Drum Dial tuning

[PMcCMusic]

Hello Guys,
I've read a lot of posts regarding the DD tuner. I'm a total beginner at drums but have played the guitar for 35 years, so I can hear pitch.

I guess my question is.... I used the DD and can hear that the tone of the drums really open up and get to that very resonant boing, so they are tuned but.

The toms, even though they are tuned to themselves don't sound melodic together.
But,.from gigging with drummers through the years, it seems like the way it works is the reso heads are tuned and forgotten about and the batter heads are the ones tweaked for melodic reasons.

I know there's not a specific question here but wonder if any would share input on using the device.

Thanks
best-

pm

[GRUNTERSDAD]

I don't use the device but insist that my toms sound good together, as a chord if you will.
You should be able to tweek your toms so that they sound melodic.

[MCS]

I use a drum dial and I've found that tuning every tom head to the same tension and then letting the diamater of the drum change the pitch, gives me the best results.

[PMcCMusic]

I use a drum dial and I've found that tuning every tom head to the same tension and then letting the diamater of the drum change the pitch, gives me the best results.

OK, now this logic is why I wonder, having done this properly to my kit,..and the results are having the toms not sonorous with one another.
Is it a bad matching of toms or something? I doubt this.

Pearl masters custom maple btw.

I think I've decided to set the reso heads (74) and go old school and tweak the toms to sound good together by ear.

[Steady Freddy]

Sometimes tuning to the same tension works and sometimes it doesn't.

I usually end up with the rack toms around 75 and the floor toms around 70. Both heads at the same tension. That said, the drums need to be finished up by ear.

One you get them where you want them, record the settings. Use that as a reference point when you change heads or to check your tuning.

Rooms can be quite different also. Dead rooms may require a higher tuning and lively rooms a lower tuning. Keep notes and that should help you to change tunings quickly on the fly.

HTH

[PMcCMusic]

thanks guys,
My ear, I guess by instinct, wants to hear toms descend in 4ths..
I need to just do it by ear.

[TheArchitect]

OK, now this logic is why I wonder, having done this properly to my kit,..and the results are having the toms not sonorous with one another.
Is it a bad matching of toms or something? I doubt this.

Pearl masters custom maple btw.

I think I've decided to set the reso heads (74) and go old school and tweak the toms to sound good together by ear.

Tuning every lug of every drum will not result in accurate musical intervals.

For Example on my Mapex kit:
Mapex 8 Remo Ambassador Suede 77 Remo Clear Ambassador 77 G
Mapex 10 Remo Ambassador Suede 75 Remo Clear Ambassador 75 D
Mapex 12 Remo Ambassador Suede 74 Remo Clear Ambassador 74 Bb
Mapex 14 Remo Ambassador Suede 74 Remo Clear Ambassador 74 F
Mapex 16 Remo Ambassador Suede 70 Remo Clear Ambassador 70 C

The DD settings are starting points. Small fine tuning is needed to hit the pitches accurately

[PMcCMusic]

I'm finding this out,.. they will get close to a pitch,..and very very very slight increments around will change pitch....tricky

pm

[PMcCMusic]

a friend, (great drummer) came by, within 5 minutes he had my kit sounding HUGE,...
and most awesome is it really sounds like ONE big fat instrument when grooving now.

gotta hand it to you drummers!

I looked at him after 5 minutes, and with my jaw open, said,..."you just broke every single tuning rule I've read" we both laughed....

very cool,..

[RollingStone000]

a friend, (great drummer) came by, within 5 minutes he had my kit sounding HUGE,...
and most awesome is it really sounds like ONE big fat instrument when grooving now.

gotta hand it to you drummers!

I looked at him after 5 minutes, and with my jaw open, said,..."you just broke every single tuning rule I've read" we both laughed....

very cool,..

Just curious, but what tuning rules have you heard?

[PMcCMusic]

even tension across,.top and bottom,.identical pitch top and bottom,..
that sorta stuff

[bobdadruma]

Every drum has a tension where it starts to sing. That tension isn't always at a frequency of a true note. I have long wondered about the sanity of folks that claim to tune drums to notes. I have tried this myself and I soon realized that it was pointless.

I simply set the bottom heads to a medium tension on my drum dial and I equalize the tension between the tension rods by ear to get the same sound at each lug. (75 on the dial)
I losen the batter head on each tom and I slowly tighten the lugs until the drum gets a full sound. When the tom reaches maximum sustain, I equalize the tension between the tension rods and that tom is tuned. I then go to the next tom. The drums harmonize with each other all by themselves. Smaller toms are higher than larger toms because of their size differences.

[PMcCMusic]

Every drum has a tension where it starts to sing. That tension isn't always at a frequency of a true note. I have long wondered about the sanity of folks that claim to tune drums to notes. I have tried this myself and I soon realized that it was pointless.

