Tuning..✨️

Jasta 11 said:
I can honestly say there is no way i will rememebr for the next time how the drum sounds on a pillow vs on a mount. I cant see any benefit from tuning on a pillow.

So, you have to tune it twice? just mount it and tune it once, no one is listenting close enough live to tell the difference. Does anyone really appraoch a drummer with a good sound and ask if they used the pillow method to tune? that would be a first I think. Im going to replace my floor tom head soon and ill hand tighten, press to crack the glue and seat it, and tune it once. I know ill get the reply "that works for you" but honestly, that woork for everyone.
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You don’t have to use a pillow. You can sit it on a rug, put a t shirt under it, hold your hand on it, etc.

Dang man, were you attacked by a pillow wielding thug or something?

;)
 
JimmyM said:
You don’t have to use a pillow. You can sit it on a rug, put a t shirt under it, hold your hand on it, etc.

Dang man, were you attacked by a pillow wielding thug or something?

;)
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same issue, you are not finished tuning the drum when you take it from the pillow tshirt or whatever else, the pitch is alwas too high so you really dont get to har what the drum sounds like
 
bud7h4 said:
It seems to me you are misunderstanding the purpose and the process of muting one head. It's not a "pillow tuning method". All it does is silence one head so that you can more easily hear the pitch of each lug position on the other head. This is not tuning the drum, it's tuning the head. The tuned drum (fundamental pitch) is the result of both individually tuned heads.
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im just not into wasting time.
 
Jasta 11 said:
same issue, you are not finished tuning the drum when you take it from the pillow tshirt or whatever else, the pitch is alwas too high so you really dont get to har what the drum sounds like
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That's just not an accurate statement.

It's fine if you don't tune this way, but it doesn't waste time if you do it right. And the drum is not too high, either. 😊
 
Jasta 11 said:
same issue, you are not finished tuning the drum when you take it from the pillow tshirt or whatever else, the pitch is alwas too high so you really dont get to har what the drum sounds like
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You don’t need to hear what the whole drum sounds like if you tune to familiar pitches and know what to expect. At worst, maybe a slight tweak.
 
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Jasta 11 said:
So, you have to tune it twice? just mount it and tune it once
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No. Where did you get that idea? I tune it as perfectly as I can isolating each head. Then I mount it and adjust to taste - which is not very much.
They key aspect for me is achieving the best sounding toms I can. If that means tuning them three different times and taking more minutes - that's OK.
I can't tune a drum effectively mounted, especially with the bottom lugs near the bass drum or low down near the floor. It also takes too long.
 
If you’re using a tune bot, I do not mute the other side head…I just use my finger near the center of the head currently being tuned to help capture the lug reading. Sometimes that is not necessary. But most of the time, it helps the tune bot capture a “real” frequency. I like the tune bot but more than half the battle is learning to ignore bogus readings. When the lug readings are appearing pretty consistent and accurate per the bot….I will remove my finger and just start tapping completely around the head lug to lug to lug and see if it passes my ear test. Then you can smack the middle and check the entire fundamental

I stopped muting the opposite head because one time I was using a pillow….totally forgot I was working with the snare…went to turn the drum and ended up snagging and damaging a snare wire. Obviously not an issue on a tom or a snare with the wires removed…but it’s just faster to use a finger.
 
A snare is a different beast in relation of batter to reso heads ratios, but with toms how do you tune your toms in relation to batter to reso pitch (the same, reso higher, reso lower)? Do you tune differently for studio and live? I'd wager more tune the toms reso higher than batter but that's really a guess (a lower reso sounds tubby to me). At home ,in my small room ,I am tuning my toms reso up way snare tight to reduce sustain. Playing live when I was gigging I tuned the batter and reso equally so they really sing. I don't like stifling a kit but dang it's too much in my little drum room.
 
GetAgrippa said:
A snare is a different beast in relation of batter to reso heads ratios, but with toms how do you tune your toms in relation to batter to reso pitch (the same, reso higher, reso lower)? Do you tune differently for studio and live? I'd wager more tune the toms reso higher than batter but that's really a guess (a lower reso sounds tubby to me). At home ,in my small room ,I am tuning my toms reso up way snare tight to reduce sustain. Playing live when I was gigging I tuned the batter and reso equally so they really sing. I don't like stifling a kit but dang it's too much in my little drum room.
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I have tried to do both the same pitch but so far I haven’t had much luck getting a good sound doing anything but reso higher a half step, which results in a pitch a whole step higher than the reso, and reso higher by a 4th, which sounds more rock and roll to me with the attacky batter. That gives me the pitch of the reso for the whole drum, so it’s usually a little easier for me to dial in. However, I am not giving up on equal tuning. I’ll nail it one day, by golly!
 
