Tuning a snare to perfect 4th's with a Tune-bot

beyondbetrayal

Platinum Member
Here is another quick video I made on tuning my snare to a perfect 4th with the tune bot as well. I seemed to have pretty good results on it and it sounds amazing in the room. Lots of body and a nice crack. I find it let the overtones show just enough to give the snare some character and not be too dry.

https://youtu.be/f7L6ow_cxrA
 
That snare sounded great!

Well worth watching - just for your insight on tuning to a 3rd, 4th or 5th alone.

Didn't get a good look at the snare. You said steel. 6.5"? Free-floating? I have a 6.5" Pearl Steel Free-Floating from the mid 90s. Yours is the sound I've always had in mind for it. Now I have a way to get it. Thanks for posting.
 
That snare sounded great!

Well worth watching - just for your insight on tuning to a 3rd, 4th or 5th alone.

Didn't get a good look at the snare. You said steel. 6.5"? Free-floating? I have a 6.5" Pearl Steel Free-Floating from the mid 90s. Yours is the sound I've always had in mind for it. Now I have a way to get it. Thanks for posting.

I should have showed the snare more. This is a Steel Pearl Reference 14 x 5.
I Tried the same on my Pearl brass free floating 6.5 and had amazing results. On my wood Reference 14 x 6.5 and my Supraphonic the results were good but I think I tuned both heads one half step down just because the drums were happier in that range.

I plan to experiment more with depth size, shell size, shell type, and changing from 3rd's, 4th's, 5th's, same tension etc. It would be cool to find some consistent results of what sounds the best in each specific drum.
This is the snare in the video
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Just for fun here is the Pearl brass free floater I have. I got it powder coated at an auto body shop years back because the brass was patinaed very badly. A word of advice though, don't powder coat die-cast
20151230-221009.jpg

The hoops are a bit out of round. haha
 
I'm going to try this with my Stage Custom Steel 14x6.5. It's resonant head is table top tight, like all of my snares. I don't think it's choked sounding but a little insurance would be good. The guys at "Sounds Like A Drum" recommend backing off the resonant head as well.

Thanks for sharing!

Edit: Yup, that worked!

The resonant head was actually down around 384 Hz so I had to bring it up a little. Dropped the batter from 318 Hz down to 299 and it sounds fantastic. Loosened the wires a bit too.

Great tip!
 
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I think sometimes venturing off from Tune-Bot's recommendations can yield some great results. For example, when you use Tune-Bot's tuning recommendations for snare they are a 5th apart until you get to a super cranked snare side head, but it can be good to try a 4th or major or minor 3rd.
 
Just as mentioned in the video, the 400Hz Tune-Bot reso recommendation kills my snares.

Thanks for the perfect 3rd, 4th, etc. explanation. I’ve heard that tossed around a lot and never quite understood what it was. Google was a rabbit hole, but your explanation made sense.
 
I should state I was incorrect. It's a perfect 4th, or a Major or Minor 3rd. There is no perfect 3rd.

See, I still didn’t learn squat! Well, sort of, at least I have a better idea of how much pitch difference someone is talking about! :)
 
See, I still didn’t learn squat! Well, sort of, at least I have a better idea of how much pitch difference someone is talking about! :)

Not to dive too much in to Music Theory. It is basically Solfege (Do-Re-Mi-etc). So if you think about the song from the Sound of Music you can get it. Do to Re = Major 2nd = 2 half steps. Do to Mi = Major 3rd = 4 half steps. Do to Fa = Perfect 4th = 5 half steps. Do to So = Perfect 5th = 7 half steps.

Good examples of some of this to think about while tuning:

Jaws = Minor Second.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Fere Jacques first 2 notes = Major 2nd.

The Hunger Games Katniss and Rue's whistle the first 2 notes are a Minor 3rd or you can think Greensleeves = Minor 3rd.

When the Saints go Marching in or Kumbaya first 2 notes = Major 3rd.

Here Comes the Bride or O Christmas Tree or Amazing Grace first 2 notes = Perfect 4th

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star = Perfect 5th
 
Good examples of some of this to think about while tuning:

Jaws = Minor Second.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Fere Jacques first 2 notes = Major 2nd.

The Hunger Games Katniss and Rue's whistle the first 2 notes are a Minor 3rd or you can think Greensleeves = Minor 3rd.

When the Saints go Marching in or Kumbaya first 2 notes = Major 3rd.

Here Comes the Bride or O Christmas Tree or Amazing Grace first 2 notes = Perfect 4th

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star = Perfect 5th

This is amazing!

I used to use Here Comes the Bride to check if my toms were in tune with each other, never thought about using it for top & bottom head relationship
 
Thanks for the song references.

I have also heard using the "My girl" tuning is 4ths I believe.

so singing the song you can use it for tom relations and head relations.
 
Not to dive too much in to Music Theory. It is basically ....

Love it! Best collection of music interval snippets I've come across. I usually use 'Twinkle Little Star' for 3 toms.. or some other nursery rhymes but those are great.

For tuning intervals between reso and batter - does the tune-bot recommend isolating the heads while tuning?
Or is it smart enough to compensate.. Being an old school manual tuner, I always muffle the opposite head to get a truer pitch.. either on a carpet or a towel or on my knee - whatever works.

I finally got a smart phone and am thinking of downloading the app iDrum Tuner Pro and see if this stuff works. Does the phone app work as well as the tune-bot?

If it does, it would be great to have a solid reference point to check pitches.. one of my favorite snares is very picky about tuning ranges - when it's 'on' it sounds awesome.. but if it goes off pitch it can be tricky to get it back in a live setting.
 
For tuning intervals between reso and batter - does the tune-bot recommend isolating the heads while tuning?
Or is it smart enough to compensate.. Being an old school manual tuner, I always muffle the opposite head to get a truer pitch.. either on a carpet or a towel or on my knee - whatever works.

Yes, you must mute the opposite head while tuning. It doesn't have to be an elaborate affair, mind you. You can mute rack toms while they're still mounted by simply placing a few fingers on the opposite head.

For head replacements and complete kit tune-ups I mute shells on a towel or carpet but it's unnecessary for occasional spot-tuning like pre-show sound checks.
 
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Yeah, the official user guide says to put it on a pillow or similar to mute it.

I've seen a few videos as well where they'll put a moongel or their finger in the centre of the head they're getting the lug pitches for to further reduce rogue frequencies - definitely helped with my 16".
 
Yeah, the official user guide says to put it on a pillow or similar to mute it.

I've seen a few videos as well where they'll put a moongel or their finger in the centre of the head they're getting the lug pitches for to further reduce rogue frequencies - definitely helped with my 16".

That is basically what I do.

I set my drums on my throne (I use a Pork Pie Round throne) which mutes the opposite head. On my 10" Tom I usually don't mute the top, on bigger drums I do either a finger or moon gel in the center to get lug pitches better.

Edit: I also use a Cymbal mallet to hit the drum, I don't remember where I saw that but I got that idea from youtube somewhere.
 
In case it was missed I always mute the opposite head. Usually on carpet or a pillow and lightly put a finger on the batter (only if needed or a small gel)

This video was just showing the tuning, not how to use a tunebot.
 
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