Is tuning the batter head higher than the resonant head better for sound projection?

striker

striker

Silver Member
I was listening to this Steve Maxwell clip about tuning drums. He says that if you DO NOT want to use mic for sound projection, it is best to tune the top batter head higher than the bottom resonant head. In this way, the sound projects away from the drummer. I do not have a decibel meter to test this out. His recommendation is not about what is the right or the wrong way to tune drums. He is making a case for sound projection WITHOUT a mic.

What has been your experience? Do you tune your drum this way and if you do, does it give you a better sound projection?

 
He’s correct. As the batter (struck) head produces more volume than the reso head, if the batter head is at a higher pitch, it more readily finds it’s own space in the inevitable lower frequency mud of a live act. Wether that translates directly to a measurable db increase at distance, I’m not sure.
 
I tune this way. It's how I was taught, I'll explain.

I took lessons from an old school jazz guy. He told me that when tuning, the top head is responsible for the note you want. The bottom head is responsible for the body of the drum, the thud or boing if you will.

If you think about a concert tom, this makes perfect sense. They have very little body, tons of note.

Anywho, I like big thuddy drums with a distinctive note and good stick response. So my batters are rather tight, and my resos are rather loose. It has nothing to do with projection for me. That's just a happy coincidence.

Food for thought:

A drum with the same heads tuned differently sounds different depending on which side you hit. This right here should be proof of concept of both tuning choices AND projection. It would require multiple sets of ears and mics, but one drum, two sounds, it's all measurable.
 
I was disappointed to learn that my great sounding kit near field was muddy sounding out front (unmiked). You mean I have to tune up?..well? Bonhams kit was tuned up more than I realized so I was cool again 😃.
 
I've always tuned higher because it does project and cut through mix live without mics. I don't know if so much batter tuned higher is the deal as just tuned higher? It sounds so different from behind a kit than in front I've learned over the years, and you should favor the front. It blows my mind with no mics it can sound great behind the kit but muddy in front, and then it can sound obnoxious behind and great in front. Then there is the acoustic issues of rooms where you can place drums in a dead zone in live situations-you just have to move the kit.
 
At this point, I mic 100% of the time I play outside of practicing; however, I'm gonna have to remember this. Thanks for sharing it!
 
C. Dave Run said:
I tune this way. It's how I was taught, I'll explain.
I took lessons from an old school jazz guy.
Click to expand...

This makes sense. In that video clip he says that this method of tuning was popular in the 40s and 50s because they needed a way to project the sound towards the audience in a concert hall without a mic.
 
one time I had the small tom tuned like that ; bottom head (just happened to be) lower.
A fella sat in. The stage was a little above the floor/audience/table level.

As I sat there, All I heard was that Bottom head and gosh it was too low.
It stuck out like a sore thumb
So to me the bottom head might just be what the audience hears.
 
I remember reading in Modern Drummer magazine in the 80s that tuning higher does make the drums project better as well as sound better out front but I don't remember if they were talking about having the batter higher than the reso or just tuning higher in general.
 
I agree with this school of thought especially larger drums
fb.watch

Jeff Ocheltree on Bonzo's Tuning and link to Interview | Are you into nostalgia? A peek at history? How-To's? This is a fun video to watch. Here's Drum Tech Jeff Ocheltree giving the scoop on one of John... | By Drum Talk TV | Facebook

304.016 views, 343 likes, 33 loves, 42 comments, 141 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Drum Talk TV: Are you into nostalgia? A peek at history? How-To's? This is a fun video to watch. Here's Drum...
fb.watch fb.watch
 
Maybe-- to me it's not a very modern sound. I'm not sure how to describe it-- tonal, but tubby?

Here's an example of it:

I tune for the sound I want and then play them so they project. Usually I want a purer high sound (both high), or a punchy low sound (top high/bottom low), or a rock sound (both low).
 
In the video clip he says one and a half turn for top batter side and one turn for the bottom resonant side. That is a huge difference between top and bottom.

DrumDial chart also follows this method but the difference is not that huge. Take drum size of 5x14 as an example.
DrumDial recommends 85-90 for batter coated and 80-85 for resonant thin clear.
 
PorkPieGuy said:
At this point, I mic 100% of the time I play outside of practicing;
Click to expand...
Same here, or at least, used to.

I'm trying to wrap my head around a situation where projection is paramount and yet there are no mic's or sound reinforcement. It seems to me that someone would have had to have dropped the ball for that to happen. Maybe it's explained in the video. I didn't bother to watch it.
 
yammyfan said:
I tried this and it did not work out very well for me. I think that tuning the resonant head higher is popular for a reason.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you really have to be OK with the sound of the kit when it's tuned like that and I'm like you. I can't get next to it.
 
Im not so sure more volume is created when a tom batter head is tighter than the reso...

I think the freq. distribution is wider as the reso inducts from the tighter batter...and the shell itself becomes more engaged...so I think the energy transmitted is roughly equal with low batter/high reso...but the perceived volume, due to freq spread, is higher.

I find the latency to my full perceived volume is slower with a tight top/looser bottom but 'rounder' in sound...so i have to play ever so slightly ahead of the beat for the sound to arrive on time as opposed to loose top/tight bottom...but that is milliseconds, of course.
 
Last edited:
Frank Godiva said:
Ken talks about projection with no mics tuning

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the clip. Saved the video clip and I will try the suggestions. As I expected there are different ways to tune the top and bottom for sound projection.

On a side note, Buddy Rich was using a 4 by 14 snare. Well, by today's standards I guess that makes it a Piccolo snare. Those edge and rim shots ring their hearts out.
 
yammyfan said:
I tried this and it did not work out very well for me. I think that tuning the resonant head higher is popular for a reason.
Click to expand...
I agree. To me, a higher batter sounds like jazz, which is cool for certain things, but I prefer the batter to be looser. How much looser I’m still trying to decide. I like the batter a half step below the reso, but I like the slappy rock sound with the batter down a 4th a little better because it is less jazzy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top