Can't tune my snare

_brian_

Member
No matter how many videos I watch I just cant tune my snare, it's an acrolite which I got off of ebay.

I can't hear the pitch difference, it sounds too complex to me.

I have to tighten the snare right down on each side of the snare wires long before I come to the other lugs because it does not tighten there.

What are my options? I do not want to play an electronic kit and as drums aren't my only instrument & I have a full time job I do not have the time to worry about tuning.

I eventually want to have a full acoustic kit ripe for recording, but this is really depressing me and getting me down.

I just don't get how to do it at all.

I've used a mallet, my hand, sticks, put my finger in the middle of the skin - nothing seems to work for me.
 
Is the snare sound what's fucking with you?

If so, loosen the snares, put a stick under them and bridge said stick from one side of the hoop to the other to keep them from making contact with the head.

Tension the hoop as even as possible to start (visually, the lugs should be as close to same as you can).

The snare side should be tighter than the batter side IMO.

The top hoop will become looser where you do rim shots, just seems to be the way it is.
 
New heads and a 'Drum Dial' may be a good start.

Used one for a few and it did give a good starting point. But you need to learn how/why/what you are doing.

Well, unless the drum is just warped or something.
 
Is the snare sound what's fucking with you?

If so, loosen the snares, put a stick under them and bridge said stick from one side of the hoop to the other to keep them from making contact with the head.

Tension the hoop as even as possible to start (visually, the lugs should be as close to same as you can).

The snare side should be tighter than the batter side IMO.

The top hoop will become looser where you do rim shots, just seems to be the way it is.

No it's not, I wanted to overhaul the snare so I took everything apart and polished it up - so I had the ability to remove the snares and tune before replacing them.

It's very strange. The drum didn't sound very good when I received it but I put that down to shipping and the guy hadn't used it for a while.

I've had limited experience with drums but what I've noticed is, if you turn the hoops around without the screws in it becomes tight at certain points - so something is oval. (I thought some friction might be present and that's why I wasn't able to tune.)

It seems very strange to me that the hoop for the resonant head can look so mishapen when tuned. At both ends of the snare the hoop protrudes from the skin around 5-6mm but go round 90 degrees in either direction from those points and the hoop protrudes double that.

But if I hadn't tuned it the way I did there would be a huge amount of wrinkles either side of the snares and the skin would be extremely tight across the other way.

Could I have bought a fucked snare?

The batter head looks fine and seemed to tune ok.
 
Ooh yeah if the snare is out of round that will mess things up bad, or if the hoops are out of round.

I have a black galaxy sparkle 5x14 acrolite and I think it sounds pretty good.
 
Ooh yeah if the snare is out of round that will mess things up bad, or if the hoops are out of round.

I have a black galaxy sparkle 5x14 acrolite and I think it sounds pretty good.

The Acrolites do sound good to me too, that's why I thought about getting one. I'm thinking about taking the drum into work and have one of the mechanics look at it. They have a press and might be able to push it back into shape.

This is why I like to purchase the best and brand new equipment I can (but sadly i dont have the money for it usually) because it helps to remove the possibility of the equipment being faulty. I'm very happy knowing it's user error because then I can do something about it.

While I'm on the subject of drums - I wonder if someone could give me some kick drum advice. A song I've written is 130 bpm, and has 4x and 5x 8th note kicks in a row, but my kick drum is inconsistent for them. I'm OK with two in a row but I've been practising for a while now and, how can I describe it, it's almost like a dropping ball bouncing;

o....o...o..o..

when it should be;

o....o....o....o....

Is this just simply down to practice or have I perhaps not set my pedal up correctly?

It's just an Iron Cobra 200 series pedal.

Thanks!
 
I have an older cobra and I grease and clean it once a year. I've witnessed many a universal joint almost completely ceased on stuff that people bring in.
 
Bought a DW5000 and I no longer have a problem.

The hoops, esp the resonant head for the snare are definitely mishapen.

I guess I can just keep measuring the diameter and bending them back into shape. If not I’ll have to just sell it for spares and repairs.
 
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