If tuning drums were as easy as tuning a guitar...

I actually tune my toms batters and resos to the same pitch, or pretty close most of the time, but I would loose a lot of control without the choice.

On the snare? You loose a lot of options there.

Also, what happens those 99% of times when I use a house kit? Sorry. Not my drums. Can't turn them.

I get it, though. I'm old boring and prefer as few gadgets as possible.

This is one of the things where the more I think about it, it actually makes less sense.
 
Odd-Arne Oseberg said:
I actually tune my toms batters and resos to the same pitch, or pretty close most of the time, but I would loose a lot of control without the choice.

On the snare? You loose a lot of options there.

Also, what happens those 99% of times when I use a house kit? Sorry. Not my drums. Can't turn them.

I get it, though. I'm old boring and prefer as few gadgets as possible.

This is one of the things where the more I think about it, it actually makes less sense.
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I knew you'd say you tune both heads the same! I must be old and boring too, less gadgets means less that can go wrong.

There's also this which I've seen, I don't like a company telling me how my drums should sound.

 
Odd-Arne Oseberg said:
Is it really that hard to tune a drum, anyway?
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Agreed. A lot of automation is based upon the false premise that things are more complicated than reality bears out. Rotating a drum key until you've pinpointed the sound you want, unhindered by gadgets and apps, isn't a Herculean task. It just takes patience and a willingness to explore. Both traits seem to be on the decline these days, as more and more people seek instantaneous results without the slightest expertise.
 
C.M. Jones said:
Agreed. A lot of automation is based upon the false premise that things are more complicated than reality bears out. Rotating a drum key until you've pinpointed the sound you want, unhindered by gadgets and apps, isn't a Herculean task. It just takes patience and a willingness to explore. Both traits seem to be on the decline these days, as more and more people seek instantaneous results without the slightest expertise.
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I've experimented with ratchet keys , tune bots etc... just to see if my ear and the other tools were close all it did was drive me crazy and I ended up sticking with the ol school way of tuning
 
RayI said:
I've experimented with ratchet keys , tune bots etc... just to see if my ear and the other tools were close all it did was drive me crazy and I ended up sticking with the ol school way of tuning
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I had to resort to the old school way of tuning last week when I got together with some guys to jam. They had a “house kit” two other drummers had been playing. As soon as I hit the first head I couldn’t believe anyone actually played them that way. Live my tune bot, but it wasn’t with me. Took what I learned with all the experiments I had done with the tool and had them sounding like real drums in a jiffy. The band couldn’t believe the kit could sound that good. Took 5 minutes!
 
I have both a Tune-Bot and a Resotune.

Do I use them?

Well, not really. They do however save me a bit of time when changing heads.
 
This guy has simple methods that work, and a decent "teaching" style, plus, is a solid player imo.

Also, (full disclosure) I'm a fan.





Rob Brown tuning
Push pull stroke said:
Yes, good lord. I hated it for years, because nobody really systematically taught me how.
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wraub said:
This guy has simple methods that work, and a decent "teaching" style, plus, is a solid player imo.

Also, (full disclosure) I'm a fan.





Rob Brown tuning
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I’m fairly happy with my tuning now, but it was frustrating because, while I knew how to tune for orchestral from college, I had no real idea what to do with drum set toms. But thanks.
 
This method eliminates the ability to fine-tune the all-important snare side head and beds.
I am totally happy with taking the time and using the TuneBot on every single head on my drums.
 
ToneT said:
This method eliminates the ability to fine-tune the all-important snare side head and beds.
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Yeah.

And we all have the exact same taste and preferences there, right?

NOT!!!

"We tune because we care."
 
When I was around 16 or so I spent a whole summer holiday tinkering around with tunings on my kit and learning what worked and what didn’t work. I’m not an expert tuner by any means but neither do I think it’s the alchemy it’s sometimes made out to be. It just takes a lot of time and patience though I think there is no comparison between tuning drums and guitars.
 
I do think a system like this, with isolation mounts, could be really good for for small rack toms. Especially if you play low-volume and unmiked. Use exactly the same (thin) head type on top and bottom, tune fairly high, and get some nice singing tones out of 10” or even 8” toms. Especially small toms with really unique shells, like thin stave/segment shells of unique-sounding woods.
 
Winston_Wolf said:
I wouldn't like not being able to apply different tension at each lug, to say nothing of different tensions on top and bottom. If there's any variations in head and hoop there's no way to guarantee you'll get the same pitch at every lug just because the tension is equal.
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Yeah, I think a better idea was the Drum Tech DTS tuning system. It had the ability to install on the top, bottom or both heads.

I still have some but they're not installed right now. They were great for quickly sweep tuning (with one hand) my toms to find the sweet spots, then documenting the tunings with my TuneBot. Especially bottom heads, FWIW. (y)
 
I didn’t think of it so how good an idea can it be. Lol
 
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