How do I tune the drums in relation to each other

dennisjr

Junior Member
Hello there!

I just sold my Roland TD-12 drumkit because I was missing the dynamics from a real acoustic drums.

Now I'm waiting for my Gretsch New Classic 3 Piece Bop Kit.
SNARE New Classic 14" x 5.5"
Toms: 12" x 8" TT • 14" x 14" FT • 18" x 14"

It has been a long time since I sold my old acoustic kit for the TD-12.
And I never was very good at tuning my drums.

I have been reading and watching videos of tuning drums and think I will work it out ok.
But one thing that bothers me is that I cannot find anyone who talks about the pitch of the drums in relation to each other.
And the bottom head in relation to the top head. In detail.
Wich of course is very important.

So how do you do it?
Do you tune your drums to find its specific tone, or do you go after a set note like for instance a Fb or Eb etc.?

My main styles are Jazz and funk.

Dennis
 
I usually tune my resonant heads a perfect fourth higher than the batters. The interval between heads should be identical in all of your toms to ensure that they sound like parts of the same kit.

The intervals between the different drums of the kit is down to personal preference. I've played a four piece for a long time, and I've tuned them in a multitude of ways, sometimes a fourth apart, sometimes an octave. The better the drums are, the more tuning possibilities they offer. Of course, it's usually best to try to keep all drums within the same tonal register: if you're going for a jazz sound, tune all the drums high, and if you're going for a resonant, medium tuning, make sure that all of the drums are tuned roughly around their "sweet spot" where the heads resonate the most.
 
As above. I start with the most recalcitrant drum, and tune the batter until it is optimal for my purpose at that moment. The reso is almost always a fourth above the batter, the next higher drum would have its reso tuned to the same pitch as the batter, the next lower will have its batter tuned to the pitch of the batter of the first drum tuned, repeat until you're out of drums. Everything will ring/resonate sympathetically, but it will not be a distracting, dissonant over-ring, it will blend together into one sound.
 
I tune the bottom head pretty tight and the top head either loose or tight depending on the music. I've found the Drum Dial tuning aid to be very useful. I just try to get a good sound out of each drum and don't worry much about the melodic interval between toms (unless it ends up being very close); since the drums are different sizes that tends to take care of itself. Often I just go for a bright/high sound and powerful/low sound relative to the snare drum; in songwriter/R&B settings I may have the high drum up in a jazz range and the floor tom in a very low funk range.
 
I tune both top and bottom heads to the same pitch. I find I get a much cleaner pitch that way. I have two head combos that I like to use: Coated EC2 SST's over EC Reso's for studio and sometime live situations, Ambassadors over stock DW resos for everything else. They are tuned as follows:

10x8 - Both heads C# - Yields E
12x9 - Both heads A - Yields C
14x12 - Both heads E - Yields G
16x14 - Both heads C# - Yields E

When playing the EC2/EC Reso combo I tune each drum a whole step lower than the given pitches (so D, Bb, F, D). This gives me a major 3rd in between the rack toms, perfect 4th between rack and floor, and minor 3rd in between the floors. Makes for a really great melodic sound between all the toms, and the 10 and 16 are octaves! Also, if you haven't already noticed, all the notes make up the notes in a C chord, which is pretty cool.

A lot of people like to tune all the drums to perfect 4ths, sometimes 5th, sometimes octaves: my advice is just tune each drum the way it wants to be tuned and let the "intervals" naturally fall into place.

In regards to a 4-piece... my personal preference is to have the rack tom a major 6th above the floor tom. My 10x8 and 14x12 are tuned a major 6th apart so I wouldn't have any tweaking left to do there. Sometimes I'll go 12-14 or 12-16, depending on the situation but I usually play with a 6-piece no matter what so I don't stress too much about it. Just experiment until you find what works best for you.

Kick batter is tuned to A, reso just above wrinkle. (22x18) with a small pillow touching only the batter head. Nice punchy and powerful kick sound with a EQ4/PS3 combo. Snare bottom is at a B, batter at Eb (major 3rd apart), I like my snares really tight and this makes for a nice tight, cutting snare tone with a destructive rimshot. Heads on mine are Genera HD Dry with Glass 500 bottom.

Hope this helps.
 
Hello,

This is an old post however I have the info you and every drummer needs on this subject. This valuable information was given to me by master percussionist Michael Bayard.

Rhythmmagic.com

Unfortunately I have tried countless times to show others how to properly tune a drum and see their struggle.

