Drummers that can't tune drums.

You'd let some dude tune your drums on stage just before you start playing at a gig? Really???

Yea, it's really not that important to me. I can fix that kind of thing pretty quick if they screw it up, and with all honestly, I just don't think anyone cares what my drums sound like to that minutia... Once the music starts it's mostly out the window for a lot of styles. If a sound guy doesn't like the way I have things tuned, he's not going to make me sound good in that tuning anyway, so I'd probably let him have a go.

Like I say, it hasn't happened yet though... They usually just put the mic up and ask me to hit it a few times while they fiddle with knobs. For them to want to change my kit it must have some problem that's pretty severe.
 
I have been asked by a lot of guys about tuning and I think where most people fall down is they listen to the drum on its own and get over concerned about over tones and forget about the context of cymbals and the rest of the kit going also competing with other instruments. So a bit of nastyness can be needed to get it to cut. When I tune i try to get maximum horsepower if you like from the kit. Also I find people start worrying about fine tuning over tones to early in the tuning process. I would describe tuning as casting your net wide at the beginning and bringing it in to smaller nuances at the end ie small increments up where the drum is resonant and where the tension is right rebound, then work on the relationship between top and bottom head, then work on its context of the other drums and finally work fine tuning the resonance. I find you will drive yourself mad worrying about fine tuning resonance when it is not in right general area. Finally embrace over tones. That's my 2 cents hopefully it is of some help. Just how i approach it.
 
Some of the new digital mixers with USB recording can be pretty hip. Record the sound check, go out front and hear exactly what your kit sounds like with you playing it, in that room, through that PA. Brave new world.
 
Honestly, we're way too over-obsessed with tuning our drums and worrying about audience. The audience is watching and listening to front person or the major instruments like horns or guitars or keys. NO ONE in audience gives a rats arse about how your drums sound they don't care they're not listening. They get jazzed about a drum solo and how fast it is, but tuning and how your drums sound? You got wayyyy too much ego if you really think anybody in audience except other drummers are listening to how your kit is tuned with a critical ear.

Not so with a recording, though.

I agree with this mostly. I tune the drums for ME. If I am happy with the sounds I'm getting, I like it way better. If that makes it sound better in the audience, I'll take it. As was said, not that many people pay attention to the drum sound. The feel is another discussion.

However...personally....

I feel it's my duty to give them the best sound I can get. It doesn't matter to me if they don't pay attention. I'm giving them the best I can anyway, because I can. I do think a really killer drum sound makes a difference to people, even if they don't admit it, or even realize it. It adds to the good time. It's my job to know these things, not theirs. I'm not looking for adulation, I am looking to satisfy MY ears.
 
Honestly, we're way too over-obsessed with tuning our drums and worrying about audience. The audience is watching and listening to front person or the major instruments like horns or guitars or keys. NO ONE in audience gives a rats arse about how your drums sound they don't care they're not listening. They get jazzed about a drum solo and how fast it is, but tuning and how your drums sound? You got wayyyy too much ego if you really think anybody in audience except other drummers are listening to how your kit is tuned with a critical ear.

Not so with a recording, though.

Disagree—

It's not about ego, it's about doing all the little things that add up to an intangible essence of better.
You don't have to tell anybody or talk about it, but if you don't think in terms of every little thing a little bit better, it might as well be every little thing a little bit whatever.
 
Honestly, we're way too over-obsessed with tuning our drums and worrying about audience. The audience is watching and listening to front person or the major instruments like horns or guitars or keys. NO ONE in audience gives a rats arse about how your drums sound they don't care they're not listening. They get jazzed about a drum solo and how fast it is, but tuning and how your drums sound? You got wayyyy too much ego if you really think anybody in audience except other drummers are listening to how your kit is tuned with a critical ear.

Not so with a recording, though.

I respectfully disagree, particularly with the parts I highlighted. I've been to gigs to check out bands and/or friends and have overheard patrons comment that the drums sound bad. And these weren't fellow musicians, from what I could tell.

Do I think most (99.99%) people we perform in front of not care about "the drum sound?" Yes, I would agree with that. But when a kit is painfully bad sounding, it does get noticed.

There is a 1 drummer in my area who tunes his toms incredibly high, uses Remo muffles, and he uses a 12"x5" (maybe 4.5") snare that's cranked to the "poying" level of sound. And it's absolutely painful to hear him play*. And he's one of the drummers who I've heard people comment negatively about his drum sound. *As a sidenote, he's yet again looking for a band
 
Was a bassist for 30 yrs and I'm wondering if there are parallels to be drawn between bass and drums.

I'm newish to drums but I'm guessing undamped highly tuned drums which on stage sound noisy and thin with overtones everywhere will bloom into a full frequency tone in the crowd.

Always found a rich and lush bass tone on stage was lost in a trice out front and specially so when a place filled with people, hence why I played a P bass with its pushy low mid range, but I had to keep the bass knob on the amp way down.
 
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