Sounds a stupid question but how do you know when drums are properly tuned?

[Fassa Albrecht]

I've just gotten a kit of my own after playing a Tama kit borrowed from a friend and am wondering how I know if my drums are properly in tune. With this being a flats kit I can't tell so easily as on the Tama.

[gusty]

Does it sound good?
202020

[Ironcobra]

drums don't have to be accurate like a guitar. whatever sounds good.

[elpol]

I've just gotten a kit of my own after playing a Tama kit borrowed from a friend and am wondering how I know if my drums are properly in tune. With this being a flats kit I can't tell so easily as on the Tama.
trust your ears. and, be realistic: flats just will not sound like a "shelled" drum.

[dharma bum]

I ain't no expert on this by any means, but to answer your Q in the most simple way: once the head is properly seated and evenly tensioned, meaning the tension is the same at each lug, the rest is up to you. Do you want 'em ring-y and "live" or deep and thud-y? Check out some videos by Bon Gatzen on youtube re tuning.

[djlouis]

There's no rules for drums tuning if it sound good to your hear then it's ok. The style of music you play is also important with the tuning you will use , if you play metal you will tend to have a drum with more impact and less resonance (cause definition is inportant in fast playing)and if you play jazz you're likely to bring out the tone of the drums more (resonance) and tune them higher but again they are no rules, just tendancy. It's always compromise versus definition (best for speed) and resonnance (more powerful when controlled.....to my hear though!) . You have to get the heads in tune (check Bob Gatzen video as mentionned before or Dave Weckl video on the topic) . Don't forget to also goes with the size of the drums...don't try to make your 10" tom sounds like a floor tom....find where all drums sound the best . When you think you found the best sound possible you can control the "ring" factor with such device as moongel or duct tape....anything goes. Tuning drums is like playing drums, it's a work in progress. Oh and if your'e bass drums too boomy for your taste you can put a pillow,towel, blanket, etc inside and for more attack you can buy falam slam pad or anything else to put in front of the beater, for more attack you can also cut a hole in the front head (some player played with no front head at all but that's a common practice anymore). Hope it help.

[drumdruid]

Guys, Yes I think drums should be properly tuned - if you want them to sit with the other instruments in a band that is and sound musical - if however you and the band dont care then thats also ok.Its realy personal choice
My job as drum tech is to get this right & in the bands I work for it´s very important that the internation between the toms follows the music and tuning of the guitars and keyboards.
I also have had to tune roto toms for that famous part in the Floyds set .. but thats a different story.
Here are the basic rules - First tune the bottom heads , they have more influence on the sound than the batter heads. Take the batter heads off and turn the toms over , lay all the toms on a carpet , now tune them so they casscade with regular intervals . Now hang the toms and start on the batter heads.
Yes make certain that they are correctly seated ( check them bearing edges of course ) and decide if you want the sound to rise or fall ( tone of the drum rises in pitch after stike or falls away ) will mean that the head is slightly higher or lower in pitch than the bottom head.
My experience is that if you get the first part right then it should not need too much work on the batter head.
If you have to go mad with gaffer tape and moongel to get rid of nasty overtone , theres something wrong in my oppinion ...
We could aslo talk about choice of heads .. but thats another story..

[djlouis]

om head.

If you have to go mad with gaffer tape and moongel to get rid of nasty overtone , theres something wrong in my oppinion ...


If you go mad with them for sure there's something wrong for sure, but I'm playing top 40 gig and I often work with the house soundman, most of the time my toms are wide open (birch shell and remo coated emperor on top clear ambassador on bottom) and I got my share of complimets on my drum sound, but sometimes just to please the soundman and facilitate the relation between the band and the soundman (who's often closer the to club owner than us) I put moongel here and there but I always want to keep some "life" in my tom sound . Some room tend to emphasize the harmonic of the drums and we can't afford the time to retune the drums for each venue (most of club are restaurant and we got about 45 minutes to do the whole band soundcheck). So sometimes moongel can be a life saver in those situation.

[PQleyR]

45 minutes for a soundcheck sounds great. I'm not used to even having soundchecks. That's almost as good as actually getting paid for something!