Following Larryace's lead

nuclearelf

nuclearelf

Member
After reading your tuning thread, I gave it a shot. Had my first gig since around '97 last night and had my toms tuned much higher than I normally have them. A couple drummer friends in the crowd were just raving after the show about how great that old set sounded. Somebody was shooting video there which I haven't seen yet. But being that my one friend, who would have no problems letting me know what needs work, was raving about the sound, I would say it was a success. Thanks for sharing your experiment!
 
nuclearelf said:
After reading your tuning thread, I gave it a shot. Had my first gig since around '97 last night and had my toms tuned much higher than I normally have them. A couple drummer friends in the crowd were just raving after the show about how great that old set sounded. Somebody was shooting video there which I haven't seen yet. But being that my one friend, who would have no problems letting me know what needs work, was raving about the sound, I would say it was a success. Thanks for sharing your experiment!
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Good to hear :) Larry's so right. Un-mic'd, you need to crank 'em up, especially the reso's, & that goes for the bass drum too.
 
Ahh sweet validation. Thanks nuclearelf. That really made my day, as I had just a total crap weekend. Thank you, is is the best I felt all weekend.

It's actually hard to believe the difference in the sound I experience while playing, compared to the tone I hear listening to the recordings. I was rather shocked at the difference, that's why I had to share here. And I thought I tuned tight already, I really did.

I would like to know how different your recordings sounded to you compared to the drivers seat sound.
 
Well, we had a guy shooting video, and the audio came out horrible! So it was kinda hard to get a feel for it. But one song in particular worried me cuz it's like a jungle beat on the toms and would sound pretty silly tuned high. But from what I could tell, I think it sounded pretty good. I've always tuned my toms way low, so this was a pretty significant change. And for my "Duh!" moment of this experience, it's amazing how much more comfortable it is to play when your actually getting some bounceback from the heads. My sticks felt lighter and everything felt so smooth!
 
nuclearelf said:
Well, we had a guy shooting video, and the audio came out horrible! So it was kinda hard to get a feel for it. But one song in particular worried me cuz it's like a jungle beat on the toms and would sound pretty silly tuned high. But from what I could tell, I think it sounded pretty good. I've always tuned my toms way low, so this was a pretty significant change. And for my "Duh!" moment of this experience, it's amazing how much more comfortable it is to play when your actually getting some bounceback from the heads. My sticks felt lighter and everything felt so smooth!
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Definitely! You can do double so much easier with the tighter heads. Plus they do sound much better.

About a month ago, I recorded myself at a jazz gig, so I was already tuned pretty high which is normal for me. Even though my toms sounded "boingy" to me they still sounded a little muddy on the recording. Now it could have been the recording (Zoom recorder) or the room but it definitely validates the arguement to crank up your toms so they actually project.
 
That's a significant bonus right there too, better stick response. Doubles down the toms feel better, sound better, are better. I just have to get used to the tone from the throne.
 
any interference with the snare rattling?
 
inneedofgrace said:
any interference with the snare rattling?
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Personally, I've neer had any with the toms tuned higher. It must be the lower tom tunings where you get that sympathetic buzz.

That's probably not entirely true, but it has been my experience. I guess it just depends on how you have your snare tuned.
 
I didn't notice anything different with the snare. I'm still kinda bummed I haven't got to hear what it sounds like from the other side yet. I was gonna have a buddy play after soundcheck so I could here it, but the soundman showed up over 2 hours late. We actually did soundcheck to a standing room only crowd (that was different).Then the audio from the recording came out so bad. As of now, we don't have anything else scheduled til mid-July, so I guess I gotta wait. But the feedback I got about the sound makes me feel good about it.
 
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