Try turning your stick around where you are holding the side closest to the tip of the stick and use the butt side of the stick to lay across the rim. Basically hold the stick backwards. Try different sections of the stick and find where it gives you the fattest sound.

Using the spot about where your thumb is showing in your picture, the stick will give you a good pop sound.

They have a product on eBay that I've seen listed every once in awhile _ well actually there are two.

One is the Russ Miller Groove Wedge _ and you can find that one pretty easily on eBay and other music retailers.

The other is the same concept _ but is metal and looks to be just a cut out portion of hoop that you stack via spacers above your primary rim and then uses two longer tension rods to attach to the drum and to tension the drum itself.

Can't remember the name that one goes under though.

When looking at the image of your Trixon snare set up _ it does seem like there isn't much meat on the bone in terms of height of rim to head _ and that evans head looks almost brand new _ so maybe one of the above products would help.

Is the height of that rim generally smaller than other rims? Or do you have the drum under super maximum tension?

Ohm

As stated, turn the stick around. Better sound. Move the stick tip different distances from the rim until you find the best click. Hit straight across the head. Don't forget to keep your hand off the head as well.

Are you expecting the snares themselves to rattle when you cross-stick? Because they won't. I'm confused about your question, in that respect.

If you aren't hitting the stick and the hoop in the right manner/the right place, you won't get much. My only comment is that it's very hard not to touch the head when you are cross-sticking like this. Jake Hanna, Bernard Purdie, along with a host of others, splay(ed) their fingers across the head, lightly holding the stick in the match grip 'fulcrum' between thumb and first joint of the index finger. Jake went so far as to use the bead end of the stick rather than the butt end so that he could rapidly address the snare or a cymbal with match grip in the left hand. Try more stick on the head, then less stick on the head, and try it at right angles to the hoop at, say, 2-3 o'clock (directly above the butt end of the snare works best, assuming a 9 to 3 snare orientation). There is a happy medium where you will get the familiar tone. I've also found that die-cast hoops are worse than steel or brass hoops for making this sound - they will be 'deader', less lively. Also, how is your snare drum tuned? A snare with what I will politely call 'grunge' tuning will have less ability to produce this sound than a properly tuned (and unmuffled) drum.

As already stated here, play around with stick position & tuning. Stick size also is a factor. I don't use my AJ4,s or 7As on reggae gigs for example, but something beefier. In the studio I have used a sharpie (perm marker) to mark my rimshot (side stick) placement on my sticks in order to get a uniform sound. It can also help you train yourself to use that position naturally.

RickVieh's post above is well written and when he mentioned Bernard Purdie I immediately thought of this video on youtube:[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLHQG20Xsyg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLHQG20Xsyg[/ame]

from behind you can see his side sticking very well. I watch this often 'cause he's just so great!

Also, sometimes what sounds dry behind a closed miced kit sounds really nice through a PA (FOH) with some reverb & a bit of compression. This is subjective, but something to think about.

I play traditional and find it easy to spin the stick around for this technique, I have always called "cross stick" playing the snare. it might be wrong...Hmmmm

Anyway, I have found that if you need to get in and out of cross stick fast, playing traditional facilitates this easily. You flip the stick, cross the snare and the flip back for traditional grip to play (whatever) with that grip and back again. If you need 'light speed' to a crash or the hat the but end will work fine in a pinch.:)

I did want to add these details however: The drum is played with the bead of the stick against the head, and the 'handle' across the rim. Altering the position of the bead, relative to the edge of the drum, has a HUGE impact on the sound you get. When I play "cross stick" in the studio, where consistency is king, I mark a small 'target' on the batter head where the bead goes (about the size of a quarter) and also draw a line around the stick 'handle' as a guide. This way I am hitting the rim with the 'sweet' part of the stick and the bead is at the same position on the head. It works great!

Like Rick said, if you are expecting snare buzz, that doesn't happen. You get the hollow 'knock' sound, a lot like a wood block (sort-of).

Bingo! +1 Clapping Happy2

John

Damn! I never thought about that! One more reason to love VDF! Mind Blowi