I've Admitted Defeat
- Thread starter wildbill
- Start date
Not sure what sound you are after.
But I can speak as a new Yamaha CS birch owner and as a person who went from knowing nothing in drum tuning to knowing a little bit within 2 weeks. I used to play on my church's Premier Maple kit. I recently bought a Yamaha CS to practice in my garage. So you see, I went from big venue + maple (warm) -> tiny space + birch (bright). It took me many trial-and-errors to find the right combination to make the toms sound good. (I'm still working on the snare.)
And I think I know what you mean by the wonky ringing from the 10". That YCS 10" was really hard to tune. Here are what I learned:
- YCS is not very forgiving if the lugs are not in tune. When one lug is slightly out of tune, the 10" tom produces beating hums. I have never experienced this on the Premier Maple. It took me many many hours to discover this. One night, the wonky ring suddenly disappeared from 10" tom after I tweaked one single lug by probably 1/16th of a turn.
- The 10" produced a lot overtones until I tuned the top head up to certain point. The thing I'm not certain here is whether it's because of the tonal relationship between the top and bottom heads or it's because the shell sounds better at certain pitch range. (I'm too chicken to change anything now to experience.)
- I started with coated G2 over the stock bottom head. The overtones were still too strong. I ended up with coated G2 over the stock top head. It is now just right. I think the stock top head is similar to a G1 clear. So, I believe a heavier head on the reso side helps to control the overtones.
- I have the bottom tuned a few semi-tones higher than the top. I read that if you have both heads tuned to the same pitch you will get more resonance, which is not what you want.
Hope it helps.
But I can speak as a new Yamaha CS birch owner and as a person who went from knowing nothing in drum tuning to knowing a little bit within 2 weeks. I used to play on my church's Premier Maple kit. I recently bought a Yamaha CS to practice in my garage. So you see, I went from big venue + maple (warm) -> tiny space + birch (bright). It took me many trial-and-errors to find the right combination to make the toms sound good. (I'm still working on the snare.)
And I think I know what you mean by the wonky ringing from the 10". That YCS 10" was really hard to tune. Here are what I learned:
- YCS is not very forgiving if the lugs are not in tune. When one lug is slightly out of tune, the 10" tom produces beating hums. I have never experienced this on the Premier Maple. It took me many many hours to discover this. One night, the wonky ring suddenly disappeared from 10" tom after I tweaked one single lug by probably 1/16th of a turn.
- The 10" produced a lot overtones until I tuned the top head up to certain point. The thing I'm not certain here is whether it's because of the tonal relationship between the top and bottom heads or it's because the shell sounds better at certain pitch range. (I'm too chicken to change anything now to experience.)
- I started with coated G2 over the stock bottom head. The overtones were still too strong. I ended up with coated G2 over the stock top head. It is now just right. I think the stock top head is similar to a G1 clear. So, I believe a heavier head on the reso side helps to control the overtones.
- I have the bottom tuned a few semi-tones higher than the top. I read that if you have both heads tuned to the same pitch you will get more resonance, which is not what you want.
Hope it helps.
harryconway
Platinum Member
Hey, you know what you like. That's all that matters. For me, your combo would be waaaaay to dead. But if it's the sound you like/want, you're the only vote that really counts.
boltzmann's brain
Senior Member
that's good! try ambassadors top and bottom, and tune them very carefully. bright, ringy, dissonant= major potential!
Winston_Wolf
Platinum Member
If the issue is dissonance, that is a head tension/tuning issue. While that could be caused by some unevenness in the bearing edge, it most likely is being caused by tuning problems.
I'd suggest going back to the stock (one-ply clear) head and really focusing on getting the head perfectly tuned. Heavier heads dampen the higher overtones that really help hear how in-tune the head is with itself.
Smaller toms are more affected by tuning inconsistency, but the care and time invested on getting the one drum sounding its best will not only improve the most problematic drum first, but those techniques will help get the rest of the drums sounding better too.
I'd suggest going back to the stock (one-ply clear) head and really focusing on getting the head perfectly tuned. Heavier heads dampen the higher overtones that really help hear how in-tune the head is with itself.
Smaller toms are more affected by tuning inconsistency, but the care and time invested on getting the one drum sounding its best will not only improve the most problematic drum first, but those techniques will help get the rest of the drums sounding better too.
W
wy yung
Guest
Is your tom round? I have experienced a new Recording custom tom out of round.