Tom tuning help?! Making 'Bow' sound. Videos inside.

finnman11

Junior Member
So, i have a bit of jamming experience but I wouldn't consider myself 'good.' I recently picked up drumming again and I'm in the process of tuning my toms. I have simple 5pc drum set, 2 mounted, 1 floor, 1 bass. I'm looking for a lower tone like in A Perfect Circle's 1st album. I think I have the mounted tops where i'd like them, but in tuning the floor tom, it gives a 'booww' sound to it. I took a few short videos pasted in below that show what it's doing.

This is my first time tuning toms. How did I do? What should I do to have a more optimal sound for Heavy rock? The resonant head is just a hint higher than the batter head on all 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVC0LdzTnqo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKCvHWsgr8U


Thanks for your time and help!

Chris
 
The floor tom is not tuned equally at the tuning screws. Tap about an inch or so out from the hoop by each lug and get them sounding the same. would also help to get rid of the Taye heads as soon as you can afford to.
 
I tuned all of the heads by tapping about an inch away from the screw and making sure they were the same high/low note, and then comparing the sound of one side of the head one inch from the rim to the other side of the drum, same location. They are all the same note right now.

I just tuned both sides of the floor tom to be the same pitch/note and its still doing it? Is there an area of frequency I should be avoiding?
 
It sounds like the tuning is interacting with the fundamental pitch of the drum shell. Try playing with different head pitches. Also, it might help to bring the resonate head up higher than the batter head.

I think your high tom sounds the best, use that as a reference.

Overall, if you're just learning and this is your first time tuning, I'm impressed. It took me A LOT longer to learn (and I'm still learning in many ways).

Are you aware of the Drum Tuning Bible?

http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/data/46/link/3402/DTBv3.pdf
 
Oh, I forgot to mention that it looks like you have the factory installed heads from the drum company. If that's the case, you'll find the quality is less than heads from a drum head company. That means they're harder to work with (and thus good practice for tuning, but could be discouraging).
 
You have the pitch sequence in decent order but would say the heads appear and sound a little loose. I would tighten up all the drums to a slightly higher pitch, but the offset in pitch between drums the same as you have them.
 
I would take all of them up a little bit in pitch, Tom 1 sounds not too bad, but the others sound too loose and unevenly tuned- I'd check the pitch again, it can be difficult to hear at fiirst and make sure you dampen the other head while checking the tuning. With the pits in the tom 2 head, I would respectfully suggest, as others have, that a set of Evans G2s or remo emperors would make a world of difference.
 
<-OP

I thank you all for replying. I will in fact go with some Evans heads in the near future. I am looking around for and buying a 20" China and at least one more Crash before I start the maintainence process. I REALLY want those other cymbals.

I think my biggest issue is that I don't know what 'notes' or 'note range' I should be tuning the heads in; in the first place. Fundamentally, the mid and floor tom should be higher pitched? I was trying for a lower sound, but like I said, i'm a noob. I like the lowerness of the mid tom as it relieves the snare rattle, but I can work around it if you guys think it needs to be higher pitched by default.

I will read the bible when I get off work.

Thanks again.
 
<-OP
I think my biggest issue is that I don't know what 'notes' or 'note range' I should be tuning the heads in; in the first place. Fundamentally, the mid and floor tom should be higher pitched? I was trying for a lower sound, but like I said, i'm a noob. I like the lowerness of the mid tom as it relieves the snare rattle, but I can work around it if you guys think it needs to be higher pitched by default.

Tuning drums is an art rather than the science it is with other instruments. So the pitches you choose, if any, are up to your personal preference.

For my preference, I've been playing around with tuning each drum a major third apart (and in a particular key -- currently the key of G works with my kit). I really like it so far. What I used to do was to just find the sweet spot of each drum (that's when the head pitches match or least resonate well with the shell pitch) and not really care about the relationship between them. That worked ok, but when playing toms together or rolling down the kit it often produced a sour note. So basically what I'm saying is that your playing style should also be considered while you chose a tuning style.
 
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