Drum Dial-Tell me the truth

It takes me about an hour and a half to tune my 5 piece drum kit. I've read tons of articles, the bible of drum tuning and videos. I can get a decent sound, but not a 'kick you in the ass' sound from the drums. Should I be picking up a drum dial or is it just hype???
 
You should be watching Bob Gatzen on youtube.

There is also a Thomas Lang video of a clinic where he talks about how he tunes, which is different than Bob's. I have recently started tuning similar to Thomas Lang.
 
it depends on how much experience you have with tuning. when i bought my first snare drum i couldn't tune well and the drum sounded awful. I decided then to buy a drum dial because i wanted to play and not tune my drums. I am enthusiastic about drum dials and similar tuning devices because they are easy and they work. However, they are not necessary to get a good sound. for instance, about a month ago I decided to try and tune by ear, and I got a nice sounding result. I then checked w/ my drum dial and was pretty close at each tension rod. So i think over time your ear gets better. but if you want to drum and you're sick of tuning, and don't mind paying 60 bucks, get one-you'll be happy.
 
All I ever hear from owners is that "it gets you close"

Not enough for me personally. I can go way past "close"....straight through to "all the way", all by myself. I just don't get the need.

For me, definitely hype. For you, I really can't say.
 
I would save the money and get one on one tuning instructions from a competent drum instructor. You'll learn how to hear and what to listen for and what to do to achieve the exact sounds out of your drums that you want. Other drum tuning devices cannot hear or make the critical decisions for you, you still have to make that judgement call regardless of what you use.

Just my opinion.
Dennis
 
it depends on how much experience you have with tuning. when i bought my first snare drum i couldn't tune well and the drum sounded awful. I decided then to buy a drum dial because i wanted to play and not tune my drums. I am enthusiastic about drum dials and similar tuning devices because they are easy and they work. However, they are not necessary to get a good sound. for instance, about a month ago I decided to try and tune by ear, and I got a nice sounding result. I then checked w/ my drum dial and was pretty close at each tension rod. So i think over time your ear gets better. but if you want to drum and you're sick of tuning, and don't mind paying 60 bucks, get one-you'll be happy.

This...I got one for Xmas and I really didn't know anything about tuning. I also didn't know how my drums sounded, I just wanted to play! It gave me a control point. Hey, they sound better, now I know that the Drum Dial gives me something closer to the sound I want. Especially if your new-newish to drummign. starting out, I felt like when I tuned, I was just getting NO good sound.

The dial is just one of many choices and paths that come along with drumming. No path is wrong. Just different!
 
That phrase "in the ballpark" always comes up in discussion of the thing, but I've never had a drum not sound good when the machine says it's in tune with itself. I think people just don't want to admit they're using a tool, for some reason. It's probably most useful with a higher, tonal tuning; with a funky, lower sound it's probably unnecessary. It's not magic- if you don't know how to tune, or produce a good sound when you play a drum, it probably won't help that much. But it helps me get a better sound faster, and I've found it to be very worth the 50 bucks.
 
I had one and sold it. if you needed something to tune in a noisy live setting then it could be a good thing.
 
Well, at least we all agree..... It depends on the individual.

I happen to be one that likes to use it.
 
I can get a decent sound, but not a 'kick you in the ass' sound from the drums.

2 important questions:

  1. What heads are you using?
  2. Where is your kit set up?

If you have the stock heads that come with lower-priced kits then they're never going to sound "kick-ass". Similarly, if you have heads with any built-in muffling (e.g. Pinstripes or Controlled Sound heads), then they are never going to sound as open and resonant (if that's what you want) as heads that have no muffling at all. This obviously applies if you are using gel or tape to provide additional muffling.

As far as the second issue goes - the acoustics of the room are going to play a big part in the sound of the drums. If you're playing open-sounding unmuffled drums in a large concert hall then that's about as kick-ass as it can get. If you're playing a dry sounding kit in your spare bedroom or basement or whatever then you may be disappointed*. It is possible to have good-enough sounding drums in a tiny room with bad acoustics, but neither a dial nor anything else will change the fundamental properties of the sound waves bouncing around the walls.

If you have access to a large space (church/school/public hall/concert hall) - try getting some pristine good quality unmuffled heads and tuning the kit up. If you get it spot on then - unless your shells are made from weetabix - the sound should blow your head off.

Good luck and have fun.

