ez_willis
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STFU, dickhead.
STFU, dickhead.
ez_willis
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Let me clarify:
I'll use as little or as much common sense as I feel like using at the moment I post a particular message.
PhilGood
Juice box hero
Well, you can, but if you are going to be one of the drummers who thinks this is the way to go then I recommend changing occupations and do something more productive.
Continuously bashing your head against a brick wall comes to mind.
Let me rephrase this so I'm not misunderstood:
You can go ahead and try to tune the top and bottom heads to the exact same note as each other and get the drum to a specific pitch, but it will be extremely time consuming and in the long term, futile and pointless. If you are a drummer who likes to waste a lot of time tuning the drum to these moronic standards then be my guest, but your time would be better spent banging your forehead on a building made from kilned hardened clay rectagles.
Do I make myself clear now?
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mikeh
New member
The traditional and I believe logigal approach is to first tune each drum to itself (to achieve the best tone and resonance for each drum) - and then tweak as needed to allow a group of drums to work well together (both from a tonality aspect and to avoid buzzes, etc. This has nothing to do with specific notes - just with "tone"
I spent waaaay too much time at various points in my drumming life trying all the "new" ideas. Tuning drums to specific tones based on the actual dimensions of each drum (I actually bough a book with conversion tables) - or - tuning drums to 3rds, 4th, etc. - or - tuning drums to the key of a song (naturally this is a studio thing vs. a live thing). I even took all the hardware off of drums to determine the "ideal" tone of each shell. Hell, back in the days of the mega drum sets I actually tried to have each note in a scale covered - almost 2 scales (octabans, roto toms, concert toms and toms going from 6" to 18") - looking back on all this, my time perhaps would have been more productive trying to compromise a stucco wall with my forehead.
After all of that - I continuously kept coming back to tuning the drums to themselves to achieve the best tone resonance.
I spent waaaay too much time at various points in my drumming life trying all the "new" ideas. Tuning drums to specific tones based on the actual dimensions of each drum (I actually bough a book with conversion tables) - or - tuning drums to 3rds, 4th, etc. - or - tuning drums to the key of a song (naturally this is a studio thing vs. a live thing). I even took all the hardware off of drums to determine the "ideal" tone of each shell. Hell, back in the days of the mega drum sets I actually tried to have each note in a scale covered - almost 2 scales (octabans, roto toms, concert toms and toms going from 6" to 18") - looking back on all this, my time perhaps would have been more productive trying to compromise a stucco wall with my forehead.
After all of that - I continuously kept coming back to tuning the drums to themselves to achieve the best tone resonance.
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mrface2112
Well-known member
i tune my drums to a 4th apart. in my experience this is most easily accomplished by using drums that are 2 inches apart in size.....say 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16. using a 12 and 13 really makes tuning difficult.
and absolutely you can tune a drum to a note.
YMMV
cheers,
wade
and absolutely you can tune a drum to a note.
YMMV
cheers,
wade
Seafroggys
Well-known member
Yeah I tried the interval deal once, usually one drum would be in its sweet spot the other two would sound thin. Now that I tune them to themselves, they all sound beefy.
E
eeb
New member
i'm pretty much a newb on the drums.. a converted guitarist.. i had to do what i had to do...
that being said I don't think to much about tuning to specific intervals and especially not notes... the idea of tuning to notes is not something I would use in my current band... i just tune until it sounds pleasant to my ear.
this mostly out of pure ignorance because honestly I really don't know what my drum set "should" sound like.. but i like the sound i get out of it.
that being said I don't think to much about tuning to specific intervals and especially not notes... the idea of tuning to notes is not something I would use in my current band... i just tune until it sounds pleasant to my ear.
this mostly out of pure ignorance because honestly I really don't know what my drum set "should" sound like.. but i like the sound i get out of it.
