TOM TUNING

Hello everyone!
So, I have a 16" floor tom, but it only has 6 lugs on it, instead of the (as far as I have seen) usual 8. With a drum that size, is that going to affect it's ability to tune very much?
And, if that turns out to be the case, is there anything I should take into consideration when tuning it?
Thanks in advance for any help :)
 
Captain,

6 lug drums are usually indicitive of lower cost kits.
Student/Beginner sets almost always feature 6 lug shells.
I've had a slew of them over the years. Even the BD's were 6 lug on a few of those.
As the lug count goes down, the distance between each point in which force is applied to the rim increases.
This means the rim has more room to flex in those areas between the lugs.
Tuning can thus become a bit less precise.
Most people tend to prefer 8 lug shells over 6 luggers, but having owned both types, I don't really see much of a difference in the ability to tune.
The only time I ever wished I had more than 6 lugs available to me, is when a drum was difficult to tune, and in that case, sometimes other factors were at work to make that task difficult.
Lastly, if it really concerns you that much, there's three things you can do to eliviate the problem,

1) Switch from Triple Flanged Rims to Die-Cast Rims.

2) Cut the shell down to the point to where the mounting holes for the lugs no longer exist and redrill for however many lugs you prefer.

3) Sell it and get a 16" drum that already has more than 6 lugs.

...OR...

Simply accept the drum for what it is, tune it to a sound that works for you, and enjoy the fact that you have the freedom to express yourself in such a way as to bring much happiness into your life.



Elvis
 
Elvis,

It is a low-end kit, an older Mapex V series, from when their logo didn't have the swoosh/circle around it.
I think I might try the Die-Cast Rims for a solution. I've been thinking about doing that for a while anyways.
And, of course, thank you very much for the help!
 
Here is something I did, it sounded good to my ears, maybe it isn't right so if someone could clue me in on something better...

I tuned my kit to the G major scale: Snare and Kick to the root, 10" to the 3rd, 12" to the 5th and 14" to the 7th.

The band I was playing in played pretty much everything in G, occasionally in A so I thought I was being clever...
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Most floor toms that I have heard seem to sound good at a “B” or “C”. If both heads are tuned to say a B, the drum will sustain a lot and feel a tad mushy. If you tune the bottom head up three notes higher (a minor third) the sustain will be a bit less, and the drum will feel about right.
Aren't you contradicting yourself here? You say floor toms sound good at a B or C, but by tuning a B over B tom up to a B over D, the overall pitch isn't B or C, but an E. It does for me, at least.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think tuning the resonant head higher than the batter head produces a perceived overall pitch that is higher than either of individual heads' pitches. Maybe it seems like I'm just nitpicking, but I really want to understand, and thus master, the tuning of my drums. I tuned my 10" tom to a B over D, resulting in an E. I tuned my 12" tom to an F sharp over A resulting in a B. They sound great! I'm just a little confused about what two pitches make what and why.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Aren't you contradicting yourself here? You say floor toms sound good at a B or C, but by tuning a B over B tom up to a B over D, the overall pitch isn't B or C, but an E. It does for me, at least.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think tuning the resonant head higher than the batter head produces a perceived overall pitch that is higher than either of individual heads' pitches. Maybe it seems like I'm just nitpicking, but I really want to understand, and thus master, the tuning of my drums. I tuned my 10" tom to a B over D, resulting in an E. I tuned my 12" tom to an F sharp over A resulting in a B. They sound great! I'm just a little confused about what two pitches make what and why.

I think I understand your problem. You have to understand, when you are tuning and have the opposite head sitting on carpet or something, the pitch you hear when you are tuning is the second harmonic - a fifth up. If you try to excite the first harmonic by playing in the center while tuning, you get a really dead sound.. the 100% damped reso head is preventing the whole head from resonating, hence the 2 harmonic while sound because it only needs half the head to resonate. Then when you pick the tom up and a hit it, you hear the first harmonic. Thats why you are hearing E when you tune to B, and B when you tune to F#.

I am fairly certain that the drum resonates at the pitch of the lowest head. So if you tuned the reso head lower than the batter, you'd hear the pitch of the reso, and the batter pitch will just be an overtone.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

I think I understand your problem. You have to understand, when you are tuning and have the opposite head sitting on carpet or something, the pitch you hear when you are tuning is the second harmonic - a fifth up. If you try to excite the first harmonic by playing in the center while tuning, you get a really dead sound.. the 100% damped reso head is preventing the whole head from resonating, hence the 2 harmonic while sound because it only needs half the head to resonate. Then when you pick the tom up and a hit it, you hear the first harmonic. Thats why you are hearing E when you tune to B, and B when you tune to F#.

I am fairly certain that the drum resonates at the pitch of the lowest head. So if you tuned the reso head lower than the batter, you'd hear the pitch of the reso, and the batter pitch will just be an overtone.
Oh, okay, so if I wanted my tom to resonate at a D I would tune the batter (assuming it is looser tensioned than the resonant) to a fifth lower, which would be an A? And that would be because A is the only pitch I am hearing with the resonant head muffled, correct?

