drum tuning

  • Thread starter Thread starter pandamonk
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Minion said:
You think it is Annoying for you!! I"m the One that Is Forced to Type like this, If I could Stop I would but I have a Form is Dyslexia which as a effect causes me to pretty Much ignore most aspects of Proper Punctuation and Capitalization But it sure Beats Not being able to Spell or read at all....

Sorry if it Bothers you............ :o
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I had no idea man. Sorry. :( There are just some people who do it just to be annoying.
 
Ok. I took the pillow out of my bass drum and attempted to tune it properly. I followed a few methods, and it doesn't sound good at all. Maybe I'm just too used to a thud with no sustain, but I'm sure that it shouldn't sound like that. I'll record a clip of it tomorrow if i remember. Anything you could recommend in the meantime would be great though.
 
pandamonk said:
There ain't really huge dents, there are small marks but the light reflected in such a way to make it look terrible(look at the snare, no dents...just splattered blood). I use light sticks and have a relatively loose grip. I do "hit the drum like" I'm "cracking a whip". These skins are around 2 years old, but over the last 6 months have hardly been played. They are quite shit skins, but I bought them 'cause i fancied black skins. I am hoping to be able to afford new heads soon, and that is really the reason why I asked. I don't wanna buy them and screw it up my tuning wrong. I apply most of the methods you have all suggested to my tuning, but still don't like the sound. Only thing I haven't done is tune to a piano.
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Okay, because in the photo - man those looked like "dyna-whopping" dents... and I was going "young drummer with tree trunks for sticks - I remember when that was me!" :p


Oh, btw - I didn't intend to sound like learning to tune would be a waste on you, it's just that with shitty heads - you're not really going to have much luck tuning them. Virtually all "stock" heads are crap, and that includes Pearl and Tama heads.

The best heads that I've seen that actually come on a set are either DW, or Ludwig - who has their own head line.

If you like black heads, Remo makes a black pinstripe so you may want to look into those, and you're right - black heads do look cool. I personally love Pinstripes - all of my friends who play locally use thinner heads, usually ambassadors, but then they will put a big huink of something on them to help kill any overtones, and I'm always thinking to myself(when i see it),"You use a medium-thin head so it has a ton of tone, then you put tape on it to kill the tone - that doesn't make sense?!?!" If I were going to use ambassadors, I'd at least use coated heads for the extra muffling effect.

So, I just prefer Pinstripes - granted, I tune a bit higher than most guys do, but I like the sound I get out of the drums with them.

One of th things you will learn over time is that you can only hit the drum so hard, and after a certain point - the drum just won't get any louder. At that point, you're just wasting energy, but it will take you a while - just like it takes all of us - to learn what that point is. Keep playing with that whip cracking motion, and make sure that you're playing that way from the wrist - your wrist should sort of roll, so that instead of having to raise your arm to make the motion, you just sort of twist/snap your wrist. That will allow you to get alot of force with very little wasted energy or motion.


Tim
 
PhilGood said:
It really depends on the sound you like. Some drummers want a "thud" for all of their drums. I prefer to coax as much sustain out of each drum as I can get. Actually I wish I could get my toms to ring a little longer. I even bought the RIMS system to mount them.

I would probably be happier with all maple shells, but just can't afford them right now. Plus I do not have any aspirations for my music career anymore. It's all just for fun and my own pleasure. I just love being able to get the drums to sound the way I like in my own project studio.
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Uh oh Phil, sounds like you're a candidate for

"ROTO-TOMS REVISTED!"​

:p


Tim
 
pandamonk said:
Didn't know this. Hmm, anything I've read, which isn't that much has said that the top on snare should be higher, and toms should be same
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That's exactly opposite of the way I tune - I tune the bottom heads tighter all the way around the kit, because it gives you a sound with a lot of punch.

It will give you that John Bonham kind of drumsound that's really powerful an bombastic sounding.


Tim
 
Tim Brown said:
Uh oh Phil, sounds like you're a candidate for

"ROTO-TOMS REVISTED!"​

:p


Tim
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Tim, that is freakin' HILARIOUS!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D
 
Tim Brown said:
Okay, because in the photo - man those looked like "dyna-whopping" dents... and I was going "young drummer with tree trunks for sticks - I remember when that was me!" :p
....
One of th things you will learn over time is that you can only hit the drum so hard, and after a certain point - the drum just won't get any louder. At that point, you're just wasting energy, but it will take you a while - just like it takes all of us - to learn what that point is. Keep playing with that whip cracking motion, and make sure that you're playing that way from the wrist - your wrist should sort of roll, so that instead of having to raise your arm to make the motion, you just sort of twist/snap your wrist. That will allow you to get alot of force with very little wasted energy or motion.


