Tuning "experts" mini rant

I feel the same about 90% of drum covers too.

Just because you CAN put a video on the internet doesn't mean you SHOULD.

I feel you on that one. I did a lot of cover and still do. I deleted a lot of my vids because with time I just cant stand the sound of the bad mics I had at that time. At least I had hte groove of the song. some people just have shitty drumming and sound!
 
Here's another video. Now this one's a bit different. Jared's just showing how he does things. He's not saying "this is how you should do it", so all is good to a degree, but as he has a popular presence, the implication is very much that his method is something to be followed.

There's a number of glaring errors in his approach. Ok, he tensions until he's happy with the sound. Essentially nothing wrong with that for him personally, but it's not offering anything of value to the viewer. He only compares one lug pitch to the one opposite, yet pays no attention to all the lugs being at the same pitch. On two of the examples (especially the 12"), you can hear those pitches are way out. If that's his method, then fine, but he should explain why, or at least what tuning to completely different lug pitches is meant to achieve. Frankly, the only thing that achieves is making life difficult for yourself & asking for errant high overtone issues. By doing it "on the fly" with no structured approach, you're also missing out on one huge benefit - repeatability.

I think he should also explain that a big portion of the sound he's getting is down to audio processing.
 
Ya know these so-called "Expert" Village videos seemed at first to be complete parodies, kinda like SNL skits. Then I realized that these people are in-fact serious and I decided it was time to shut off the computer, make a martini & say a toast the future of our world.


There have always been idiots in any society. After all, statistically speaking, everyone can't be above average. Years ago, if you stood up in an assembly of people and said something asinine, people would laugh, look strangely at you or even tell you to sit down and shut up. The difference today is that any idiot can stand up and be heard globally and not get that same sort of immediate negative feedback that could prove helpful, so they just keep babbling.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, let me add that I think virtually everyone is an idiot at some things or at some times. The trick is in doing your level best to minimize those as much as possible (i.e., don't spout off on stuff of which you have no direct knowledge and think twice before you say something concerning those areas in which you do have some expertise).
 
And now here's an expert telling you about 5/4 time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK_j2LE07G0
That had to be a joke. Nobody can be that stupid. I mean, even if you did somehow manage to video record yourself playing that and making those errors. How could you play it back and upload it without knowing that it was totally wrong?
Its impossible to view it and not know that the playing was not in 5/4 notation.
 
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Ok, so you bought a drum kit, carefully placed your selection of pseudo endorsement stickers, you own a drum key & a video camera of some sort. You decide to impart your vast (instantly acquired) knowledge to somehow garner yourself in expert status.

Please, please don't. Just don't. You've probably never played a gig, or if you did, it was in front of your friends at a party, & they all told you how incredible your playing was & how awesome your drums sound. How can you possibly know how to tune for the room when the only room you've played in is your bedroom.

We've all got to start somewhere, no issues with beginners, but you're not a tuning expert in 3 months by watching tuning videos. The thing that really gets me is that other beginners soak this crap up. Stop it already - enough!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvPt6VZCckw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zd1yS_Qf0A

A few folks have asked me to show how I tune drums, maybe I should?
 
A few folks have asked me to show how I tune drums, maybe I should?
Showing people how you tune is fine. There are no rules, but putting an instructional video out there designed to impart knowledge that's widely useful, & explaining how it can be applied, is a different matter. Most specifically, offering examples & methods designed to form a solid foundation for those with little experience is especially difficult.
 
I'm no tuning expert myself, but I wouldn't say that it has ever been a huge issue with me. I just make sure the head goes on evenly, then I evenly seat the head to the bearing edge and tune much like Jared does to a sound I have emulated in my head. I think of a song that has the drum sound I like. For instance D'yer Maker by Zep has a good tom sound that's easy to remember and emulate.
 
Showing people how you tune is fine. There are no rules, but putting an instructional video out there designed to impart knowledge that's widely useful, & explaining how it can be applied, is a different matter. Most specifically, offering examples & methods designed to form a solid foundation for those with little experience is especially difficult.

Ah. Yeah, mine is mostly done with smoke and mirrors ;)
 
That had to be a joke. Nobody can be that stupid. I mean, even if you did somehow manage to video record yourself playing that and making those errors. How could you play it back and upload it without knowing that it was totally wrong?
Its impossible to view it and not know that the playing was not is 5/4 notation.

Equally bizarre is the description that indicates he has been a break-dancer for 4 years. It would appear that in the wacky world of expert village, you don't even need to profile your stated expertise to make a video
 
Now I know who all of the drummer jokes come from.

I think sticker boy even said something like "it doesn't really matter on the bass".

Of course, why listen when you can feel... the Force Luke, use the Force...

Jeez...
 
Besides the cognitive dissonance, there's the typical phases of learning.

At first you know that you're a beginner.

Then you realize you're getting better.

When you can do things somewhat close to players you listen to, then you become an expert.

If you're lucky someone lets you hear a recording of this, and if you're really lucky you hear it for what it is. Thus begins the long road of recognizing that the better you get and the more you know, the bigger the realm gets of what you don't know and can't play.
 
Besides the cognitive dissonance, there's the typical phases of learning.

At first you know that you're a beginner.

Then you realize you're getting better.

When you can do things somewhat close to players you listen to, then you become an expert.

If you're lucky someone lets you hear a recording of this, and if you're really lucky you hear it for what it is. Thus begins the long road of recognizing that the better you get and the more you know, the bigger the realm gets of what you don't know and can't play.

Listening to playbacks of yourself... can be humbling experiences indeed... but very helpful in recognizing certain negative and positive traits you have developed.
 
Showing people how you tune is fine. There are no rules, but putting an instructional video out there designed to impart knowledge that's widely useful, & explaining how it can be applied, is a different matter. Most specifically, offering examples & methods designed to form a solid foundation for those with little experience is especially difficult.

I for one do not think I really have this tuning thing down well. I am on my third significant adjustment to tuning my current kit. Second with my new 360 Black Chromes. And I am about to make another adjustment after listening to videos of our last gig.

I do get what you are saying because different heads seem to sound better at different tensions. So I would love for someone to post a link or make a video of the basics one should follow and give a few examples. Are there any videos you think are worth viewing? Maybe you and Bo can collaborate!
 
When I decided to take up drums, one of the first questions I asked was (since I was a guitarist) was "How do I tune a drum". I was confronted with several different approaches on youtube, and I had two different personal instructors with two totally different approaches. It wasn't till I grabbed a tom, a key, and sat down with them for a few days that I sorted it out.

The single most important thing is to get the heads in tune with themselves (at each lug).
Top head controls pitch.
Bottom head controls bend, rate-of-decay, and overtone.

Those three sentences would have saved me a lot of time, and demystified 90% of the tuning/tensioning hokum found on youtube.
 
I no longer let the Expert Village videos about drums bother me.

It's the Expert Village videos about power tool safety that scare me. One of these days there's going to be a well-deserved lawsuit. A gimmick to attract advertising money is not a license to be completely irresponsible.

They should begin each video with a disclaimer to the effect that they have not verified the presenter's qualifications or expertise, or in fact the accuracy or inaccuracy of any of the content.

Fortunately, judging from the comments following each video, no one takes this seriously anyway.
 
Well you know what an "expert" is right?

"X" is simply an unknown quantity. "Spirt" is nothing more than a drip under pressure.
 
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