Confused about basic concepts

land

Junior Member
Hey guys, first post here. I've been messing around with some friends but things are getting a bit more serious now (we finally found a good singer) and so I decided to refresh my drum kit, get new heads and spent proper time learning how to tune my kit.

Anyhow, I started reading online guides (Tuning Bible etc) but I start to get confused when the guides start using some unknown (to me) terms and thing just go down hill from there.. Here are some:

- resonance
- decay
- attack
- overtone
- "dark" tones

I think got an idea of what resonance and decay is but no clue about attack and overtone. Would anyone be able to explain this to a "newbie" like me? :D

Thanks!
 
The attack is the first part of the sound that happens; the sound of the stick striking the drum, rather than the head resonating after that happens. More attack means more of a 'click' to the sound of the impact, less attack means a more muffled sound.

Overtones are higher tones or notes that make up part of the whole sound of a drum (also called 'harmonics'). There's a fundamental note, which is the lowest one, and then higher tones which contribute to the character of the sound. A sound without many overtones will sound 'darker' or more 'hollow', and a sound with lots of overtones will sound 'bright', 'ringy', 'brassy' etc.

It's hard to really discuss these without getting into the physics too much...but also, bear in mind that people use words to describe sound that aren't really adequate to describe them (like 'creamy' or 'leathery'!), so the descriptions are often an inexact science.
 
I'm reading a book right now called "This is Your Brain on Music: the Science of a Human Obsession". Am just 1/4 of the way through but am so taken by it that I already feel comfortable reccomending it.

The reason I mention it here is because the first couple chapters define and explain these terms and more, illustrated with specific, relateable examples. As PQleyR mentioned, there are a lot of physics behind descriptions of sounds, and the book explains them quite well.

It's all new to me and I'm learning a lot. If you're a reader this book may interest you too.
 
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