up close and personal have a lever to lower the snares. The drum can then be played as a tom-tom. But, I always find, the snares still rattle often brushing against the bottom drum head. Yes, there is a “dial” or “crank” by which the snares can be lowered or raised slightly, but…
Do drummers really mess with this? It’s not like you can easily switch between snare and tom-tom… Any drummers wish to share their experiences? - Jinx
I mostly just take the snares off in large group pieces where the rattling of the snares against the head in a rest is annoying. Especially in a piece where the snare (or the entire section) is tacet.
A snares-off snare doesn’t sound like a tom-tom. More like a lowish timbale. I will play with the snare off for some songs, particularly Latin songs. It’s not that hard to flick the snare on and off during a song, but it takes practice and you need to position the snare so that the lever can flicked easily (just beside your left knee for a right-hander). As for the dial, yes it’s used. You can go from a rattley sound to a snappy sound (going from playing 50s blues to funk) by tightening the dial. You should adjust the straps of your snare so that your most commonly used setting is near the middle of the dial. If you do this, when you flick the lever the snare will come completely off.
I hardly ever use this function, but that’s just me. I find a lot of reggae drummers leave the snares off to take advantage of the timbale-like ring a muffled snare makes. If a muffled snare still has the snares brushing against the head, it sounds like the snares are a little too tight, but that’s all a matter of personal preference. It’s good to have it though, because the bottom of a snare is a veritable kazoo when any kind of sound is next to it (bass guitar, stereo, sonorous flatulence) and it turns the sound into an annoying buzzing sound, which is not desireable in solo passages or quiet portions of music, or in general when your stereo is on. It also is handy to have when you need to change your snares. BTW, a properly working snare strainer should be smooth as silk and quiet. However, only one of my snares boasts this quality. Changes the sound of the snare too, having a strainer…much more versatile this way. (Think 70s-80s snare sound versus a modern day snare sound…all a matter of muffling, tuning, and snare tension, and in a few more cases, EQ.)