*EDIT - assuming we're talking about unmic'ed drums with no artificial EQ etc
 
The drum Dial is a mindless tool like a torque wrench. It takes a technician to use it properly.
It won't make you a better tuner.
Only you can make yourself a better tuner by practicing your tuning like you practice your drumming.
We have all been in your shoes believe me when I say this.
 
Drum tuning eludes me, I have read articles and watched videos. I have the same luck and skill tuning my drums as I do tuning my cat. So the drum dial at least gets me to the intermediate rut.

I have one, it brought me from point A to point B, I need to be at Z though. I have a lot to learn. I think DD is a temporary fix while I learn it for real. BDB makes a great point, I do need to practice. It's time to change heads anyway.
 
I only use my Dial for finding JAW.
I back off on each lug and I tighten until the needle just starts to move.
I then give each lug a quarter turn and I go from there without a dial.
 
There are many variables which determine the sound of a drum. A drum dial measures only one variable: drumhead tension. If you 1) lack the ability to measure or estimate that one variable, and/or 2) need a level of accuracy that can only be achieved by that tool, then it can't hurt to get it.

But then if, like many here, you have the skills to measure/estimate/perceive drumhead tension, and the ability to deal with several other variables all at once, then the drum dial is unnecessary.
 
Drum tuning eludes me, I have read articles and watched videos. I have the same luck and skill tuning my drums as I do tuning my cat. So the drum dial at least gets me to the intermediate rut.

I have one, it brought me from point A to point B, I need to be at Z though. I have a lot to learn. I think DD is a temporary fix while I learn it for real. BDB makes a great point, I do need to practice. It's time to change heads anyway.

I find that tuning skill comes from practice and practice only. My tuning abilities have developed a lot in just the last few months. I can now clear the lugs in a drum head and bring it to a pitch that sounds good - subsequently I can do the same on the reso. The only thing I now need to develop is the interval between different drums.

I detuned and retuned my drums once every few weeks (focusing on troublesome drums in particular) until I would get it right. Then I'd do it all over again. I'm at the point now where all of my drums really sing and the next test is repeating that result.

So my advice would be to strip the kit down and just try it, try it again and then try it again. You don't need a musical ear to hear the difference in a tone when clearing lugs and if you can clear the lugs then you've got a head that is in tune with itself.

The most helpful thing that I've heard in so far as advice when tuning came from Bob Gatzen - if you need to bring a lug up or down then look at loosening/tightening the OPPOSITE lug. The analogy is that you'd shift a baseball cap on your head on stretch it to fit it - this achieves that same principle.
 
I found this some years ago, and made one very cheaply:

http://www.pearldrummersforum.com/showthread.php?134980-5-DIY-DrumDial

When I first used this I didn't have any ear for tuning. Using the dial made a massive difference to the sound of my drums.

I don't know how it compares to a proper Drum Dial for accuracy and consistency of readings, but it's impossible to get the exact same reading at each lug with this home made one. If I want to set a tom at 25, then I'll end up settling for readings between say 22 and 27 - but if prior to using it the readings round the lugs varied between 15 and 40 then this gets me close to getting a consistent tone at each lug. My ears are better now for tuning purposes, but I still use the dial as a starting point.

I would never have paid the full price for a real Drum Dial. But if you're curious as to how a dial might help, then a cheap home made version might be worth a try.
 
The most helpful thing that I've heard in so far as advice when tuning came from Bob Gatzen - if you need to bring a lug up or down then look at loosening/tightening the OPPOSITE lug. The analogy is that you'd shift a baseball cap on your head on stretch it to fit it - this achieves that same principle.

The baseball cap reference was a great analogy. The drum is round, so anything done to one side of the hoop will have an affect 180 degrees across the heads surface. This is why it is important to start with all the lugs at the same same position, just touching the hoops, before any major tensioning is done to the head. You really want every tension rod exerting the same tension all the way around the head without having the head skew in any direction. I always keep the word "evenly" embedded in my mind when tuning drums. If I do a quarter of a turn on a tension rod, the rod 180 degrees will get the exact same treatment. Some will even use two drum keys to do this, but I only use one. This is where getting the head in tune with itself comes into play, by hearing the same pitch at the point of each tension rod. Here you will need much smaller increments (hopefully) when adjusting each tension rod to match the pitch of another. You got to start right to end right.

Dennis
 
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