Drum tuning Arghhh!

Wrfortiscue

Junior Member
I cannot seem to ever get my drums sounding right. I spend countless hours tuning by ear, drum dial, looking at tuning videos but still can't tune! I have a pearl vmx with pearl stock resonator heads and Evans g1 batter clear. I want a warm sound with not much resonance! The only thing was using stock ec2 with tape but it looked bad. I see a lot of people who have these drums tuned awesome. Another thing I have a pearl P902 double pedal I can never configure right... Is there a specific configuration? Sorry for the noob questions, thanks.
 
If I were you, I would not worry about resonance. You may think it is ringing like crazy, but someone several feet away from you would not hear the high overtones.

It also may be possible the drum sound you are after is not natural (ie mics and EQing).
 
Tuning is more "art" than "science" IMHO. It takes times, patience and repetition to develop a feel for it. Keep at it. Keep watching the vids....especially the Bob Gatzen tutorials. He uses a tried and tested method.

It may even pay you to take it into a drum store and have one of the guys tune it for you. Watch, listen and ask plenty of questions. Get him to explain exactly what he's doing and what he's listening for.

I Another thing I have a pearl P902 double pedal I can never configure right... Is there a specific configuration? Sorry for the noob questions, thanks.

There is no specific configuration that will suit all players. Pedal configuration is like getting a tailor made suit. What fits me is unlikely to fit you. The best advice is play with it, once you feel comfortable with a setting leave it alone for a while. Too many guys spend all their time continually playing with the settings and it doesn't give them enough time to adapt to, and get comfortable with the set up.
 
Thanks for the replies. I guess the resonance I'm getting is more of a "doying!" sounding don't know how to explain it lol
 
Thanks for the replies. I guess the resonance I'm getting is more of a "doying!" sounding don't know how to explain it lol

Assuming it's a horrible "doying" then it's often a tell tale sign of a drum that is not in tune with itself.

However, some "doying" is pleasant and it often just means that the batter head and reso heads aren't tuned to the same pitch. This is usually a specific tuning choice by the individual player. This kind of "doying" or pitch bend can be reduced or eliminated all together by tuning the batter and reso to the same pitch. This tuning will give the drum ultimate resonance.

So if it's pitch bend "doying" that's bothering you. Tune the batter and reso the same. If it's horrible overtone "doying", then you've just gotta keep working on your tuning I'm afraid. :)
 
WR, I feel your pain, I've been there, and in fact, probably am still "there".

The answers here are honest, it is a question of trial and error, and one way to do this is to try out tuning on an old head, this way, even if you tighten it up a lot and mess it around, you can use it as a sacrificial head and learn what a head can do at differing tensions.

Also, some head manufacturer websites have sound files of different heads, it's useful to listen to these, not necessarily to buy news heads, but to get a frame of reference to what different heads sound like, I never really knew what my heads were "meant" to sound like. Aquarian (as an example, not a plug, has this available, be sure to wear headphones to get the best sound) ..

Finally, as Pocket suggests, take the drum to store, on a quiet time of day if possible, and ask for some help. I really don't know why drum stores don't have tuning clinics in conjunction wit a head company, I have to think this would be a well attended event, and naturally generate sales for new heads.

Hope this helps a little.
 
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