Tuning - is this right? (audio clips included!)

[Greg_L]

Drum dials aren't meant to put your drums in tune. They are meant to make sure the tension at each lug is exactly the same. So if you know what tension each drum is to be at to make it sound its best then you are jamming.

Eck

Yes, this is true. What I was really bitching about are the recommended settings they provide with the dial.

Those suck.

I still think though that the drum dial is a completely unnecessary waste of 70 dollars. Learn to tune your drums by ear and you don't need any of that crap.

 

[hoops]

After watching more youtube videos I realize I may have been tuning mainly to the attack and not so much the harmonics of the drum.

Bingo! That is correct.

I might get flamed for this by tuning purists, but I use a drum dial to do my tuning. If you're having issues it can really help get you into ballpark before you make refinements. I think they run about 50-60 dollars US.

Tuning by ear is a developed skill, but a drum dial can help you learn what to listen for. It still takes time to use however, and some slight experimentation since all drums are different, but there are recommended settings for the different drum sizes you can go with before you make your refinements.

Good point. I used the drum dial for that same purpose. Now I can do it by ear.

Now im noticing a rattle in some of the lugs on the rack AND floor tom. Some sort of vibration that occurs when the head is struck. I cant figure out where its coming from. At one point I narrowed down the lug but everything was securely fastened and it was NOT loose.

The thing the lug is attached to has a spring inside. It could be loose.

You should always start with your deepest tom first for tuning. When you have it sounding right, you work your way backwards through the other toms, tuning the smallest tom last. The large toms are a bitch to tune, but taking that approach should solve your problems with it being too low.

Great point.

Third, your top and bottom heads should never sound at the same pitch when played separately, because they start to vibrate in unison and then you get weird noises, on the sample principle as phasing in any other audio.

I think this was aimed at my comment about having the top and bottom tuned together. I didn't mean the same note but harmonic wise. Sorry, for the misunderstanding.

 

[groovyisland]

you can set up some totally cool pitch bends by monkeying with the relationship between the top and bottom heads.

i wound up removing the bottom heads and all related hardware because i prefer the sound of "concert toms" and its so much easier to deal with them.

remo coated pinstripes all around

 

[nddhc]

K I took off the G2/G1 heads and replaced them with the OLD Pinstripe heads. I took my old pearl resos and cut a giant hole to basically give me the one headed tom feel for now (Ringo anyone?)

I talked to Evans and they said that the head shouldnt be separating from the bearing edge with lower tunings and that they have experienced this problem with Pearl drums in the past. They said the EC2 heads should allow me to get lower tunings and hopefully wont have the same separation problem.


So theyre sending me replacement heads for free, both batter and resonant heads. EC2 batters and the Glass Resonant....and I couldnt be happier

Ill let you guys know how it goes.

 

[BlackHawk2029]

drums are actually supposed to be made undersized so that the heads can fit on..... but 1/4 inch is WAY undersized. i've always seen that drums should be 1/8" undersized.

 

[tesloid]

Hi,

I have a Pearl SBX with 12x9, similar enough maybe I can help. I've tried EC2 over G1 and am currently using G2 coated over G1.

I don't think there's anything wrong with your tuning technique. Your batter and resonant heads are both making a pretty clean tone (G#) and are matched. The overall tom tone is a B which I think is in the good tuning range for that tom. (I don't have a good ear, by the way, I just run a spectrum analyzer on the tail of your samples as I do sometimes on recordings of my own kits.)

If you're hearing a buzz, my experience with my kit has been that the G1's don't seat well in low tension (and there is a little bit of a close harmonic in your resonant tom waveform that often comes from that). They don't seat on the head tightly all around. I haven't found a detectable problem with the kit construction, but I often find that there's a little looseness between a couple lugs even when a drum dial says the head is evenly tensioned. Resting your finger around the drum head edge while you play will help you find it. Rather than tune the whole drum up, I break the rules a bit and just tune up a couple lugs a hair and it actually sounds better.

Now, on the whole "thinness" of the kit sound, for one, realize of course you're not hitting that drum hard enough to get any pitch bend, so it will sound a bit jazzy even in low tuning.

And secondly, I've never been inspired with the sound of my birch kit in a small room at any tuning. It sounds outstanding projecting in a club or outdoors but in my house I much prefer the tone I get out of my cheapo Luan kit to be honest. When I take it over to my friends home studio, he close-mics it and it sounds good though.

Just my experience (and I'm far from an expert).