I simply set the bottom heads to a medium tension on my drum dial and I equalize the tension between the tension rods by ear to get the same sound at each lug. (75 on the dial)
I losen the batter head on each tom and I slowly tighten the lugs until the drum gets a full sound. When the tom reaches maximum sustain, I equalize the tension between the tension rods and that tom is tuned. I then go to the next tom. The drums harmonize with each other all by themselves. Smaller toms are higher than larger toms because of their size differences.


I hear you,..wild,..for me,.. a guitarist of 30+ years, I went to school and have a music degree. Never gave much thought to what a drummer does aside from play....right?

Since it's such a style and subjective thing,...unlike one who isn't a drummer wouldn't understand,... I mean,...you get a guitar in tune,....or not....lol.

The style is different, he knows what I like because we gigged and recorded together many times. So, by instinct within minutes he had the toms tuned like cannons,..where they go,... doooooosh !!! and have that cool dip when you whack them,...but still sound together in sequence..

drums,....ahhhhhh!!! why didn't I start with them,... I'll record them and post up for the true critique.

thanks guys

PM

[grannydrums]

I cheated. Last time I took my drums up to the shop for the heads to be checked and if necessary replaced they did their normal trick of tuning them to perfection. I got my dial out and wrote down the top and bottom tension for each drum and use those settings. That was a couple of years ago and it has stood me in good stead. Interesting that people here are saying top is the same as the bottom--from memory the bottom heads were all lower than the top.

[TheArchitect]

I cheated. Last time I took my drums up to the shop for the heads to be checked and if necessary replaced they did their normal trick of tuning them to perfection. I got my dial out and wrote down the top and bottom tension for each drum and use those settings. That was a couple of years ago and it has stood me in good stead. Interesting that people here are saying top is the same as the bottom--from memory the bottom heads were all lower than the top.

Doesn't mean thats he only way to do it

[PMcCMusic]

it's cool that there are so many ways of tuning, fwiw. my drum dial had the drums very resonant and high.
my friend said this is more like a jazz vibe or gadd, phillips approach. distinct tuned pitches. he took them way down. top and bottoms by ear quickly so they are really thick sounding,..style work together.
I had played him a track of Matt Chamberlain with Larry Carlton, Matt's drums sound so fat. I told him that's what I want.

check out the track "double cross" on the Firewire CD.......

[bobdadruma]

I have three kits.
Every one of these kits likes to tune at a different tension.
My Tama Stagestar likes to be lose. Mid 60s on the dial.
My Pearl Rhythm Traveler likes to be medium tension. 73 on the dial. The Traveler has no reso heads.
My antique Gretsch likes to be slightly tight. 75 on the dial.
I use different heads on all three kits. Head type and Drum type make a big difference tension wise.
The resos always wind up loser than the batters. I set them to about 75 and I back off on them after I tune the batters.
I started using a drum dial about a year ago. I checked and recorded the settings on my drums before I tried tuning with the dial.
My drums that were tuned by ear were almost equal in tension from lug to lug. After tuning with the dial and experimenting with different tensions I found that the tension numbers that I settled on were very close to my original ear tune readings.

[larryace]

FWIW, the one general rule that gives me the sound I want is to have the resos tuned to the same note, only an octave higher. I've found that drums sound boingy to me when resos are equal or less than the batters.
Again FWIW, I do my batters at 75 or so and my reso's at 83 or so, then ear tune. This gives you roughly an octave difference in the batter and reso notes, from my experience.
The snare is in the mid eighties for the batter and the reso is tighter, in the 90's

This might sound too high behind the kit (until you get used to it) but out in the audience, unmiked, the drums sound like drums, not toneless cardboard.

To ear tune, I take the drum off the kit, lay it on the carpet, lightly place a fingertip dead center of whichever head I'm working on and lightly tap 1" from the lugs with a drumstick tip to hear the harmonic, and then try and get all the lugs to sing the same harmonic.

After it's all done, I verify that the batter harmonic and reso harmonic sounds are an octave apart. This gives me a slight pitch bend and the tom has good attack and makes a nice round warm, non boingy "DOOM" sound.

I keep the same tension on all the toms like MCS stated earlier, and let the drums size change the pitch.

[PMcCMusic]

well, here's a sampling of the kit,..there's minimal miking.

toms sound ok.

pmcc

www.petermccarthy.net/HighWire.mp3

happy thanksgiving

[bobdadruma]

The drums sounded excellent! I think that you have got the tuning thing down.

[PMcCMusic]

The drums sounded excellent! I think that you have got the tuning thing down.

Thanks man,....not so bad for a guitar player eh?,...lol
I'm having fun experimenting with different tunings,...I think I'll try some evens g2 heads tomorrow.

hey,..what part of Ct,..I grew up in Stamford and played all over the TriState area for years.

best-

PMcC

[bobdadruma]

hey,..what part of Ct,..I grew up in Stamford and played all over the TriState area for years.



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