T
tswsdrummer4
New member
as far as the ringing of the drums, check out moon gels. I use one on each tom and for me it provides the perfect amount of muting, without killing the overall tone of the drum.
T
tswsdrummer4
New member
oh and know how i know you are a guitar player? you used the word "riffing" when referring to playing the drums 
D_Vincent
New member
lol...yeah typical guitar player lingo..."Riffing"
D
DoublePunch
New member
Drum Tuning
Out of all the crap I've purchased over the past 20+ years, my best purchase -bar none - has been a Drum Dial. You can check them out at www.drumdial.com. You can usually pick them up for about $60 at GC or Musician's Friend. They measure the tension of the head instead of lug torque. It is both fast and easy. Once you get the technique down, you can professionally tune a complete, double-headed 5 piece kit in less than a half-hour. A well-tuned kit is much MUCH easier to get sounding good on a recording. Consistency, ease, and speed. A must-have for any acoustic drummer.
Out of all the crap I've purchased over the past 20+ years, my best purchase -bar none - has been a Drum Dial. You can check them out at www.drumdial.com. You can usually pick them up for about $60 at GC or Musician's Friend. They measure the tension of the head instead of lug torque. It is both fast and easy. Once you get the technique down, you can professionally tune a complete, double-headed 5 piece kit in less than a half-hour. A well-tuned kit is much MUCH easier to get sounding good on a recording. Consistency, ease, and speed. A must-have for any acoustic drummer.
D_Vincent
New member
Yeah I was checking out that drum dial at the music store however they wanted $80 before taxes where I live (Halifax Nova Scotia Canada) so i think i may get one online instead.
The drumdial should help with Consistency in regards to tuning drums...also once one finds the right drumhead tension for the sound they want they can basically get the same tuning every time they change drum heads using the drumdial tention settings.
I will definately get a drumdial eventually.
Just spent over $200 on new drum heads/skins and didnt have the money to get drumdial yet.
The drumdial should help with Consistency in regards to tuning drums...also once one finds the right drumhead tension for the sound they want they can basically get the same tuning every time they change drum heads using the drumdial tention settings.
I will definately get a drumdial eventually.
Just spent over $200 on new drum heads/skins and didnt have the money to get drumdial yet.
saads
Baka
I wouldn't go for a drum dial. Train your ears. They're not a hundred percent accurate either.
D
dintymoore
Guest
The inventor of the original drum dial, Bob Neary, was my Sunday school teacher when I was a kid. This was in Kentville, Nova Scotia. When he invented the drum dial in the mid 70's, he phoned me and wanted to bring a prototype to my house, and he did.
I thought it was a good idea in one way but overall think it's stupid.
Here's why: a lot of good drums, when they are tuned right, have drastically different tensions on each lug. The idea that a well tuned drum has equal tension, or anywhere near it, at each lug is a flawed idea. If you went up to Bonham's kit after they laid down Kashmir you'd probably find that according to the drum dial, his drums were wrong!
As a side note, when I was about 10 Bob Neary kicked me out of Sunday school for acting like an idiot... somethings never change.
Another side note was that after Bob made the drum dial he bought a nice set of Rogers. I saw him at a gig around then, doing rock/top 40 stuff and his drums were so high pitched it was absolutely ridiculous. Ping, ping, ping... his floor tom was higher pitched than my 12" tom.
So I still think that the drum dial idea is stupid, it's based on an untruth.
If you want to learn how to tune drums, learn about the harmonic series. In fact, there's only two main physics properties in music - time and the harmonic series. Understanding the harmonic series and hearing it is the basis of all tuning and how to use eq... incredibly important.
I thought it was a good idea in one way but overall think it's stupid.
Here's why: a lot of good drums, when they are tuned right, have drastically different tensions on each lug. The idea that a well tuned drum has equal tension, or anywhere near it, at each lug is a flawed idea. If you went up to Bonham's kit after they laid down Kashmir you'd probably find that according to the drum dial, his drums were wrong!
As a side note, when I was about 10 Bob Neary kicked me out of Sunday school for acting like an idiot... somethings never change.