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mrface2112
Well-known member
in my experience, it really depends on the drums. of course, it so happens that my drums, when tuned to their fundamental, seem to get right around that 4th on their own. so that makes it a whole lot easier.
then again, i've been tuning this particular set of drums for almost 20 years, so i know exactly where each of em likes to live.
there's no universal truth here.
cheers,
wade
M
mikeh
New member
I agree it does depend so much on the individual shells - but I've found with standard "fusion sizes" (even diameters 10', 12' 14') the fundamental tone does tend to get relatively close to what sounds like intervals of about 4th's.
When I had 13" toms (and even 15") it was much harder to dial in tome that worked all the way around the toms).
At the end of the day - a drummer's tone is a personal thing and he/she needs to tune the drums to sound how he/she thinks they should sound.
As an example, Stuart Copeland's tuning was much higher than many would likely want - but for his style they sounded good.
When I had 13" toms (and even 15") it was much harder to dial in tome that worked all the way around the toms).
At the end of the day - a drummer's tone is a personal thing and he/she needs to tune the drums to sound how he/she thinks they should sound.
As an example, Stuart Copeland's tuning was much higher than many would likely want - but for his style they sounded good.
M
mrface2112
Well-known member
i think this is pretty much what i said.
with the exception of a 13 (that usually doesn't get put up on the kit) i use a 10, 12, 14 and 16. no problems getting an interval of 4ths out of them nor getting them to resonate quite nicely. cheers,
wade
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Rick_Levine
New member
I don't try to make notes. I try to make toms sing tonefully with lots of even sustain. I use all three relative tunings based on the effect I want. A higher resonant produces great sustain and tone when the relative pitch is correct. A resonant tuned to the same pitch as the batter produces a growl, as the pitch is never exactly the same, but the growl is cool for some things. A lower resonant produces a doppler effect sound where the sustain drops in pitch. Cool for a compressed big '80s sound.
Aren't you asking a bit much from drummers?
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ermghoti
New member
I just checked The Big Intarwebz Guide to Musical Theory and Animal Porn, and as I thought: chords have root notes. Guess which note people are talking about when discussing tuning drums to a note? (hint: use common sense)
Seafroggys
Well-known member
^^^ But that has nothing to do with anything in this thread. And besides, the dominent of a chord I hear is always the top note, rather than the root.
ez_willis
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Rick_Levine
New member
If you want to know what it takes to make a set sound clean, read this, even if you'll never do it. It doesn't get into any of the nuances, but you'll get the idea.I'm not a drummer!
http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/
ez_willis
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I read the first one. From what I've read so far, this version is better. I'll read it, twice. I'm a bass player turned write/play/record everything myself. I've been playing drums for a few years, but only for a few months per year. The rest of the time I'm tracking other instruments. Drums are the most difficult for me, because the learning curve is steep because of the amount of variables.
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Elton Bear
Unregistered Abuser
The dominant note of a scale, and therefore a chord, is the 5th, correct.
That does not mean that the human ear hears that note as the most powerful. Try playing a C, E, and G into a tuner - what note does it register? The C.
That's why the chord is called C Major not G major.
Prick.
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Rick_Levine
New member
That's it for me. One head has 6, 8, or 10 lugs. One drum has double that. The shell resonates at certain frequencies. There are two heads that interplay with the shell and the other drums. Then there's the whole kit that resonates together and causes sympathetic vibrations.
Then there's the room, that interacts with all the drums and standing waves together, including resonances and sympathetic vibrations.
Then there's the mics.
I'm going to bed.
ez_willis
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Not to mention head selection, wood types, AND how you hit them.
Maybe that's why drummers are so messed up???
PhilGood
Juice box hero
Not to mention head selection, wood types, AND how you hit them.
Maybe that's why drummers are so messed up???
Whoa! Let's not forget shell thickness and even the direction the grain of the wood! Drums where the wood runs the direction of the diameter of the shell have a higher fundamental that drums where the majority of the grain runs from bearing edge to bearing edge!
And drummers have PLENTY of reasons for being messed up!
Mine involves my mother!
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