Sick sweat minor 9th drum harmony

SmoothOperator

Gold Member
So I was tuning up my drums a little, and I noticed that if I tune my bass/floor tom to Ab and my tom to A, I get a super sweet harmony, which was kind of unexpected since this interval is usually dissonant, but I just looked at the modes and calculated the intervals G#=51.9 and the (2,1) mode frequency is 2.14 times the fundamental, which in this case is 51.9*2.14 = 111or A=110


Has anyone else noticed minor ninths sound good with drums?

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/music/cirmem.html
http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
 
I never tried on the drums but the flat 9 is the one interval that is not allowed to use in any Berklee arrangement course ( except on a dominant flat 9 chord).
If it works for you , go for it.
 
not allowed?

is that like the new tritone where you'll be labeled a heretic and burned at the stake if you use it?
 
So I was tuning up my drums a little, and I noticed that if I tune my bass/floor tom to Ab and my tom to A, I get a super sweet harmony, which was kind of unexpected since this interval is usually dissonant, but I just looked at the modes and calculated the intervals G#=51.9 and the (2,1) mode frequency is 2.14 times the fundamental, which in this case is 51.9*2.14 = 111or A=110


Has anyone else noticed minor ninths sound good with drums?

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/music/cirmem.html
http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html

Scientifically, it is impossible for any drum to have an absolute pitch. This is is because drums have not one but two drum heads. If you were using a single headed tom like Phil Collins did in the 70's, then yes, you could tune them and they would have an absolute pitch. Timpani are single headed as well, so you can tune them. But not the conventional drum double headed drums that we use today.
 
I don't know about "absolute pitch," but it's most definitely possible for a double-headed drum to produce a solid, clear, and well-defined fundamental pitch.

I threw together a quick tuning video a little over a year ago (which is in my signature below) that I think demonstrates this at least somewhat effectively. Skip to 1:10 and I think it's pretty clear the reference pitch and drum pitch are nearly identical.
 
I don't know about "absolute pitch," but it's most definitely possible for a double-headed drum to produce a solid, clear, and well-defined fundamental pitch.

That's why I said "scientifically". I don't know about "well-defined".. you can certainly get close. All double headed drums, when struck, produce overtones.
 
That's why I said "scientifically". I don't know about "well-defined".. you can certainly get close. All double headed drums, when struck, produce overtones.

I agree.

But this seems to be splitting hairs over a technicality. I think most people who tune to pitches are more concerned with practicality. "What is the listener going to hear?"

A well tuned drum should have a rather large ratio or differential between the energy of the fundamental pitch and the energy of the various overtones. Out at a certain distance, the overtones will have lost enough energy so as to be nearly inaudible, allowing the dominant fundamental frequency to drown them out. For all practical purposes, the audience hears and identifies with the fundamental pitch in this case.

Put muffling on the drum head, and the overtones may not even have enough energy to be heard up close (overall volume of the drum and some "character" is lost, of course).
 
Scientifically, it is impossible for any drum to have an absolute pitch. This is is because drums have not one but two drum heads. If you were using a single headed tom like Phil Collins did in the 70's, then yes, you could tune them and they would have an absolute pitch. Timpani are single headed as well, so you can tune them. But not the conventional drum double headed drums that we use today.

You can't hear the melody in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy3TO1Upllo
 
That's why I said "scientifically". I don't know about "well-defined".. you can certainly get close. All double headed drums, when struck, produce overtones.

All sounds consist of a fundamental frequency and a set of overtones (or harmonics). The ratio of different overtones defines the sound's timbre. An E on a flute sounds different from an E on a violin because the overtones are different. In theory, the only sound with nothing but the fundamental frequency is a sine wave.
 
not allowed?

is that like the new tritone where you'll be labeled a heretic and burned at the stake if you use it?

Yes, not allowed. Flat nine and triton are a mile away. A triton "wants " to resolve a flat nine doesn't . Look up herb pomeroy and you'll see what I am talking about.
 
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