tuning drums to actual notes

  • Thread starter Thread starter foreverain4
  • Start date Start date
F

foreverain4

New member
i have a dw collectors series, the shells have notes stamped on the inside, which is the actual note of the shell. tuned to this note, the drums have maximum tone and resonance. they simply sound amazing! any way, question is, how does this relate to the actually key the song is in? obviously, you can not change the tuning of your drums to match each song when playing live. what yalls opinion on this?
 
The note inside the DW shells are just for your reference, like you said, where they resonate the most. The note has no musical effect, besides being the pitch that sounds best for that particular drum, and therefore, you don`t have to worry about the key of the tune.

All drum shells have a sweet-spot, but DW have done the job for you finding it. Otherwise you have to dismantle the hardware on your drum, hold it and tap it to hear the note of the shell. Most drummers don`t bother. Just tune until it sounds well. That have worked for me for 13 years.

Good luck!
 
With fast transient and percussive sounds, tonality really doesn't matter. Listen to some old Phil Collins where he has a synth note going *beep da da beep beep* through an entire tune with no attention paid to key. (Perhaps a bad example :) ) Otherwise you would be getting tuned cymbals, hihats, and tambourines to fit specifi tunes. Tune the drums so they sound great on their own and forget it. If it were an issue, don't you think you would see the pros changing drums sets/tunings between every song?
 
We had an argument here before about tuning drums to specific pitches. The important thing is to get the drums to musical intervals that sound good. The kit is rarely tuned to a specific key for a specific song. Some guys will do it. Do they need to? Eh...it's all taste.

Here's something to think about: If DW stamps A on the inside of the drum, is it actually perfectly tuned to A? Does it vibrate at exactly 440hz? I doubt it! DW just listens to the shell and finds the note that it's closest to. The shell might be right on, or it could be a few cents higher or lower than the actual note. If you tune the drum to A is it going to ring solid with that A like a guitar string?

So, if the shell is A flat and you tune the drum to A flat, and the song you're jamming is in C major should you retune it to A so it fits the song? Should you retune the kit to get them all to fit in a major scale?

There are guys here who will say yes.

I tune my drums to where my ear tells me they sound good. It could be thirds or fourths. I don't know and to tell you the truth, I don't care. I might spend a day tuning them when it's 64 degrees outside and love them. The next day it's 75 degrees and I think they still sound fine because they've kept their interval. They're now lower, though. So do I get all anal and retune the kit while everybody waits?

Some guys will pick out the notes on a keyboard, write them down and then tune them exactly the same every time. You have to decide how anal you want to be and whether its worth it!

If a song calls for a set of Claves and the ones you have aren't in the songs key, are you going to run to the music store and root through the claves 'til you find a corresponding set? Chances are the ones you had in the first place will do just fine!

To me it is more inportant that the drum be tuned TO ITSELF, meaning that the pitches at the lugs are all the same, not that the drum is a specific pitch in a scale.

Just food for thought. :)
 
As aroth indicates the note provided by DW is simply a reference tone to achieve the best resonance (tone) from the individual drum shells. Twice in the 40 years I've been a drummer, I went through the huge effort of removing all hardware to hit the shell and determine the ideal tone - and in both cases it really did me very little good. I've also spent a lot of time in studios trying to tune drums to the key of the song being recorded (using 3rds, 4ths and 5ths) in some cases to good effect and in many cases as a practise in futility.

There are soooo many factors that affect drum tuning from the weather to the room to the type of heads to the particular attitude of each drum shell on any given day. While indeed each shell has in theory an ideal tone, there is a range of tone that must be used to make each drum sound good with the other drums (regardless of the key of the song). While some may debate that a drum kit is actually several individual instruments, I subscribe to the theory that a drum kit is one instrument and each drum, cymbal and percussive accessory should be added with the total tonal effect in mind.

"Just tune until it sounds well. That have worked for me for 13 years" is good advice - I've found that approach has worked well for me for 40 years.
 
You don't need to tune drums to a given scale, but you do need to tune them to a true note. Anotherwords, tune it to a guitar or whatever, to make sure that your 'A' drum, is in tune with the other insturments. This is what will make your "drums sound good".
 
foreverain4 said:
i have a dw collectors series, the shells have notes stamped on the inside, which is the actual note of the shell. tuned to this note, the drums have maximum tone and resonance. they simply sound amazing! any way, question is, how does this relate to the actually key the song is in? obviously, you can not change the tuning of your drums to match each song when playing live. what yalls opinion on this?
Click to expand...

Also keep in mind that the hardware on the shell tends to make it go sharp.
As previously stated, it has no bearing on the key of the song - it's just where the drumshell is going to have maximum resonation and tone.

That's how I tune my kit. In theory, you should be bale to put the same tension on all the heads, and the shell size and pitch would dictate the actual pitch of the drums.


Tim
 
juststartingout said:
You don't need to tune drums to a given scale, but you do need to tune them to a true note. Anotherwords, tune it to a guitar or whatever, to make sure that your 'A' drum, is in tune with the other insturments. This is what will make your "drums sound good".
Click to expand...

Not necessarily - what if the pitch of the shell contrasts with the A you're trying to tune it to?

The best method I've found is tune the batter heads to the shells "pitch" for maximum sustain, then use the tension of the resonant heads to control how much the drum actually resonates/rings (the reason it's called a "resonant" head to begin with.)

After all - it's much easier to remove sustain (via muffling and tuning the resonant heads) than it is to attempt to add what isn't there to begin with


Tim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top