Re: “preferred” starting velocity?

[Scott]

Personally, it really depends on the tone I’m going for. For example, if I’m working on a ballad type song and I’m using a brushed snare, then velocity 100 might be perfect as the tone will be different then 127. But if I’m doing a rock song then 125 (or 127 for the ‘crack’) might be what is needed as the tone of the snare will fit the song better.

There is always ways to make a 100 velocity snare sound louder in a mix without changing the fundamental sound (tone) inherent in that velocity layer itself. I wouldn’t turn up a 100 velocity snare part if the song called for it, just because it gets lost in a busy mix. I would add a compressor set to a natural compression (maybe 4:1 ratio and get about 2-3dB of compression) and then use the make-up gain to make it sit in the mix volume-wise.

And also, as godprobe pointed out, if the snare is still getting lost in a mix, it is usually caused by other similar frequencies of other instruments that need to be trimmed away…or panned.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor