drum tuning

elly-d

elly-d

Member
hey guys, i normally hang in the analogue section but i have a question for you guys. i have been a 'drummer' for years now and i must have only tried to tune my kit a couple of times because i am crap at it. anyway i was thinking of buying one of the drumdial tuners. do any of you own one and what are your oppinions?

or if you would like to offer me advice on tuning that would be cool too, i have a recording session coming up and my drums sound crap.

cheers.
 
They can be useful if they truly measure skin tension, but if they only measure tension rod torque they can be really misleading because you can EASILY have a problematic tension screw that grabs or rubs, or the nut is tight and causes the dial to misread.

You can't really replace your ears, but a head tension meter might be the next best thing.
 
Drum-dials are okay, but you need to learn it by ear. It's not hard. It just takes some practice. Take one of your toms, and play with it. Here's how I do it: Start with just one head loosely installed. Start tightening in small increments around the drum until the wrinkles disappear. Find the lowest natural resonance of the drum (when the head just starts to ring freely and clearly) and make sure the tone is the same at each lug by gently tapping the head with the key about an inch in from the lug. Make small incremental adjustments to get each lug in pitch. Take your time. Then install and tune the other head to the same pitch. Once both heads are in tune with themselves and eachother, you're basically done. From there, you can fine-tune the drum by slightly raising or lowering the resonant heads pitch to your personal taste. You can also tweak your stick rebound and feel by slightly tweaking the batter head. Just make sure each lug is at the same pitch and don't deviate too far from the natural resonant frequency of the drum. You can't make a 10" tom sound like a 14" and have it sound good.

Drum-dials are a handy tool once you know how to tune a drum, but they aren't very useful if you have no clue. They usually come with some generic recommendations, but they suck. Use your ears!
 
I have a Drum Dial and use it to get even tension (although as tmix indicates - that can be misleading if you are not aware of a specific problem with threading on a tension rod, etc). I still tweak the drums by ear to get the tone/resonance I need - the dial just helps me get there a little faster.

Since I've played drums for 40 years I learned to tune by ear long before things like drum dials were around and as indicated nothing is better than trusting your ears.

Drum dials can be helpful if you change heads a lot (I started to use a dial when I worked in a drum shop and had to construct kits all the time). They can also be helpful if you are either at a gig where you can't hit your drums before the first tune (say a formal affair, etc) or in a very loud venue where you can't really hear the drums well (say a club with massive stereo speakers right above the drums) - but if you don't know how to get good tone to start with (using your ears and experiance) than a dial has little value.
 
Drum dials can have some use, but personally i think they are a waste of money, because even with it, you still should know how to tune. I HIGHLYYYYYYY suggest to read the tuning bible that bentrabbit posted, I was going to send the same link as well. It is probably my favorite drum related instruction website.
 
thanks for that guys. i pick my drums up from the practice room on sunday i will have a read and a play and maybe save £70 if it turns out good. :)

cheers.
 
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