TOM TUNING

Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Thanks bro, just doing unto others as I would have them do unto me....As far as the "full turn" thing goes. It doesn't take too many full turns to come to the desired pitch. Depending on your preference, most toms sound good at a low mid to midrange tuning. It's a little different for every drum, but I would put the heads on the drum, tighten the lugs with your fingers if you can until there as tight as you can get them with your fingers. if you can't finger tighten them, just turn with a key until the lug starts to grab the head. Then crank it up 1/2 turn (if your looking at the drumkey on the lug from the top, 1/2 turn would be the when one end of the key goes from the 12 o'clock position to the 6 o'clock position). Keep doing that, checking each lug point on the head and tap with your finger as it gets tighter to even up the pitches. Get it real tight and let it sit for a few hours or overnight. Then, start going around the drum and loosen the lugs the same 1/2 turn until the sound opens up and you like the tone and feel, making sure the lugs points on the head are even. If I had to guess, I would say that once you got the lugs to start to grab the head, and sometimes you have to go around the head a time or two to adjust lugs that loosen as some get tighter, the approximate number of "full turns" you would end up with would be anywhere from 1 1/2 (that's 3 half turns) to 2 1/2, depending on the quality of drum, the size of the drum (floor toms are tuned a bit lower normally), and the kind of sound you're looking for. Try it and let me know how it works.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

yes.
hey CD have you ever had a look at that free website: the tuning bible?

j

ps: (personal message for clockwork orange - if you hate drummerworld so much why do you keep coming here...one of your members is reporting all your pathetic hate threads on you forum to me. i know that you are copying text from DW - including this very informative thread by a member who wasn't even here when you were banned (so why you hate a stranger is beyond me) - and then ripping them apart. very very sad.)
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

NJ,
Yes, I've seen the drum tuning bible and countless other articles, interviews, blurbs, emails and phone calls with famous drummers and friends, you name it on drum tuning. It is one of my passions as you can tell :eek:), and I try to gather up all the info that I have learned, apply it and pass it on if it's appropriate, if I'm asked or if I have a forum to share the information. That's why I posted the thread about the top head or resonant head being responsible for pitch. The tuning bible says some things that I'm not so sure I agree with. If you haven't read the thread, please do so and comment on what you think.

By the way, am I missing something with the clockwork orange dude? Is he dissin' us? What a shame if he is, this a really good source for sound and useful information. Oh well, I guess you can't please everybody....
 
Thanks!

First off, thanks cdrums21 for taking the time to provide all of this useful information......

I don't think this has been mentioned and it may eliminate some frustration, it did for me. For whatever reason - hoops, heads?? - at times the tension rod directly opposite the area you want to tweak will have more of an effect than the rod directly where you need to make a change so if you are turning a paticular rod and not seeing much, if any, change in the tone unless you turn the rod more times than the "norm" try tapping while turning the rod directly opposite to see if that works. If this is happening you will save yourself a lot of time, not to mention frustration, by knowing what's going on..............

Also, there is usually a "Magic rod" that can effect the total overall sound of the head so by finding it you can bring everything in with a little tweaking on just that one rod when you get close. The trick is finding it..............

I can't tell you how much time I spent chasing my tail until I realized that these two factors may be involved.
Now, if I'm having trouble, I check to see if they are............

Jack
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Thank you Jack, and yes my friend...you are right on the money with your comment. I couldn't agree more. Everything you said is fact. It all comes with experience and years of tuning. Obviously you have been at this awhile like me. Great post!!!
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Ummm, sorry to post this again. So how do you tune your drum with itself? I've only read that you tap the shell with no head on, and tune the head specifically to that tone, but I'm not really sure what it means still?
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Sounds like a great idea man! I just ordered some new Remo Coated Ambassador Pinstripes for my kit. I have 12'', 13'' and 16''. I have tuning pitches on my metronome, but that sound gets annoying after about 20 seconds of leaving it on, so I think I am going to purchase a pitch pipe as well! :) Thanks for the pointers.
Rock on,
Rob
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Royman27,
See my post on this thread about 10 posts or so back. It explains your question about getting the drum in tune with itself in detail.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Royman27 said:
Ummm, sorry to post this again. So how do you tune your drum with itself? I've only read that you tap the shell with no head on, and tune the head specifically to that tone, but I'm not really sure what it means still?