Does this mean that if I wanted to have a B over D floor tom, I would have to tune it (with opposite head muffling method) to what I hear as a F# over A?

Bear with me, as I'm having a lot of trouble grasping this concept. Every time I think I've gotten it, something else confuses me, and then the whole thing falls apart.
 
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!

Oh, okay, so if I wanted my tom to resonate at a D I would tune the batter (assuming it is looser tensioned than the resonant) to a fifth lower, which would be an A? And that would be because A is the only pitch I am hearing with the resonant head muffled, correct?

Does this mean that if I wanted to have a B over D floor tom, I would have to tune it (with opposite head muffling method) to what I hear as a F# over A?

Bear with me, as I'm having a lot of trouble grasping this concept. Every time I think I've gotten it, something else confuses me, and then the whole thing falls apart.

Yes, you are getting the concept perfectly. Remember, the second harmonic is a fifth above the fundamental. So, yes, if you want your fundamentals to be B over D, the second harmonics would be F# over A.
 
Okay, at this point I've tuned my 10" tom to several pitches from a B up to an E (the first harmonic this time, not the second harmonic) and all of them suffer from the same problem to which I don't know the solution: instantly after a hard hit, there is an ugly upwards pitch bend for maybe half a second, and then it calms down to the beautiful note that I want to hear. Is this an equipment problem (head, actual drum) or can this be fixed with tuning?
 
Tama Rockstar

hi, i have a 8 years old Tama Rockstar kit..recently i want to re-tune my 12" tom and 16" floor tom on my rockstar kit..do you have any suggestion about the drum heads i have to use?id like to use it for blues music, which is IMO required warm sound, and medium or long sustained sound..i thought of remo emperor coated (batter) - ambassador coated (reso) for my 12" and 16" toms..is it cool with that? :D thanks
 
Re: Tama Rockstar

hi, i have a 8 years old Tama Rockstar kit..recently i want to re-tune my 12" tom and 16" floor tom on my rockstar kit..do you have any suggestion about the drum heads i have to use?id like to use it for blues music, which is IMO required warm sound, and medium or long sustained sound..i thought of remo emperor coated (batter) - ambassador coated (reso) for my 12" and 16" toms..is it cool with that? :D thanks

The head combo sounds good for that warm, sustaining sound. Tuning accounts for 70-80% of the sound, but that combo should help you get there. Good luck.
 
Okay, at this point I've tuned my 10" tom to several pitches from a B up to an E (the first harmonic this time, not the second harmonic) and all of them suffer from the same problem to which I don't know the solution: instantly after a hard hit, there is an ugly upwards pitch bend for maybe half a second, and then it calms down to the beautiful note that I want to hear. Is this an equipment problem (head, actual drum) or can this be fixed with tuning?

I believe this is due to lack of changing of the resonance head, as this happened to me and now that I have changed my resonance heads. it sounds a lot better.
 
Hey, I have purchased a 16" floor tom, and I could really need some help with this one. I tuned the 14" and 16" quite low, which is how I want them, but they "growl" way too much for my taste. When I tuned them up a bit the growling was reduced, but that sound would fit a jazz kit better, I mainly play rock.

Is there any specific note thats "good" for the batter heads? If I just get in to the ballpark on the batter I can easily tune the reso until the drum sounds nice.

Also, is there any application online that plays notes for reference?
 
I tuned the 14" and 16" quite low, which is how I want them, but they "growl" way too much for my taste. When I tuned them up a bit the growling was reduced, but that sound would fit a jazz kit better, I mainly play rock.

Is there any specific note thats "good" for the batter heads? If I just get in to the ballpark on the batter I can easily tune the reso until the drum sounds nice.

Also, is there any application online that plays notes for reference?

Try pitching the reso head up a bit.

A "good" note for the batter head will be determined by each individual drum.

Even many cheap metronomes have reference tones for tuning. Google may lead you to an online version.
 
I believe this is due to lack of changing of the resonance head, as this happened to me and now that I have changed my resonance heads. it sounds a lot better.
I changed and it does sound better. But I only had the old ones on for six months, would that be enough? I also wonder how pre muffled heads affect pitchbend, because these new heads are clear Emperors as opposed to my previous heads, which were the muffled Super 2's with SX ring. One difference I have noticed is that these Remo's seem to have quite a bit more attack than the Aquarians. They sound great, though.
 
My kit is 10, 12 Tom, 14, 16 floor, 22 kick, 14 snare.
I would like to tune them to a piano with the reso 1/3 above the batter for the Toms.
Also with the appropriate interval between the toms.
I would appreciate if some one could advise me the correct note for each drum(batter and reso).

Thx

Jorn
 
Hey guys I'm just getting into learning as much as I can about how different factors influence the sound of a drum (tuning, head type, dimensions of the shell, types of wood(s) used in the shell, plies, number of plies, bearing edges etc. Could any one recommend some useful websites etc that I could go to to start me on my quest? All help is much appreciated.
 
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