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dboomer said:
It’s not the only way ;)

You can use a drum dial, tune-bot or especially a resotune. If you tune both the same for max sustain it’s not a much of a problem. But if you tune your reso tighter to control overtones you get an entirely different fundamental pitch than either head will be by itself.
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Drum dial is by far the easiest method to tune drums. and for me it works great, I don't think I could do much better with a TuneBot...(yes I am aware that you can tune to the note with it but I don't need that for my taste).
 
GetAgrippa said:
A snare is a different beast in relation of batter to reso heads ratios, but with toms how do you tune your toms in relation to batter to reso pitch (the same, reso higher, reso lower)? Do you tune differently for studio and live? I'd wager more tune the toms reso higher than batter but that's really a guess (a lower reso sounds tubby to me). At home ,in my small room ,I am tuning my toms reso up way snare tight to reduce sustain. Playing live when I was gigging I tuned the batter and reso equally so they really sing. I don't like stifling a kit but dang it's too much in my little drum room.
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How your room is treated (Or not) has also a lot to do with how much your drums are going to project. I once went into a room that had carpet everywhere (floor walls, ceiling, doors and no windows). Man my drums which were tuned for live and resonated quite a bit, were pretty dead there, you pretty much needed no muffling to be recording ready. I hated the way they sounded but they recorded great. it's easier to add some reverb after the fact.
 
doggyd69b said:
How your room is treated (Or not) has also a lot to do with how much your drums are going to project. I once went into a room that had carpet everywhere (floor walls, ceiling, doors and no windows). Man my drums which were tuned for live and resonated quite a bit, were pretty dead there, you pretty much needed no muffling to be recording ready. I hated the way they sounded but they recorded great. it's easier to add some reverb after the fact.
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I have found that my drums sound "different" just depending whether I'm behind the kit, or in front of it.
 
Lunasee said:
I have found that my drums sound "different" just depending whether I'm behind the kit, or in front of it.
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Lots of people report that same thing. I never really paid attention to that because it has been very few times where I let someone bash my drums. They usually do (bash the drums) so something (a cymbal) always ends up cracked. No thanks.
 
Jasta 11 said:
I always find that putting the drum on rug or a pillow doesnt tell me the actual sound im tuning to. i always tune my toms mounted by ear.
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I mute the other head with a pillow only at first so i can get the lugs all cleared. For me its easier to hear them this way.I start with both reso and batter about 1/4 turn past finger tight. Then i even out all the Lugs to the same pitch by ear on both sides. Then i remove the pillow and pitch the Reso head up about 1/4 turn from there and mount the Tom for fine tuning after that. Only then do i use the Drum tuner , and i'm usually extremely close to what i want by then. Ive spent the last 2 years learning how to tune and its been fun actually.
 
doggyd69b said:
Lots of people report that same thing. I never really paid attention to that because it has been very few times where I let someone bash my drums. They usually do (bash the drums) so something (a cymbal) always ends up cracked. No thanks.
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I understand that. One of the few people that plays my kit is my teacher (Ron Hurst). He comes to my house weekly for an hour lesson. When he does, he'll usually sit on my kit for about ten minutes. When that happens, my kit sounds great. It probably confuses my neighbors why I'm phenomenal only one day a week. :ROFLMAO:
 
doggyd69b said:
Drum dial is by far the easiest method to tune drums. and for me it works great, I don't think I could do much better with a TuneBot...(yes I am aware that you can tune to the note with it but I don't need that for my taste).
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I gave up on Drum Dial a long time ago.im too slow with it. i prefer my ear and Drum tune pro
 
When I was experimenting with the concert toms and taking reso off my two headed, if I tuned all my tom batters to pitch like 131hz,110hz,73hz with no reso and then put the reso heads on to tune to same pitches I had to back way off on all my batter heads. Or was it other way? Dang been so long-it really shifted the tension needed for pitch on batters that had been tuned to pitch. Just demonstrates how the two heads interact and profound that is when tuning. What was profound with just batters is the sustain-though big attack like a bark it would resonate forever. The timbre of tuning a single head impacts your perception of pitch. The reso really helps control sustain and gives a more pleasing timbre to that pitch.
 
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