The drum is merely a cylinder and every cylinder has a resonate note based on it's dimensions. Like say blowing into a bottle.

To find the resonate note one has to sing into the drum until found. Once the note has been established that is what you tune your drum to, top and bottom. Best to use the lowest octave possible because the head will vibrate longer with less tension.

Start by evenly putting tension on the drum stretching the head. New heads will take a bit more time before seasoned. Start with a cross pattern and give it a fair amount of tension.

Once the head is ready, start with one lug and tension it to your resonate note. Then onto the next one. In a circular pattern tension the rod above the note and then back down to it. Keep doing this either clockwise or counter clockwise several times around the drum. More than once for sure try like 3 or 4 times around the drum.

The reason is because after a while the tension across the head will evenly distribute and this is what you want. Otherwise after a few hits the drum will lose resonance and create undesirable cross frequencies.

This is why my friends most drums sound like cardboard boxes. Are flat and as I call UN-fruitful.

Factors involved can cause issues such as an uneven bearing edge or a bent rim.

In this method one can take any set of drums no matter what the quality is and make them sing and sound rich.

After while you will be able to tune drums just by feel alone. Or by watching the vibration of the drum head.

As mentioned it is not an easy task however like all things after some practice becomes second nature.

Sincerely,
John Feeney
Director of Pyrocussion®
 
One more note I forgot to mention.

If you have a set that is 12" 13" 16" because of dimension the difference between the 12' & 13' will be closer in resonance than between the 13 & 16".

Again hope that helps.

John Feeney
Pyrocussion®
 
There's an easy way, and a harder way.

Here's the easy way:

Neary drum torque wrench

I can hear the screams of blasphemy in 3-2-1...
 
No blasphemy here. I used to swear at gimmicks, but now use the Evans Torque Key and quickly get my drums to where they need to be. I still have to tweak with my ears, but no more counting 1/2 turn, 1 turn etc. Just turn the key until the stop breaks and go to the next lug. When all are done, tweak. Now I'm done.
 
To find the resonate note one has to sing into the drum until found.

The tension of the heads would affect things though right? This I never heard. I'm guessing you sing in the vent hole with the heads on. So it doesn't matter how tight or loose the heads are, you can hear the resonant note of the shell regardless? Or you sing to a headless shell? Why not tap the headless shell? And wouldn't the resonant note change with tension on the shell from the heads? Sounds like the DW note stamping argument all over again only with the hardware and finish on the drum.

I'm sorry for all the questions, because respectfully, I disagree with this. A drum has a span of a few octaves where it will sound good. I don't know that there's just one magic note from a drum. If there is, I've been missing it all this time.
 
Don't sing into the drum - sing to the drum.

When you sing the right note, the drum will sing back something like,

"Yes, that's it - you've found the right note. Well done. You can sing to the next drum now".
in a calm, soothing voice.

If you sing wrong, the drum will sing back - "No, you big dummy. Who taught you how to sing to a drum."

LOL
 
For toms, bottom head will be approximately one tone (major 2nd) higher than the batter, and the interval between toms will vary depending on how many toms, but generally somewhere between a minor 3rd and perfect 4th.

With snare drums you want the snare side head tensioned as tightly as possible, and the batter side to taste.
 
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I find the intervals of a minor sixth, minor ninth, ninth and minor third are the most harmonious for drums, in my experience and according to the theory of vibrating membranes, though your mileage may vary depending on how your heads are constructed.

As for tops vs bottom head tensions, I find that if they are reasonably close they tend to ring at one pitch in a chained resonance, and adjusting the top bottom tension is mostly matter of preference for how you want the stick to bounce, and some minor tonal differences.

I've played around with very heavy heads and very light heads and tuning to the intervals above, this works, especially the ninth interval.

The minor ninth and minor sixth aren't popular amongst many would be musicians, so tuning to fourths is another popular method. It will give you that cool sound.
 
SNARE New Classic 14" x 5.5"
Toms: 12" x 8" TT • 14" x 14" FT • 18" x 14"
...
Do you tune your drums to find its specific tone, or do you go after a set note like for instance a Fb or Eb etc.?

On a four-piece like that just make each drum sound its best. If you find the two toms end up too close to each other sonically, just tweak one of them for more separation. A four-piece should (generally) be easy and fun to tune!

The complexity increase if you have three, four (or more) toms where you like to get some common interval, a coherent sound quality and still have each drum sound as good as possible. Often, but not always, possible with good drums and nice heads. A nightmare with some kits...
 
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