help tuning my drums

i recently started using the ocdp avalon kit after using an old tama rockstar kit. i love it to death, but there is a pang when i hit my toms, i generally like my toms kinda dead sounding, heavy and punchy, and i can't get that bright pang gone. it may just be i can't make this kit sound like that, due to the fact of the smaller drums (9x12 and 14x16) but i was wondering if anyone knows any tricks? ive tried dampening gels and o rings and it hasn't really helped/

Need a bit more info really. What heads are you using? It sounds to me that you have a tuning issue more than anything else. You might have an uneaven bearing edge but that's more likely on one drum not both. Start by ensuring your batter & reso heads are seated evenly and tuned evenly all round. Your batter head should be tuned to exactly the same pitch as your reso head. I'm trying to think of the sound you're trying to get rid of. I'm guessing it's not sustain your trying to remove but an unwanted resonance. Check out the Bob Gatzen tuning guide on the Evans site. It's about the most simple guide I know of. It won't tell you everything about tuning but it gives you the basics. Hope this helps.

You might want to hear your kit in the room, have somebody else play it for you. The sound of a well-tuned kit from the driver's seat is a lot brighter and ringier that I'd have thought. Wear earplugs, they will save your hearing, and simulate a bit of distance at the same time.

I get asked all the time about how to tune and have other drummers watch me while I work on tour.

When I tune a kit I always think of what is around me for our shows....

-Studio
-Arena
-Amphitheater
-Weather (Hot, Humid, Cold, Wet)

and a big thing for me is just how they feel.


Try this....

tune then all the way up... very high.... until all the tension is even with each lug giving off the same tone. Once you are there, start down tuning a quarter turn on each until you have found the tone that suits the situation and what you are looking for.


Every room or show you play, your gonna tune then different based up how the area is covered or not.

working with 3 Doors, Greg beats his drums so I will keep them fairly tight with moon gels.