Drum Tuning

crickbutcher

Junior Member
Hi, I just recently got new heads for my drums and I am having a hard time tuning them., I play a pop/punk music style music. I like my toms pretty low. I use a drum dial and right now for my rack tom which is a 12x9 i have it tuned to 73 degrees on both the top and bottom. the sound is pretty bad and was wondering if someone could help me. Its a demo emperor head on the top and an Evans G1 on the bottom.

Are the top and bottoms heads supposed to be the same, or does 1 need to be higher or lower in pitch than the other?

Thanks!
 
Are the top and bottoms heads supposed to be the same, or does 1 need to be higher or lower in pitch than the other?

Ask three different guys and you'll get three different answers. A good starting point is to get equal tension on batter and reso. that tends to give the drum the longest sustain. Play around from there if it's not a sound you like. Personally I tune my resos higher than the batters, but many others tune batters higher and others again tune so that batter and reso are the same. It all dpenends on what sound you like.

Just remember, equal tension at each lug so that the head is in tune with itself. If it's not, the drum won't sound tuned regardless of the correlation between batter and reso.
 
If you could take a moment to define "pretty bad" it would go a long way to helping others help you.

In general I'd guess the heads are either tuned too low, or aren't in tune with themselves, or both.

I'd start by making sure the batter head is really and truly in tune with equal pitch at each lug and there are no dissonant overtones in the head. Flip over, and do the same with the resonant side.

You may like the top and bottom heads tuned to the same pitch, or something else, but I think exactly the same is a good starting point.

"Pretty low" is a relative term but in general I think it is hard to get a pleasant, open tone if the toms are tuned too low. They're easier to control, sure, but it isn't the most exciting sound, especially from in front of the kit.
 
A lot of people try tuning their resonant head a bit too low and actually get sort of a flappy sound from their drum. The big thing is getting both the batter and resonant heads in tune with themselves after you get the approximate pitch that you want.

Dennis
 
Thanks! I took your advice and started by tuning both my batter and resonant heads to the same thing. Then I tuned the rsonant a little lower than the batter and then a little higher than the batter and compared and I found that when i tuned my resonant head on my floor tom a little higher than the batter it sounded awesome
and when i tuned my resonant on my rack tom lower by just a little that the batter it sounded awesome
 
The single ply reso will be pitched higher then the batter at the same tension. Try matching the pitch,not the tension. :)
 
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