How high do you tune your drums?

T

The549

a hack
Especially the snare...I just recently removed the plastic washers and replaced with metal ones...I noticed that on all the tuning how to's online it was too tight for the plastic washers to work. I tightened up both sides and now am getting the best sound I ever have, which the snares themselves the same or a bit looser. Before tightening the head, it was ringing MORE. I'm going to be recording soon...

Thinking of tuning toms medium, and an 8 lug snare 'high', although maybe I've been missing the boat all these years and my new version of high is normal for most people? Also do you tune your snare batter or reso higher?

For example, this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxm3QunDjUs

My toms are an order of a magnitude less tight, with higher reso tuning.
 
The549 said:
Especially the snare...I just recently removed the plastic washers and replaced with metal ones...I noticed that on all the tuning how to's online it was too tight for the plastic washers to work. I tightened up both sides and now am getting the best sound I ever have, which the snares themselves the same or a bit looser. Before tightening the head, it was ringing MORE. I'm going to be recording soon...

Thinking of tuning toms medium, and an 8 lug snare 'high', although maybe I've been missing the boat all these years and my new version of high is normal for most people? Also do you tune your snare batter or reso higher?

For example, this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxm3QunDjUs

My toms are an order of a magnitude less tight, with higher reso tuning.
Click to expand...


IMO, It really is a matter of taste and what sound you're trying to achieve. I happen to like my snare really tight but if it's not working for the given song, I'll start making adjustments (not only to the snare but the entire kit too) until I get the drum sound I want for the song.

I have recently been playing with tuning the the kit to specific notes with the snare tuned to the key of the song. If you do an internet search on tonal tuning there is all kinds of information on the subject.
 
I tune my batter head high, with my reso tuned lower. The inherent problem I find with the snare resonant is that it goes out of tune quickly, so I don't tune it until I really need it for a perfect performance, otherwise I will just stretch it to death and be forced to replace it. The batter head I tune almost every second day, nice and crisp sounding. I always use a coated head.

A snare will never sound so good as when both heads have been freshly tuned. I love that sound.
 
1 said:
I tune my batter head high, with my reso tuned lower. The inherent problem I find with the snare resonant is that it goes out of tune quickly, so I don't tune it until I really need it for a perfect performance, otherwise I will just stretch it to death and be forced to replace it. The batter head I tune almost every second day, nice and crisp sounding. I always use a coated head.

A snare will never sound so good as when both heads have been freshly tuned. I love that sound.
Click to expand...

I did notice that my batter detunes far quicker than any other drum on the set.
 
I tune the reso head higher than the batter head. There is more than one way to skin a cat..er..drum.

All of this is dependant on what type of drum you have and what type of sound you are looking to get.
 
I'm looking for maximum response throughout the dynamic range, and as little 'honk' as possible from non center snare hits.
 
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