Tim
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Don't forget tip types. Accorn tipped sticks will do much less damage to a head than round tip sticks. I was using Vic Firth F1's a while back and kept wondering where the dents were coming from. Then it dawned on me that it was from using pea-sized round tips.
 
I found an interesting piece of equipment a while back that i thought might be interesting to post here...

I myself (as you probably guessed) am someone who also has trouble (a lot) tuning drums...

I found this thing called a "Drum dial" that apparently gives you an indication of the tension at each rod. It's a good 100$ CAN and the dudes at the drum shop counter said it doesn't help...can someone follow up on this?
 
RVLVNGDRS said:
I found an interesting piece of equipment a while back that i thought might be interesting to post here...

I myself (as you probably guessed) am someone who also has trouble (a lot) tuning drums...

I found this thing called a "Drum dial" that apparently gives you an indication of the tension at each rod. It's a good 100$ CAN and the dudes at the drum shop counter said it doesn't help...can someone follow up on this?
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Tama used to make something like this called the "drum watch". It's not bad, but it's still only for ballpark tuning. The way to use it is to tune your drum the pitch you like and then measure the tension at each rod and then average it. (example 3X.XXpsi measured at each lug, add them up, then devide by the number of lugs.) Then go back and set all the rods the same. I found it pretty useful at first, but later I got to trust my ear and then later my fingers. It's funny, but I've gotten to a point where I can feel in my fingers how much tension is on a lug, so lug as it's lubed well.

Maybe I'm just well lubed... :rolleyes:
 
Tim Brown said:
That's exactly opposite of the way I tune - I tune the bottom heads tighter all the way around the kit, because it gives you a sound with a lot of punch.

It will give you that John Bonham kind of drumsound that's really powerful an bombastic sounding.


Tim
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Yeh, i tuned this cheap kit, with old heads, like that, and it surprizingly sound pretty good even though the heads are old.
 
Ok i recorded again with the kick drum with no pillow. It sounds better than it does to me while playing but still not great in my opinion. Here is the clip. Don't judge the playing, lol, :o
 
Do you have a hole in the front head?
What heads are you using? How old are they?
What kind of beater?

You have the kick tuned much higher than I tend to. If you detune the batter head a bit, the ring will go away. (unless it's the front head that is ringing)
 
Yeah, I also think that's too tight. Is this the 20" Pacific kick that you have, or the 22" on the cheapie kit? It sounds like cheapie thin heads either way.

Try some dampening at the edges of the heads. Just a foot of it or so until you get the punch without the ring. A thicker head would allow for slightly lower tuning and tones.

Where are you placing the mic? It sounds like right at the front head with no hole.
 
Farview said:
Do you have a hole in the front head?
What heads are you using? How old are they?
What kind of beater?

You have the kick tuned much higher than I tend to. If you detune the batter head a bit, the ring will go away. (unless it's the front head that is ringing)
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No
Unknown
Who knows, lol
felt beater
Yeah the last of the methods i tried said to try a tighter batter head than resonant by up2 4-5 notes.
 
The 22" cheapie, and yeah they're cheap old heads, but I've managed to get an ok sound(to my liking)out of the other drums. My 20" Pearl bass drum sounds a lot better but still not great. I'll trying recording that at the weekend. How did you guess with mic placement? lol. It's the only way i've recorded in the past, but with the hole :o . "Try some dampening at the edges of the heads. Just a foot of it or so...", I've got some tape at the edge of the batter head(it sounded even worse without it, lol). What do you mean "Just a foot of it or so"? Should i place a small towel inside, and tape it down? What about the gallon of paint? Sounds interesting, lol. :D
 
I've just brought the batter head down to around the same "note" as the resonant (It actually doesn't have a note, but sounds similar). I'm not actually allowed 2 play my drums in the house, and only record when my parents are out, so i can't test what it sounds like. But playing lightly, it sounds a little better, but still not to my taste. :(
 
pandamonk said:
The 22" cheapie, and yeah they're cheap old heads, but I've managed to get an ok sound(to my liking)out of the other drums. My 20" Pearl bass drum sounds a lot better but still not great. I'll trying recording that at the weekend. How did you guess with mic placement? lol. It's the only way i've recorded in the past, but with the hole :o . "Try some dampening at the edges of the heads. Just a foot of it or so...", I've got some tape at the edge of the batter head(it sounded even worse without it, lol). What do you mean "Just a foot of it or so"? Should i place a small towel inside, and tape it down? What about the gallon of paint? Sounds interesting, lol. :D
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Try a towel or a small pillow. You won't need to use the paint can, I imagine. You're getting a nice "thwap" as it is.
 
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