I tried Rob Brown’s tuning method last night

JimmyM

Diamond Member

Short version…Rob says to loosen the rods up all the way and finger tighten, then press down in the middle of the head with constant force, and tighten each rod till the wrinkles around the lug go away, then repeat for all other lugs in any order you want.

Turns out to be a pretty cool way to do it with some caveats…it will be close but you will probably need to fine tune. Also the more you press down, the more wrinkles you get, and if you press too hard you will go straight into jazzland. Likewise, if you don’t press enough, the heads will be floppy. So it took me a couple times to get it right. I think I went too high with my tones tuned to D and the G a fifth below. Going to try to get used to it after seeing Josh Freeze playing higher tuned drums than I thought, but I suspect I’ll end wanting to split the difference between that and rock thud.

Which leads me to another question…I used to work with a guy who said that as your heads get played in, the only way to make them work without changing them is to tighten them up higher and higher. he would tune them way high, and after a while, he couldn’t take it anymore and had to buy a new set. I thought he tuned them too high anyway.

Is that stretching/higher tuning thing on the real or was he just ill informed? I thought it was BS till my floor tom would get a little weird and throw out odd vibration sounds if the head’s tuned where I like it…big and deep. So now I don’t know. They’re Ambs that have been on there close to a year, but not like I’m doing 4 sets 4 times a week or anything.
 
"Which leads me to another question…I used to work with a guy who said that as your heads get played in, the only way to make them work without changing them is to tighten them up higher and higher. he would tune them way high, and after a while, he couldn’t take it anymore and had to buy a new set. I thought he tuned them too high anyway."

Unless you're playing extremely hard this doesn't check out for me.
 
You have to take account of the difference between throne and out front - if you're playing unmicced then you need to tune higher (than you like to hear from the throne) to get them to carry. The 'rock thud' where you sit translates to 'wet cardboard box' 20 feet away. Higher than you like at the throne = 'rock thud' to the audience.
With regards to wear - when they no longer hold tune where you want them, change them. I wouldn't keep pitching up and changing my sound just to get more life out of them.
 
I kind of recoil from videos that claim this is the one way to do anything and every other way is 'a waste of time'.
There are many ways to tune a drum, but to me (from experience) the key thing you need is that each tension rod should be equal to the others.
So I finger tighten - which isn't perfect but it's an ok starting point. Then I turn the drum key a couple of turns at each rod, going opposite alternates. Then when I have the head reasonably tight, with no wrinkles. I DO tap each edge near a rod and adjust for higher or lower tones than the majority. The whole process probably takes me five minutes to placing new head on shell to playable.
Yes, I have done this in a loud environment. Do people really need to change a head five minutes before going onstage? If so, then you don't expect to have a perfectly tuned drum, but I can get very close.
Not saying the above video is wrong, just saying that claiming all other ways 'are a waste of time' is another absolute statement from a Youtuber (sigh).
 
Ive tried it a couple times, and while it works, its not for me.


Which leads me to another question…I used to work with a guy who said that as your heads get played in, the only way to make them work without changing them is to tighten them up higher and higher. he would tune them way high, and after a while, he couldn’t take it anymore and had to buy a new set. I thought he tuned them too high anyway.
If you stretch the head after seating, before the final tune, there shouldnt really be any issues.

Stretch that thing too. Give it CPR, sit on it, jump on it like Simon, whatever you need to do. I put my hands in the middle and push with all my weight.

If you dont stretch the head, it will stretch itself continually as you play and need to be retuned constantly. This is why that guy would have to constantly tune higher.

Heads work like strings in this way. If you dont stretch them, the instrument will do it just by being under tension.
 
Stretch that thing too. Give it CPR, sit on it, jump on it like Simon, whatever you need to do. I put my hands in the middle and push with all my weight.

Yeah, I push down on the head a few times during the tensioning process
This is what I was taught by the drummer around the way when I first got into drums.
 
I do a little CPR when seating a new head but I do not do the "overtighten and let sit overnight" thing I heard back when I was a kid.

I do think heads stretch and relax a bit from being played, but I've never felt I needed to tune beyond my previous pitch to keep the head sounding good. I just tune back to where I had been before. It's when I no longer get a good tone at that desired pitch that I know I'm due for a head change.

As for the video, I generally like Rob Brown's videos and he is a fantastic player, but this tom tuning method doesn't really do it for me. It's good to have multiple methods in mind though, and if I ever had a drum that didn't respond well to my usual tuning method I'd certainly try this.
 
but I do not do the "overtighten and let sit overnight" thing I heard back when I was a kid.

I was taught this when I was a kid (early '60s) and still do it today. Probably not necessary, but I don't have to retune after I have played them some, so I am not inclined to change.

I have tried Brown's approach the last couple of head changes and found I need to then even the tension at each tension rod. This gets me at the low end of the drum's range.

I suspect the need to balance the tension depends on how consistent you are at "just getting the wrinkles out" and the resultant pitch depends on how hard you push down on the head.
 
I tune a lot higher than Rob B, but his method does work to get heads pretty evenly tensioned, quickly. Whenever I’ve used it, it’s been a starting point, then I‘ve gone up from there.

