I dont tune to notes because theyll start going out of tune from the moment you start hitting them.
Well, this would be true no matter what method you used to tune, no?
Evenstevens (Steven?), I'm curious about this. If you're effectively tuning your toms to a C9 chord as you do, wouldn't that be a problem if the band played a tune with lots of sharps like C# or F#?
As it happens, the audience doesn't really hear the pitches as such. They just hear high tom, medium tom, low tom. I have tuned to nearly every conceivable combination of notes and it never interferes with a song.
Also, consider this: even if you don't tune to pitches on purpose, you're getting pitches from your drums anyway! No one asks if
those pitches interfere with the song.
I am also a member on Gearslutz, so yes you can ask me questions about mics, miking a drum set and the best preamps to use. Anyway a few posts on GS suggest that they tune their drums to different notes. No one ever told me this? I have asked fellow drummers when first getting into drumming (around '00) and they said just tune them to your liking. I even live near a guy that played the drums for Heart in the 80's and he said the same thing, tune them to your liking, but when recording, tune them low and almost dead, his words not mine. So whats the deal? Do I tune my snare, toms, and bass to different notes according to the tuning of my guitar tracks?? thanks
Some drummers do, most don't.
I find it handy for several reasons.
1. Tuning to notes helps you get a handle on the intervals between your toms, and lets you explore different tunings in a systematic way. How do perfect fourths sound between the toms? How about thirds? How about a combination?
By tuning to notes you can keep track of stuff and replicate a tuning you liked without having to reinvent it.
2. It also makes tuning quick and easy for me. All I need is a pitch pipe and my ears. I'm done with the whole kit before most guys have begun their second drum with the drum dial.
3. It's a way to easily replicate a previous tuning when it's time to rehead.
4. It's an easy way to make sure any two adjacent toms sound good when struck together. If you just tune toms to "where they sound good" you can still end up with a nasty interval (such as a tritone) between drums--you can even get beating between them. Oftentimes it's an easy matter to turn that tritone into a nice fourth or fifth without going outside the best range for each drum.
If you want to try tuning to notes, here are a few suggestions:
1. First, you
must find the range where each drum sounds its best. It's usually a spread of 3-4 semitones where the drum really sings. No matter what you'd like your tuning scheme to be, you
must adapt your scheme to what notes the drums themselves want to play. Otherwise you'll probably end up with some drums louder than others, some choked, some flappy, etc. Note that everyone should do this no matter what method they use to tune.
2. Chromatic tuners are pretty much useless. Drums are so rich in harmonics that they often fool the tuner into reading the wrong note. I just use a pitch-pipe, carried in my pocket. I usually tune at home and then touch-up at the gig.
3. As you get close to the pitch you want on a given head, use your lug-to-lug touching up to get there. That is, if you're a little low, only bring up the tension rods that are low; if you're a little high, bring down the ones that are a little high. That way you improve the lug-to-lug tuning as you arrive at the pitch you want.
4. If you play out miked you can go for close intervals (say, major or minor thirds) and a low overall tuning. If you play out unmiked you'd be better off with wider intervals (fourths or fifths) and a higher overall tuning. In either case, do not go outside the range where each drum sounds good.
5. I have had good results with consistent intervals between all the toms, and also with varying intervals. It often gives good results to tune the largest toms (particularly if you use two floors) to wider intervals and then close up the intervals as you go up. A nice tuning for my kid's kit was (from the bottom up, 16-14-12-10-8) C-F-Bb-D-F. Though currently he's using C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab, and that sounds great, too. It's fun to mess around.
6. As I mentioned before, don't worry about the notes clashing with the song. They won't. Some producers have a fetish for tuning toms to the notes of the song being recorded, but several million recordings have been made without doing that and they sound just fine.