Mapex Armory tuning problem

Hello. I have some problem with my newly bought Mapex Armory drum kit. I guess I have mostly some problems with my snare drum, smallest tom and bass drum. I don't know how to make my snare has less wire sustain (it just sustains this sound for too long). The smallest tom sounds weird as you can hear. About bass drum I want to make it warmer. Do you have some tips how to repair that? What do you think about other drums' sound? Thanks in advance. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YJGppBx8kgLlfHM6p5y96DGlc1u7F-vY/view?usp=sharing
 
Tighten strainer tension knob (make sure wires centered on head) and grab your drum key time to fine tune batter and reso heads of toms. Adjust batter bass head to feel and then tune reso head to pitch/sound you want. If you can’t achieve the sound you want just tuning then search DW threads for tricks to help.
 
The highest tom is not tuned properly. Do you hear that buzzing tone with the falling frequency. This often happens if a head is tuned too low generally or if the head is totally detuned on one or more lugs so that a part of the head rattles. It could be either the batter or reso. Quickest way to check is if you press your palm in the middle of the heads there should be no wrinkles anywhere. If there are wrinkles you should tune them out while applying the force with your palm. This leads you to the deepest possible tuning of that head.
 
About my snare, I didn't tune it from the beginning because reso is indeed tight, batter head as well. I don't know why this long wire sustain sound is heard (I also adjusted wires but cannot make it has short ringing). Why does smallest tom has that weird ringing sound? As for bass drum, my reso I tight but batter is pretty loose. I will try to experiment with this highest tom.
 
Those toms sound too low for their sizes. I'd recommend taking all the heads off, reseating them on the drums, doing about a 1/2 turn to a full turn on on all the heads. I'd recommend tensioning the resonant head higher for a nice, modern sound. Also, you need to listening for the pitches at each lug, otherwise they'll sound like that video. When listening to the pitches at each lug, I'd recommend using a mallet of some sort but if you don't own a mallet, get your drumstick and attach a cymbal felt to the butt end of it. When checking pitches at each lug, take the drum off it's mount, and place it on a cushion so it mutes the opposite head. After you have checked the pitches of the bottom head lugs and top head lugs, see how it sounds altogether. If the sustain is too long, just put some muffling on it like moon gel or gaff tape. Now onto the Bass drum. For a warmer sound I'd tune the batter head finger tight whilst pressing onto the hoop with your palm. This will tension it higher than just regular finger tight. For the resonant head i's say do either a 1/2 turn to a 1/1 turn. I'd recommend placing some kind of muffling in it. A beach towel or pillow would work fine. Also, don't bury the beater. Let it lift off the head. Now snare. Again take the heads off, reseat them. You don't have to take the snare side head off though, just de-tension it. After you have done this, do about 1/1 to 2/1 turns on the batter head. check the pitches at each lug to see for even pitch all round. For the snare side head, you generally want it higher than the batter head, so tune it up so that it is higher than the batter head. I think for this snare buzz problem you would have to take the snares off and put them back on again. When putting the snares back on, make sure the throw off is engaged at a medium to high tension so that you can get a shorter snare sound. Also, add muffling to your snare.
 
Do yourself a huge favour and get a Tune-Bot. They're about a hundred bucks and will transform your kit into a professional sounding rig.
 
I use This on toms and kick as a starting point. It's quick and gets you close. Then I tune the kick reso a quarter to half turn higher until it sounds right.

As for the snare, it sounds like either it's tuned too low or the snare wires aren't on right. Double check the wires then re-tune.

For snares I Crank the reso like this, then start the batter off about 1 full turn, pitch match lugs, then bring it up to pitch.
 
Hello. I have some problem with my newly bought Mapex Armory drum kit. I guess I have mostly some problems with my snare drum, smallest tom and bass drum. I don't know how to make my snare has less wire sustain (it just sustains this sound for too long). The smallest tom sounds weird as you can hear. About bass drum I want to make it warmer. Do you have some tips how to repair that? What do you think about other drums' sound? Thanks in advance. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YJGppBx8kgLlfHM6p5y96DGlc1u7F-vY/view?usp=sharing
a lot of the snare wire resonance has to do with the batter head tuning. If the batter resonates for a long time, so will the Reso head and the snare wires. tighten the batter and see if that helps.
 
Hi Ronnie. Make sure that all the snare hardware is tight (lug to shell). Check the bearing edges. See if the drum is in round. Any of these three will also cause the problem.
 
I wrote this for my friend's recording studio website. It describes several tuning methods and how to achieve them.

How can I get my drums to sound like so-and-so?

No, drums often don't sound like they do on your favorite records in real life. There's a lot of processing going on to achieve those sounds, but there are still some things you can do with your drums that can help.

Start by knowing the overall tone you want. Is it bright and resonant? Warm and punchy? Low and thuddy? Once you know that, be sure your kit has the right heads on it. And if they're not in really good shape, it's time to fork over for some new ones.

For bright and resonant, I recommend coated Ambassadors or G1s. For warm and punchy, it's coated Emperors or G2s. Looking for something in between? Clear Emperors or G2s fit that bill. Now for that low and thuddy tone. If you still want just a hint of brightness and clarity, Remo Pinstripes are the way to go, and in most cases I wouldn't go any lower or thuddier than this. But for the ultimate low, thuddy tone, Evans Hydraulics or Ebony Pinstripes will bring out the Dark Side of any kit.

And don't forget your resonant heads. Clear single-ply heads like Remo Ambassadors or Evans G1s are the standard, and for good reason. But coated versions of these heads on the bottom will help warm up your sound a bit more. And sometimes, I'll even go with a 2-ply head on the bottoms of floor toms—but only if there's a 2-ply head on top (you never want your bottom head to be thicker than your top head).

