Tuning

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PGSOR Drummer

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I was wondering if anyone could help me out with tuning, because I don't know how to say how bad my tuning is, but it's like Helen Keller playing hide and seek.

I was wondering if anyone had a link to somewhere that had a sound of how drums should sound when tuned correctly.
Thanks, Tyler
 
As a sort of side question to that {sorry for hi~jacking the thread, mate}, do the drummers here tune their drums to a standard kind of tuning, like a guitar or whatnot or is this a very individual thing ?
 
After struggling with this issue for 9 months, now, I think the best bet is to convince a real drummer or two to come over and tune for you the first time. So maybe the key to getting this down is: beer. Or delicious soda pop for your tee-totaling drummer buddies.
 
How you tune a drum is purely personal choice and depends on the music you play. There are a variety of ways to go depending on head choice and sound you want. Some people like their drums warm and flat, some like em bright and ringy. They all work, provided they are indeed in tune.
 
Our drummer always tuned his toms with the Mary-had-a-little-lamb tune.
Don't quite know why, but he was a professional.
 
grimtraveller said:
As a sort of side question to that {sorry for hi~jacking the thread, mate}, do the drummers here tune their drums to a standard kind of tuning, like a guitar or whatnot or is this a very individual thing ?
Click to expand...

No, not whatsoever. Every drummer is different. I've tuned my drums differently for every band I've played in. There's no way I'm going to play Oscar Peterson with a John Bonham drumset! I've actually noticed that every time I play with a different band I'll tweak my set a bit and develop new beats and fills specifically for that band.

Buddy Rich used to say that you don't tune drums, you tension them. While some drummers do tension their drums to specific pitches I have always avoided that and just simply tension them to the sound I want.

I've posted this before of one of my favorite drummers. As far as snare and kick are concerned, which is where you should start when you work on a drumset, the snare and kick in this video are, to my ears, pretty damn good:

 
yeah - over on [another recording and equipment related board], Tommy Lee of Motley Crue noted that he tunes differently for different songs, even.

But knowing that hasn't helped me much :D - experience must be an important factor
 
antichef said:
yeah - over on [another recording and equipment related board], Tommy Lee of Motley Crue noted that he tunes differently for different songs, even.

But knowing that hasn't helped me much :D - experience must be an important factor
Click to expand...

I tune differently when playing live with my band and recording my own stuff. My own music is pretty much the same song over and over, so I keep the drums tuned pretty much the same way for every song.
 
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