Another side note was that after Bob made the drum dial he bought a nice set of Rogers. I saw him at a gig around then, doing rock/top 40 stuff and his drums were so high pitched it was absolutely ridiculous. Ping, ping, ping... his floor tom was higher pitched than my 12" tom.
So I still think that the drum dial idea is stupid, it's based on an untruth.
If you want to learn how to tune drums, learn about the harmonic series. In fact, there's only two main physics properties in music - time and the harmonic series. Understanding the harmonic series and hearing it is the basis of all tuning and how to use eq... incredibly important.
D_Vincent
New member
Ok thanks for the insight into the whole drum dial thing.
I am tuning by ear right now and watching how to tune videos on you tube and reading forums on how to tune.
Seems there are as many tunings as there are people...lol
--------------------
Here is what Im using as a starting point...Im using info I gathered...not sure if its right.
Snare
tuned top head higher than bottom head...I didnt make bottom skin to tight however I made sure all wrinkles were out and then fine tuned to try and get the pitches similar at each lug...Then I put on top skin and tuned it untill it started to resonate and have a decent tone...I then replaced and added on my new snare wires and made sure I put them on properly...overall the snare has a nice sound to it however it resonates a bit to much so I used some moongel and then did the wallet trick by laying wallet on drum skin...overall I like the sound of the snare once wallet was placed on it...nice sound...without wallet it rings out to much.
Toms
Basically tuned botom head until it started to resonate and have some type of tone then fine tuned it...then I tuned top skins untill they resonted as well but had to tune the top skins a bit higher to get the tone that sounded good...I did the same thing for the 10 " and 12 " tom...then added moongel to top skins and moved gel around untill I found sound I liked.
Floor tom
Tuned bottom skin untill wrinkles came out and when I tapped drum there was some sense of tone...overall bottom skin is not very tight...on the loose side.
I tuned Floor top head a bit tighter than bottom skin...still sounds a bit thunderous and resontaes a bit to much so i think I will tune top head a bit tighter...I added moongel to top skin as well.
Would it be a good Idea to add moongel to bottom/reso skins as well...just wondering if that could help in regards to finding that sound I like.
Thanks for the help
I am tuning by ear right now and watching how to tune videos on you tube and reading forums on how to tune.
Seems there are as many tunings as there are people...lol
--------------------
Here is what Im using as a starting point...Im using info I gathered...not sure if its right.
Snare
tuned top head higher than bottom head...I didnt make bottom skin to tight however I made sure all wrinkles were out and then fine tuned to try and get the pitches similar at each lug...Then I put on top skin and tuned it untill it started to resonate and have a decent tone...I then replaced and added on my new snare wires and made sure I put them on properly...overall the snare has a nice sound to it however it resonates a bit to much so I used some moongel and then did the wallet trick by laying wallet on drum skin...overall I like the sound of the snare once wallet was placed on it...nice sound...without wallet it rings out to much.
Toms
Basically tuned botom head until it started to resonate and have some type of tone then fine tuned it...then I tuned top skins untill they resonted as well but had to tune the top skins a bit higher to get the tone that sounded good...I did the same thing for the 10 " and 12 " tom...then added moongel to top skins and moved gel around untill I found sound I liked.
Floor tom
Tuned bottom skin untill wrinkles came out and when I tapped drum there was some sense of tone...overall bottom skin is not very tight...on the loose side.
I tuned Floor top head a bit tighter than bottom skin...still sounds a bit thunderous and resontaes a bit to much so i think I will tune top head a bit tighter...I added moongel to top skin as well.
Would it be a good Idea to add moongel to bottom/reso skins as well...just wondering if that could help in regards to finding that sound I like.
Thanks for the help
E
ermghoti
New member
The inventor of the original drum dial, Bob Neary, was my Sunday school teacher when I was a kid. This was in Kentville, Nova Scotia. When he invented the drum dial in the mid 70's, he phoned me and wanted to bring a prototype to my house, and he did.
I thought it was a good idea in one way but overall think it's stupid.
Here's why: a lot of good drums, when they are tuned right, have drastically different tensions on each lug. The idea that a well tuned drum has equal tension, or anywhere near it, at each lug is a flawed idea. If you went up to Bonham's kit after they laid down Kashmir you'd probably find that according to the drum dial, his drums were wrong!
