Noam Wallenberg breaks down the snare processing used to recreate the drum sound from Nine Inch Nails' "Every Day is Exactly The Same", focusing on a dual-path gated reverb setup and the reasoning behind a key routing decision: keeping all effects in mono.
The two reverb paths run in parallel. The first is an analog chain through an EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath pedal into a JHS Muffuletta fuzz, which distorts the reverb tail and intensifies its harmonics. The second is a Valhalla Room set to about one second, compressed with an SSL compressor.
Both paths are deliberately mono, and the explanation of why is the core insight here. Stereo reverb creates a perceptible bloom where the dry snare starts centered and then widens, which makes the reverb feel like a separate event. Keeping it mono collapses that separation so the reverb fuses with the snare and reads as part of the instrument itself, not an effect layered on top.
Gates on both reverb returns cut the tails exactly when the next kick drum hits, creating a controlled, artificial afterglow. The signal sent to the reverbs is also gated, so only the snare feeds them with no hi-hat or kick bleed.