A stupid tuning rant

PorkPieGuy

PorkPieGuy

Platinum Member
First of all, my drums hate weather. All weather. All my drums. New heads. Old heads. Don't matter. They don't wanna leave the house. I think they hate me as well because I hit them a lot. It makes me want to hit them harder. I think I have issues. I know I have issues.

Anyways, I played a festival a couple of weeks ago, so I took my lovely WMP Ludwig CMs. When I arrived, the stage wasn't set yet, so I thought I'd tune my floor toms while I waited. So I took each out of the case, held it by the rim in one hand, and I hit it with my stick with the other. I'd tuned them while suspended from the rim, and they sounded glorious. Once I got on stage, I mounted the legs (factory legs, factory leg brackets, etc.), and I hit them and the sound bad, so I had to go back and tweak them. I finally got them sounding really good, and they sat on a covered stage during the day for about 3-4 hours. No direct sunlight. Not humid. Not dry. Just a beautiful fall day with a gentle breeze. I got up and to play the set, and sure enough, they sounded bad. I did some tuning on the spot and got them sounding ok, but they were being finicky.

The batters were a few days old and had spent ample time seating. The resos are less than a year old. (Pinstripes over Ambassador Clears, a tried-and-true combo for me.) I don't know man, it's just frustrating sometimes.

Sorry for the coffee-fueled, work-avoiding rant.
 
I've had the same issue, and not even dealing with playing outdoors. Floor toms especially sound different in different rooms. I always tweak a little once I've set up to adjust the pitch and the amount of sustain in a new room.
 
Changes in temperature are a PITA.
Drums in general do not sound great outdoors. Drums rely on a great sounding room. I long ago stopped using standard leg mounts and tom legs. They just instantly choked the sound for me, thinning it out.
 
My opinion is….there’s no way of avoiding it. I read people say “my drums stay in tune for MONTHS..” and I just shake my head with either “I really don’t believe you” or “my ear must be way more sensitive than yours”.

But having said that, I really believe that listening and evaluating the tune on the drum from the throne position is very misleading. I’ve thought my drums sound off…then either do a quick recording or walk way out in front with someone else hitting them….I’m like wow…these sound great! It’s a conundrum lol. The throne can lie
 
rungeflash said:
My opinion is….there’s no way of avoiding it. I read people say “my drums stay in tune for MONTHS..” and I just shake my head with either “I really don’t believe you” or “my ear must be way more sensitive than yours”.

But having said that, I really believe that listening and evaluating the tune on the drum from the throne position is very misleading. I’ve thought my drums sound off…then either do a quick recording or walk way out in front with someone else hitting them….I’m like wow…these sound great! It’s a conundrum lol. The throne can lie
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Agreed. Even if you had lug locks on each lug you're still going to get some fluctuation from temperature changes.
 
Winston_Wolf said:
Floor toms especially sound different in different rooms.
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You're a prophet, my friend. One of my issues is that my wonderful, finished basement is a terrible-sounding room. If I tune my drums down there, they always sound bad out in the wild. I think a lot of it has to be my kits are always backed into a corner with sheetrock walls. I could always treat them, but 99% of the time I'm wearing IEM's to protect my hearing.

In the case above though, I didn't have any excuses.
 
Philaiy9 said:
Agreed. Even if you had lug locks on each lug you're still going to get some fluctuation from temperature changes.
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Absolutely. Drums need the compression of 4 walls. I cane tune a floor tom spot on in my drum room on the tune bot….let’s say 65hz….walk the drum outside…tune bot reads 62hz. Within a matter of seconds. No way the lugs backed off
 
rungeflash said:
My opinion is….there’s no way of avoiding it. I read people say “my drums stay in tune for MONTHS..” and I just shake my head with either “I really don’t believe you” or “my ear must be way more sensitive than yours”.
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I have an experienced drummer friend of mine who claims this, and I believe him. Why? Because his drums don't move, and his basement where he plays is temperature- and humidity-controlled. He rarely tunes if at all, but he has a great environment.

rungeflash said:
But having said that, I really believe that listening and evaluating the tune on the drum from the throne position is very misleading. I’ve thought my drums sound off…then either do a quick recording or walk way out in front with someone else hitting them….I’m like wow…these sound great! It’s a conundrum lol. The throne can lie.
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Yup, I got rid of a kit once because it sounded so bad from the cockpit. Ugh. I couldn't get over it.

Quick story...I was playing a community concert one time. The sound crew had a big JBL line array system set up. My CM's sounded good to me, but I noticed just about every time I'd play a fill, the sound guys would grin, smile, and sometimes laugh. When I talked to them after the show, they said they couldn't believe how good my drums sounded through their PA. They wanted to know everything about them. It was just a regular-old show for me.
 
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I'll just add this to the reasons I'm tired of gigging from the other thread: having to spend more time tuning my drums than playing my drums. It's stupid how much a tiny bit of transportation and/or MINOR change in temperature and/or humidity will make a wonderful drum set sound like garbage.
 
I'm in agreement that, for whatever reason, floor toms are the most picky about changing environments. Snares too, especially if you don't use a high tuning.
 
This past Saturday night, we set up for our gig a bit earlier than usual, I got the drums tuned to a reasonable spot for me, then sat for over an hour before we played. We were indoors, but they had the door to the deck open, 10 feet from the stage area. Raining like a sonuvagun, high humidity. (Remnants of that tropical storm that travelled up the east coast this weekend)

By the time I actually started playing, they sounded like crap. Given that we usually go from one song directly into another most of the time, I couldn't really adjust the tunings much on the fly, either. In between sets I got them back to close enough...
 
Drums sound different in different rooms. That’s the fact. I usually give my drums a once-over after they’ve been sitting for about 5-10 minutes, so they have time to acclimate to the temperature (while I’m setting up hardware/cymbals). Sometimes it’s quick, and sometimes it takes a while, but it’s always worth it.

Another issue is resonance lost through the legs. If you want a potential “quick fix” for that, bring along some pieces of foam in your case. If your floor tom sounds dead, put those under the legs, and your drum might suddenly come back to life. If you find that helps in your instance, perhaps you could invest in some of those floor tom feet that “float” your floor tom. I have a set of them, and they work like magic!
 
Might be an Tissue...err...issue feature of TF hoops..
 
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I tell ya, these damn drums are finicky things…I can go thru an entire gamut of emotions in a 10 minute time span

Teatermasker.jpg
 
As fussy as I am about tuning, I don't expect a great drum sound from the throne when I am playing live. I tune the kit at home, transport it to the venue and double check to make sure it's still tuned and leave it at that. I hope for the best as far as the room acoustics go but don't stress too much about it since it's out of my control.

I worry even less when the drum set is mic'd up since whoever is manning the board determines the final product.
 
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hmm. I remain unperturbed.
 
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