As a side note, when I was about 10 Bob Neary kicked me out of Sunday school for acting like an idiot... somethings never change.
Another side note was that after Bob made the drum dial he bought a nice set of Rogers. I saw him at a gig around then, doing rock/top 40 stuff and his drums were so high pitched it was absolutely ridiculous. Ping, ping, ping... his floor tom was higher pitched than my 12" tom.
So I still think that the drum dial idea is stupid, it's based on an untruth.
If you want to learn how to tune drums, learn about the harmonic series. In fact, there's only two main physics properties in music - time and the harmonic series. Understanding the harmonic series and hearing it is the basis of all tuning and how to use eq... incredibly important.
OTOH, a Drum Dial was essential in my diagnosing a bad bearing edge on my 12" tom, and tremendously accellerated my ability to tune by ear. The Dial will bail you out when you've screwed up so bad the drum is just a mass of discordant overtones.
A drum certainly can be tuned with different tensions/pitches at different lugs, but a drum tuned to equaltension at each lug SHOULD be ringing clearly at a single pitch, if not, something is out of whack. Trying to learn to tune such a drum is misery.
I rarely use the dial anymore, just for mass head changes and recording, but it made a huge difference in the time it took to confidently tune on my own, and experienced drummers I know would now rather I tune their drums than do it themselves.
Eperienced drummers buy them and don't care for them, others buy them and grow out of them, so they're easy to pick up used, cheap. A worthy investment, and you can resell it if you're not getting a value from it any more.
FWIW YMMV
D
dintymoore
Guest
I hear you ermghoti, it might be a good learning aid. I never had much problem tuning drums. I think a major thing is having in your ear what sound you're after.
D_Vincent on the snare (and actually all drums) the norm is to tension the bottom head tighter (higher pitch) than the top. They might approach the same pitch on toms, but I've never heard it work with the bottom head higher pitched than the top, always the opposite, especially on snares, the bottom head needs to be quite a bit higher pitched than the top.
The bottom heads should not be on the loose side. Take out the wrinkles and then tighten it further than that. It should sound tight enough that it would sound stupid to play on it, towards a "ping" sound, but not so tight that it begins to muffle the drum. Jazz drummers tend to want higher pitched drums than rock drummers, but the bottom heads are always a bit tighter than the tops regardless of genre. Of course there's probably exceptions but as a general rule I'd start there.
Overall though, many drummers tend to over tighten their heads and it sounds stupid. The top heads on some drums, say a rock floor tom, can be nuts loose. I remember when Bob Neary came up to my house and my floor tom batter was so loose, some of the rods were on only 1/2 a turn or so (!) and he kept on telling me that it was wrong 'cause the reading was so low. But we were doing Zep stuff and that was the sound. The last thing you want is toms and a kick that are high pitched, to me anyways, it sounds wimpy. Snares can sound kinda cool (think Police) when they are high and go crack!, but a lower snare is usually better behind most singers 'cause it goes under there vocal, not on top of it.
D_Vincent on the snare (and actually all drums) the norm is to tension the bottom head tighter (higher pitch) than the top. They might approach the same pitch on toms, but I've never heard it work with the bottom head higher pitched than the top, always the opposite, especially on snares, the bottom head needs to be quite a bit higher pitched than the top.
The bottom heads should not be on the loose side. Take out the wrinkles and then tighten it further than that. It should sound tight enough that it would sound stupid to play on it, towards a "ping" sound, but not so tight that it begins to muffle the drum. Jazz drummers tend to want higher pitched drums than rock drummers, but the bottom heads are always a bit tighter than the tops regardless of genre. Of course there's probably exceptions but as a general rule I'd start there.
Overall though, many drummers tend to over tighten their heads and it sounds stupid. The top heads on some drums, say a rock floor tom, can be nuts loose. I remember when Bob Neary came up to my house and my floor tom batter was so loose, some of the rods were on only 1/2 a turn or so (!) and he kept on telling me that it was wrong 'cause the reading was so low. But we were doing Zep stuff and that was the sound. The last thing you want is toms and a kick that are high pitched, to me anyways, it sounds wimpy. Snares can sound kinda cool (think Police) when they are high and go crack!, but a lower snare is usually better behind most singers 'cause it goes under there vocal, not on top of it.