The perfect snare sound is the holy grail – and Kaelin Ellis thinks he’s found it

When it comes to the most agonised-over component of a mix, the snare often takes the cake. You’ll spend hours crafting a mix thinking you’ve nailed the snare sound, go to bed, wake up the next morning and all of a sudden it sounds off.

So could investing in the right snare drum you can count on be one of the best places to put your money as a producer?

In the latest episode of MusicTech’s My Forever Studio podcast – where we challenge some of the top modern producers and musicians to put together their fantasy music studio without any regard for budget – Kaelin Ellis, a multi-instrumentalist whose sample packs have been used by the likes of Kaytranada and TOKiMONSTA, waxes lyrical on the importance of finding the right snare sound.

In fact, one of the six items he chooses to go in his Forever Studio is the very specific 14” x 6” Orange County Sunburst Snare.

As he tells hosts Chris Barker and Will Betts, he would situate his fantasy Forever Studio within the tranquil landscapes of UNESCO World Heritage Site Taos Pueblo, New Mexico – right in a spaceship, no less. He reckons it would provide just the right environment to spark his creativity.

And one of the items he’d pick to kit out that rather unusual studio is an Orange County snare. Ellis says his fascination with having his own snare drum started as a kid playing drums in church. “Growing up going to play different churches, you get the lowest of the low when it comes to how something looks,” he says of the snares he had access to.

He later realised what was possible after he caught wind of late Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison’s blacked-out signature JJ1365 snare. “It had his name on it,” he says. “That was his snare drum. I was like, ‘Man, I would love a snare drum that’s mine.”

Ellis later realised what was possible in terms of the customisation that’s possible with snare drums when he once visited a music store in New Mexico. “They had this Orange County line… I remember one of the sound guys was like, ‘What are you looking for?’ I was like, ‘I’m looking for a nice snare.’”

But he was shown a number of snare drums north of $700 – out of his budget bracket. “He said, ‘Alright, so you want that snare.’ It looked nice, but he was like, ‘How much do you bet I could make that snare that looks better than this one sound better than that one.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a tall task.’ He grabs a drum key, tunes it, and was like, ‘Play it.’ I was like, ‘Ahhh!’”

“I lost it. I was like, ‘I need that sound and that snare.’ And I remember when I bought it, I took it everywhere. I played it on every kind of song you could think of. I played on a bluegrass record with this snare. I played on a hip-hop record with this snare. It was the most diverse tuning of a snare drum setup that I’d ever used.”

He fell in love with the snare so hard, in fact, that he has chosen it as one of the six lucky items to make it into his fantasy Forever Studio.

Kaelin Ellis is the latest guest on Season 8 of MusicTech’s My Forever Studio podcast, where we task some of the top producers and songwriters to put together their dream Forever Studio using whatever gear they desire.

While it’s an environment for freedom, there are some strict rules in the Forever Studio. Guests are permitted a limited number of items in their creative space, so they have to choose carefully. There will be nostalgia. There will be anecdotes. There may be gags. But there will be no bundles!

Subscribe to My Forever Studio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and check out all episodes so far via MusicTech.

Sam is the Associate News Editor for Guitar.com and MusicTech. Thoroughly immersed in music culture for the majority of his life, Sam has played guitar for 20 years, studied music technology and production at university, and also written for the likes of MusicRadar, Guitar World, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer.