XR18 / X Air Snare starting point
Beginner Skill level for the five steps below.
Dial these in, then adjust by ear in the full mix. Listen for hi-hat getting louder when you push the snare fader; that's bleed, address with mic angle before EQ. Headroom: drum hits peak much higher than they look, so keep the loudest peaks on the main LR a few dB below clipping.
1High-pass filter
80-100 Hz
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) low cut / HPF, not a screenshot. Drawn at 12 dB/oct; the shaded area is what gets cut. Drawn at 90 Hz, the middle of the card's 80-100 Hz.
Removes kick bleed and low rumble; a snare has little useful content below ~100 Hz.
On the XR18 / X Air: No surface: in X Air Edit (or Mixing Station), open the channel and use the Low Cut switch/frequency in the Config / Preamp area.
2Gate
Attack Fastest · Hold ~40 ms · Release ~120-250 ms (longer keeps more ring)
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) gate screen, not a screenshot. The gate is optional here (often skipped); the graph shows it in case you use it. The threshold is an example only; set it by ear.
- Use
- Optional (often skipped)
- Threshold
- Just above hi-hat bleed
- Attack
- Fastest
- Hold
- ~40 ms
- Release
- ~120-250 ms (longer keeps more ring)
- Range
- ~10 dB
Light gating reduces hat bleed; a full-range gate eats ghost notes, so keep the range shallow or leave it off.
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > Gate tab: enable, then Threshold, Range, Attack, Hold, Release. A key filter is available for frequency-conscious triggering.
3EQ
- LC 90 Hz, 12 dB/oct
- 1 Bell 200 Hz, +1.5 dB, Q 0.9
- 2 Bell 650 Hz, -3.0 dB, Q 2.5
- 3 Bell 4 kHz, +2.0 dB, Q 1.5
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) EQ screen, not a screenshot. Curve shows the midpoint of the suggested ranges; HPF drawn at 12 dB/oct.
| Frequency | Gain | Q / width | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~200 Hz | +1 to +2 dB | Wide | Fatness/body of the drum. |
| 400-900 Hz | -2 to -4 dB | Narrow-medium | Boxy honk or ring. Sweep to find the worst spot rather than cutting a fixed number. |
| 3-5 kHz | +1 to +3 dB | Medium | Crack and stick attack. |
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > EQ tab: 4 parametric bands per input channel (shelf/peq modes on the outer bands).
4Compression
Attack ~10 ms · Release 80-120 ms (timing, not shown on graph)
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) compressor screen, not a screenshot. The card gives a ratio range (3:1 to 4:1); the graph shows the first value, 3:1. The threshold is an example only: it is set so a −6 dB peak gets about 3.5 dB of gain reduction, the middle of the card's target. Set yours by ear while watching the gain reduction (GR) meter. Drawn hard-knee with no makeup gain. Attack and release shape timing and don't change this curve.
- Ratio
- 3:1 to 4:1
- Attack
- ~10 ms
- Release
- 80-120 ms
- Gain reduction
- 3-4 dB
Evens out loud and soft hits while letting the crack through.
On the XR18 / X Air: Channel > Dynamics tab: Threshold, Ratio, Knee, Attack, Hold, Release, makeup Gain and Mix (parallel).
5FX send
Moderate send to a short plate/room
Short plate / room, about 0.9 s decay, send around -12 to -8 dB.
Illustration in the style of the XR18 / X Air (X Air Edit) sends view, not a screenshot. Bus numbering depends on how the venue file is patched; set the level by ear.
A little short reverb puts the snare in a space; too much washes out a small venue.
On the XR18 / X Air: X Air has 4 internal FX slots fed by dedicated FX sends (FX1-4) on every channel; set the send level on the channel's Sends tab and bring FX returns up on the FX return faders.
🎧 What to listen for
Listen for hi-hat getting louder when you push the snare fader; that's bleed, address with mic angle before EQ. Headroom: drum hits peak much higher than they look, so keep the loudest peaks on the main LR a few dB below clipping.
Common gear for Snare
- Shure SM57 · Snare mic
- Sennheiser e604 · Drum mic
Scene / preset file
Coming later: downloadable XR18 / X Air channel preset for this card.
Sources
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