🙂
 
I do a little CPR when seating a new head but I do not do the "overtighten and let sit overnight" thing I heard back when I was a kid.

I always get my best results with the "overtighten and let sit overnight," but I think this is because I always have my drums in a cool basement. I think if I tuned and stored heads in a less-cool place, it may be a different story. I also quit with the CPR thing because I like the idea of the head stretching over the edge more evenly over a little bit of time. YMMV.
 
"overtighten and let sit overnight"
Depends on your shells and bearing edges too. My Gretsch don't really seat heads well unless you do that, just due to the oversized shells and sharp bearing edges at the outermost point of the shell. You have to completely reshape the collar of the head in order for it to conform to the drum.

I don't really think Rob's toms sound all that great so I've never bothered to give his tuning method a try.
 
I kind of recoil from videos that claim this is the one way to do anything and every other way is 'a waste of time'.
There are many ways to tune a drum, but to me (from experience) the key thing you need is that each tension rod should be equal to the others.
So I finger tighten - which isn't perfect but it's an ok starting point. Then I turn the drum key a couple of turns at each rod, going opposite alternates. Then when I have the head reasonably tight, with no wrinkles. I DO tap each edge near a rod and adjust for higher or lower tones than the majority. The whole process probably takes me five minutes to placing new head on shell to playable.
Yes, I have done this in a loud environment. Do people really need to change a head five minutes before going onstage? If so, then you don't expect to have a perfectly tuned drum, but I can get very close.
Not saying the above video is wrong, just saying that claiming all other ways 'are a waste of time' is another absolute statement from a Youtuber (sigh).
Doesn’t bother me. I have discretion ;). He’s right that a lot of time gets wasted on tuning. I have personally wasted way more time on it than I think I should. But absolutely there’s more than one way to do it, and I’m in an experimental stage with trying different things to see how they work and see if I can shave some time off the process.

Depends on your shells and bearing edges too. My Gretsch don't really seat heads well unless you do that, just due to the oversized shells and sharp bearing edges at the outermost point of the shell. You have to completely reshape the collar of the head in order for it to conform to the drum.

I don't really think Rob's toms sound all that great so I've never bothered to give his tuning method a try.
I actually like them but I’m in shakeup mode and trying new things just to see what happens.
 
I use Rob's method for my bass drum all the time & it's been great. Toms require a bit of tweaking like you said, and I find I'll do that anyway no matter the technique.
Rob is a great, down to earth instructor & when i did his Year of the Hands over Covid, it was a game changer for me & my playing.
 
My opinion on when to change heads is that it depends on your shells and are you recording or gigging.

The Roger's drums I ended up with as starter drums responded to head changes. The 1st gen Signia Maple shells (6mm undersized) really don't (this is for non-coated heads). A head change hasn't been needed.
I've been back playing for 2 years after 15 years off. Most of the Pinstripe heads were changed around 20 years ago. I changed the 8" Emporer and saw no real improvement. The kick head will wear from the beater, eventually.
Rob's bass drum tuning video is excellent. I tighten a bit more sometimes but not sure I benefit from more rebound for my style.
 
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In my over-the-top pursuance of Tuning my drums as a Recreational Player - I have found that tuning is kinda of an Art. I resurrected playing drums after 50 years [1969] - no 71 YO. When I re-commenced in 2019 (thx to my wife who gifted me a Cheapo Gammon Kit for Xmas 2018 as I was heading toward Retirement), I knew very little about Drum Heads, Tuning, etc. I have learned plenty form forums like this, and You Tube videos. I saw Bob Brown Videos - he's very entertaining BTW, and of course this one on Drum Tuning. "For God's Sake People, It's Not Rocket Science". I don't Gig (maybe a Geriatric Jam may come on the horizon locally for me one day soon), but I do have some OCD. I don't record or Mic my drums, but I try with earnest to get the sound of my drums as close as I can to "recorded" sounds. Not too much Overtones, good attack, and minimum ringing. I've tried a variety of new heads and tuning techniques in the hopes of getting to "utopia". I now have a PDP Concept Maple 6 Drum Kit (gave the Gammon set to my grandson). I have found that Bob's technique is good one to get you going, but still needs thos perosnl Tweaks. The 80/20 Drummer on YT did a comparison of 4 tuning techniques that are On Line (Jared on Drumeo, Rick Beato, Bob Brown and I beleive one other I don't recall). His summation was Bob's was the overall best / easiest. That's a matter of opinion for sure. FWIW, I currently have G2s coated on my 2 Floor Toms (14 &16), EC2 clear on 12" rack tom, a G2 coated on the 10" rack tom and EC2 Clear on the 8" rack tom. The Toms are tuned low to mid high. And I use Evans E-Rings on all the drums except the Snare and the 8" Tomm. I have tried a number of Snare batter heads (UV1 , UV2, Power center coated,), but have settled for now on a HD Dry. I use the same batter head on my 14 X 6.5 DW Design Series Nickel over Brass snare too. Check out my post about a "weird" Thing about a Hack I stumbled upon using a Floor Tom with the snare drum.
 
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