cdrums21 i think he's talking about tuning the heads to the fundamental tone of the shell.. you mentioned tuning the head to itself [like what you said even out the sound on each lug]..

if you read the tuning bible it says there that you may hit the head and the initial attack will sound the note of the heads but the overall sound will be influenced by the fundamental note of the drum itself. meaning.. if lets say you tune your batter a C and your reso a G, and the note of the drum is A, the sound when it is hit will sound like a C with G overtones, then after a few moments, the overtones will sound more of an A already. tuning the drums to itself means tuning the heads the same note as the shell.

i think... tuning the drums to itself is more of a listening task than a tuning task. i think you do it like this..

tap the shell in a position such that it will resonate well so you could hear a nice sweet sound. try to figure out what the fundamental note is. knowing the fundamental note of the shell is really hard especially that knocking on wood and listening to its note isnt that easy. congratulations if you figured it out.

then simply tune both your heads to the note of the shell. so let's say your shell is a B, tune both your heads B, and the result will be a drum that just sings B as long as it vibrates.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

If that is the case and he wants to know how to tune the drum to the shells' fundamental note, then I guess my tuning the head to itself advice doesn't really answer his question. Tuning the heads to the fundamental note of the shell is the DW concept of timbre matching the drums within a kit. You are right when you say it's difficult to hear. To get the clearest note, you pretty much have to strip the shell of all heads and hardware and strike the shell with the butt of the palm of your hand or a rubber mallet so as not to damage the shell. If you're lucky enough to hear the note, you can tune to that note, but sometimes it's decieving. I tried that with a 16" floor tom that I had, stripped 'er down naked and struck it with a rubber mallet. The note I heard was pretty clear and it seemed to be just above an A. When I tuned both heads on the drum to that note, the pitch was way to high and din't sound like a floor tom at all, boingy and ringy. Tuning the bottom head in different ways didn't help either. I ended up tuning it the way I currently tune and it sounded monstrous with great resonance and tone, but not too much...go figure.
I know of some DW guys who didn't dig the tuning of the drum to the note stamped inside the shell, I wonder if many other DW owners experienced that scenario.....maybe we'll get some replies.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

I actually did kind of do that when I got the drum to sound good and they were very close to those two notes, I think it was approximately a C on top and an E on the bottom, but at the time I didn't realize the relationship those notes had to an A. I kind of stumbled on to it. But it makes sense why it sounded good.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Well, since all you guys have been asking questions.
i figure i should too.
Ive been haveing trouble tuning my 10x8 tom. right.
and, i cant have my reso head too
loose. or else it has a nasty ass overtone. its like, derrrrrrrrew. haha.
idk.
any advice?
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Is your drum a maple shell? Birch? That may make a difference in what the relative tension between the two heads will be. What I would do is to tune the top head up tighter than you would play it and let it sit for a while, making sure that when you tap at each lug point on the head, they're the same pitch. Then, after a few hours, start to detune the head going around the drum until it starts to open up, making sure the pitch at each lug is the same. When it starts to sound good, try to find out what note it is when you tap the head in front of the lugs. I would guess that it will probably be close to a B. If that's the case, and your bottom head is looser as you say, you probably will get weird overtones and snare buzz. If the top head is a B, first try tuning the bottom head to a B as well. If it still has too much sustain and causing problems, tune the bottom head up a little higher to a D, That's a minor third. That should take care of the overtones and buzz. If the drum doesn't sound and feel right at that pitch, find where the top head does sound and feel good, try to hear the note at each lug and tune the bottom head up 3 notes higher. You can do it by ear too, but tuning to notes is a bit more precise. Try it and post your results if you'd be so kind.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

OK, cool. Then you may have better luck with the heads being tuned to the same pitch. Sometimes with birch shells, they need som extra tone and resonance to sound their best. Try it and see. You can always tweak up the bottom head to fine tune the sound. I'm assuming you have single ply resonant heads on the bottom and decent heads on top, right?
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

That should work, give it a try on your 10" tom and see what you come up with. If it happens that you get it sounding really good and like it, and you want your other toms to sound sililar and decend in specific intervals, let me know.
 
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