Which do you tune first?

Travis22

Senior Member
Hey everyone. I did a search on here to see if I could find a thread that was already going about this, but no luck. So here's my question, which head do you tune first when tuning your kit? Do you do the batter side first or the reso side? And does this differ from drum to drum? I've always tuned my batter side first, but after talking to a couple of other drummers I'm not sure this is the best approach. Any thoughts?
 
REso first find the drums best sound then the batter. Just works for me.
 
Not sure if there is a right or wrong way but I tune the resos first always. For me, I hold the tom in my lap for the reso and mount it on the kit for the batter side and leave it there when I finish. I always tell people this also, tighten the crap out of the reso!
 
Hmm...sounds like this is one of those depends on the person type things.

TFITTING, why do you crank down the reso head so much? I usually tighten mine a little higher than my batter side, but I don't really "tighten the crap" out of it? Does this help the sound in your opinion? Just curious is all.
 
for me, batter side first then reso's a little tighter - then it's a back-an-forth thing to fine tune because ultimately the 2 sides are working together.
 
I have tried the reso first method many times but I usually tune the batters first.
I don't think that there is a correct answer for this.
Try both ways and see what works best for you.

In the long run it really doesn't matter because One almost always flips the drum several times before final tune is achieved.
 
Hey everyone. I did a search on here to see if I could find a thread that was already going about this, but no luck. So here's my question, which head do you tune first when tuning your kit? Do you do the batter side first or the reso side? And does this differ from drum to drum? I've always tuned my batter side first, but after talking to a couple of other drummers I'm not sure this is the best approach. Any thoughts?

I look at as one drum - the whole drum gets tuned first. Get the heads on there and make the drum sound good. My snare always ends up with the bottom head being a little tighter than the top one, and the tom heads always end up being about the same because I want it to resonate freely, and having one side tighter than the other tends to choke it out. Bass drum gets a hole in the front, but the reso is a little tighter, and the batter head low enough but just past the wrinkles - stage.
 
The way I've always tuned my kits is with the largest drum first, the bass drum. Followed by the large floor tom, usually a 16". The resonant side gets tuned first to the lowest possible resonating note that the shell can deliver. From there I tune it's batter head to the same note as humanly possible. If I have to raise the pitch, I just tighten each tension rod by a very minute turn and still keeping each head in tune with itself. I tune to the shell for the greatest resonance and sustain for any given size drum. When I'm through, each and every drum has its place, tonal wise, through out the seven piece kit.

Dennis
 
I always tune the reso side of my drums first, except the kick for some reason.
And I go largest to smallest. Start with my Floor Tom and move up. It makes it nice and easy to get everything to match.

I have tried all the ways mentioned above and I like this way the best but I start with the top head first. .
 
Thank you all for your tips and input. The reason for such a basic question is I'm gettin ready to record my first full lenght cd/album with my band and I want to get the best possible sound from my kit. I've never tried tuning the reso side first, so I think I'm going to give that a whirl and see if it comes out any different or tunes any faster/easier that way. I do play a 7 piece kit (14 snare, 8,10,12,14,16 toms, 22 bass), but I also have 3 roto toms as well. Those of you who have roto toms, do you tune those to follow in order with your toms or do you tune those to themselves?
 
Not sure if there is a right or wrong way but I tune the resos first always. For me, I hold the tom in my lap for the reso and mount it on the kit for the batter side and leave it there when I finish. I always tell people this also, tighten the crap out of the reso!

Hmm...sounds like this is one of those depends on the person type things.

TFITTING, why do you crank down the reso head so much? I usually tighten mine a little higher than my batter side, but I don't really "tighten the crap" out of it? Does this help the sound in your opinion? Just curious is all.

I tune my resos pretty high too. I've found that if it's low, just past wrinkles, it just gives a dull thud. Probably even more dull out in front of the kit... If I tune it up a little higher - 'semi-firm' - it projects a nice punchy boom.
 
I tune my resos pretty high too. I've found that if it's low, just past wrinkles, it just gives a dull thud. Probably even more dull out in front of the kit... If I tune it up a little higher - 'semi-firm' - it projects a nice punchy boom.

exactly. I always say tighten the crap out of them mostly because people dont realise how tight you really can go. That little bit extra from what most of us think is tight enough really goes a long way in making the drum come alive.
 
Hey everyone. I did a search on here to see if I could find a thread that was already going about this, but no luck. So here's my question, which head do you tune first when tuning your kit? Do you do the batter side first or the reso side? And does this differ from drum to drum? I've always tuned my batter side first, but after talking to a couple of other drummers I'm not sure this is the best approach. Any thoughts?
Toilet paper over or under question, really.
 
Those of you who have roto toms, do you tune those to follow in order with your toms or do you tune those to themselves?
Not sure what you're asking there, but I tune them so that they're just three more toms. I usually use 6, 8 and 10 rotos, then 12 and 13 rack toms, then a 16 floor tom and an 18 surdo. I tune them high to low, proportionate to their sizes. The only thing that I do not worry about fitting in with that exactly are the timbales, which are 14 and 15, so they fit in-between in terms of size and where I usually position them, but I crank the heads pretty tightly on them and do not worry about whether they fit in with the other drums in terms of high to low.
 
Not sure what you're asking there, but I tune them so that they're just three more toms. I usually use 6, 8 and 10 rotos, then 12 and 13 rack toms, then a 16 floor tom and an 18 surdo. I tune them high to low, proportionate to their sizes. The only thing that I do not worry about fitting in with that exactly are the timbales, which are 14 and 15, so they fit in-between in terms of size and where I usually position them, but I crank the heads pretty tightly on them and do not worry about whether they fit in with the other drums in terms of high to low.

Yeah, sorry, that's was what I was trying to ask. Thank you. As for the toilet paper...it has to be over the top so that it looks neat. :)
 
Back
Top