Tom tuning

I messing around with tuning today, and when doing so I tuned the reso head higher than the batter head, the batter head was tuned quite low which made it sound like it had alot of attack when I struck the drum! Anyone else tried this out? The drums sound quite low, which isnt really a BAD thing.. the floor tom has alot of ring in it! Just wondering if anyone else has tried this before? When I say the batter head was tuned low, I mean.. at the lowest point it can be tuned and still produce a tone
 
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This is how I tune. You get a pitch bend effect. They aren't limited to low tunings either. I tune the batter and reso to the same note, only an octave apart, with the reso being higher. The way I figure it, the batter is tuned lower to move more air, and the reso gives you your round sound and projection.
 
yeah no secret really lots of people do that. I like tuning my 10" tom low-medium at times but make the reso quite tight but not so much that it's choked. gives you more of a dooooooooeeeeemmmm, (pitch bend goes low to high) instead of a ddoooooooohhhhhhmmmm.(downward pitch bend)

sorry no other way to type that hahaha!
 
yeah no secret really lots of people do that. I like tuning my 10" tom low-medium at times but make the reso quite tight but not so much that it's choked. gives you more of a dooooooooeeeeemmmm, (pitch bend goes low to high) instead of a ddoooooooohhhhhhmmmm.(downward pitch bend)

sorry no other way to type that hahaha!

Yeah that makes sense, I was just curious what other people thought.. so they could share there ideas etc
 
Yeah that makes sense, I was just curious what other people thought.. so they could share there ideas etc

It's all about experimentation, only way to learn..good on you for trying. I find that tuning the reso higher on floor toms really help with too much resonance. I love my 14x14 floor tom and tune it as low as possible, if I leave it at same tuning or lower the tom just sings and sings, it's quite nice actually but crappy for recording. Might be great for monks meditating, oooohhhhhhmmmmmmmmm! hehehehe :)
 
I always have my reso's pitched up higher than the batters too....but in my case, the batters would be a bit tighter than yours. I've never been a fan of JAW tuning personally.

Agree with Tyger though......it is all about experimentation. Glad you're having a play around with tuning. Many don't/won't/are too frightened to explore.
 
In my experience, having the resos really high is better for the floor toms. On the rack toms, I tune the reso and batter to the same pitch, and let the batters drop a little bit as I play. If it drops too much I'll pitch up a little bit again, but this technique works fine for me.
 
I usually just tune both heads to match the shell's resonance, which means both heads have approximately the same pitch. The deciding factor on the frequency is the size of the shell. Some shells have a wider "Q" than others which gives them a wider tuning range.

Dennis
 
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