Once you have the right heads in place, now it's time to get them in tune. First, get each head in tune with itself. In other words, make sure the tension at each lug is even all the way around. The easiest way to do that is to place the drum on a carpeted floor and tap about 1-2" from each lug. The carpeting completely mutes whichever head is facing down, so you'll only hear the head you're tapping. Furthermore, you'll only hear the higher harmonics, which makes it easier to determine relative pitch between lugs. Keep adjusting little by little until they're all at the same pitch, then do that for each head.

Once your heads are in tune with themselves, there are a few different methods for tuning top vs. bottom heads. Most of the time, I'll tune the top heads at a medium to medium-low tension, then tune the bottom heads about a third higher. That produces a bright, articulate sound, no matter which heads you're using. The exact ratio between heads will vary (for example, your lowest floor tom may only have the bottom head 1 note above the top head instead of a third higher). You'll have to experiment for each drum.

Another way to tune is to have the bottom head lower in pitch compared to the top head. That produces a downward pitch bend that may or may not be desirable. I normally don't tune top and bottom to the same pitch, but if you're using the exact same heads on top and bottom (say a coated Ambassador), then this is something you can try.

In the end, you'll have to play around to find the sound that works for you. And do that BEFORE coming to the studio. Because if your drums sound great to begin with, it makes our job that much easier to get the end result you're looking for.
 
All your tom resonant heads are far too loose...thus the trailing off 'boinnnnng' sound.
Tighten snare wires and tune the snare higher. Bass drum wasn't too bad.
 
I use This on toms and kick as a starting point. It's quick and gets you close. Then I tune the kick reso a quarter to half turn higher until it sounds right.

As for the snare, it sounds like either it's tuned too low or the snare wires aren't on right. Double check the wires then re-tune.

For snares I Crank the reso like this, then start the batter off about 1 full turn, pitch match lugs, then bring it up to pitch.
I tried this "wrinkles technique" and that's how it sounds now. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VrFH7Gk0OleDTlR5-_j4LEzfzgVk23ET/view?usp=sharing
I recorded snare sound once more to show how it sucks. Wire are set correct way, all I can do is sth to do with tuning and with wire adjustment on the knob
 
I tried this "wrinkles technique" and that's how it sounds now. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VrFH7Gk0OleDTlR5-_j4LEzfzgVk23ET/view?usp=sharing
I recorded snare sound once more to show how it sucks. Wire are set correct way, all I can do is sth to do with tuning and with wire adjustment on the knob
I'd recommend taking the heads of the snare and re tuning them and tune the reso tight and the batter medium/ high. If that doesn't fix the problem then take the wires off but keep the strainer engaged, dial the knob to a medium-high tension, re attach the wires and hopefully that works.
 
What is to point out about snare is that it surely got more metallic sound that is mostly heard after I hit the last time the snare drum (unfortunately I can still hear that long wires sound).
 
I use This on toms and kick as a starting point. It's quick and gets you close
I cannot agree with the Rob Brown recommendation more; easiest and most satisfying tuning technique I know of.

As for the snare, I'm a big fan of a really dry snare, so I'd toss an o-ring on there. I know that's not for everyone, but that's the sound my soul responds to.

Also, you can drive yourself insane tuning and retuning and can start to lose perspective. So you might want to take some breaks and walk away for a while.
 
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Try the Drumtune Pro app for iphone or android!
I've always hated tuning and this app is a life saver.... and its like $15 CAD!!
You can setup presets for your kits and save multiple tuning set-ups.
It takes a few minutes to figure out, but once you do, its priceless!
 
Do yourself a huge favour and get a Tune-Bot. They're about a hundred bucks and will transform your kit into a professional sounding rig.
Or download IStrobosoft for $0.00 !!
It not only shows the key when first struck including HZ, but the key at the end of the sustain. I find it works great. I cant download your video for some reason but if this kit has toms and kick that are not very deep then be cautious how tight you tune them as they will choke off quickly and sound lousy. I have a compact Sonor Safari kit with a 10In rack and 14in floor tom. The stock heads were very bright but I was looking for a little fatter sound that would fit both Blues and Jazz. So I added Evans Calftone batters and Remo Pinstripes for resos and cranked the batters and resos.. The rack tom just played a sick bump. The floor tom just sounded lousy as well. It was somewhere in YouTube I learned about the effect that shell depth and head choice had on tom sound. So I went back to the stock head for on the rack, lowered the tension and tuned it to a D. I left the Pinstripe as the reso on the floor tom but also lowered the tension on both it and the batter and tuned it to standard C. All of a sudden everything was right with the world. I had also read that rather than tune my kick low, as in E1 to comp with Bass, I went up to D and it works. I'm no longer overriding the Bass which made the sound muddy, Now we comp better.
As regards the snare, I bought a brand new Mapex Brass Cat last summer and it was fine right out of the box with the stock
Remo Ambassador coated, no excessive ring. I have used Evans UV1 and Remo Diplomat FibreSkyn heads and same effect. The same snare as yours sounds fine in the YouTube promo videos so keep fooling with tuning as you should be able to get there.
Good luck
 
Hello. I have some problem with my newly bought Mapex Armory drum kit. I guess I have mostly some problems with my snare drum, smallest tom and bass drum. I don't know how to make my snare has less wire sustain (it just sustains this sound for too long). The smallest tom sounds weird as you can hear. About bass drum I want to make it warmer. Do you have some tips how to repair that? What do you think about other drums' sound? Thanks in advance. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YJGppBx8kgLlfHM6p5y96DGlc1u7F-vY/view?usp=sharing
Ronnie
Did you ever work this out? I have the exact problem! These tubs sound terrible!
 
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