Tuning Drums

riddik

Sorry if this is here already, tried search and everything and couldn't find anything...

HOW do you tune drums? I just got my first set, a second hand set off my mate, Pearl Target r sumthing. they look good but don't sound great. I hear ppl talkin bout tuning all the time, but what do you do? just twist all the wee nuts around the top or wha'?!!

Thanx

Doctor J

There's a wee bit more to it than that, this is the best guide I've seen, though I still have trouble tuning drums, I find it poxy.

Eoin Madsen

Read what you can and try your best at it, but don't get too frustrated when it doesn't quite work. It takes a long time to get the hang of it, and most of the beginner level kits seem to be more or less un-tunable anyway. :rolleyes:

Cousin it

what kind of sound you going for? as in what style of music do you play.

I have my snare batter real tight cos I love rimshots.
I have my floor tom resonant real loose cos I like a good thump out of it.
My friend has both heads loose on his floor tom cos he likes it to sound like a welly boot being knocked around.

All depends on the sound you're going for.

riddik

thanx for all the advice, that site is pretty good.

i dont no what sound im tryin to get but its basically resonance being a problem, when i hit the hi tom, the snare resonates, when i hit the low tom it resonates itself quite a bit, and the bass drum always seem to be givin off sum sort of hum, is this all normal?

NotMe

I think you need some muffling. Now I'm only playing a short while and I still haven't figured out how to tune properly and all that but I was getting what you said... hit one drum and others resonate. I read somewhere about muffling and I cut up an old t-shirt and taped strips of it onto the drum heads and it sounds so much better.
Try this: hit the snare drum... then put one hand flat on the drum head and hit it again.. does it sound better?

Waltons

riddik wrote:

thanx for all the advice, that site is pretty good.

i dont no what sound im tryin to get but its basically resonance being a problem, when i hit the hi tom, the snare resonates, when i hit the low tom it resonates itself quite a bit, and the bass drum always seem to be givin off sum sort of hum, is this all normal?

I'd carefully consider the kinda sound I want before starting to muffle the kit. You can get different types of heads that are going to give out different sounds, and different combinations of tops and bottoms are going to do different things.

Usually people put some sort of muffling in the bass drum as they like a nice kicky sound. Usually a pillow or something inside it will solve this.
What you're getting if the snare resonates or rattles when you hit something else is called sympathetic vibration. There's a page on it on that link that Doctor J gave - http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/id8.html.

As said before, it's all down to personal taste. If you like the sound that the bass drum is giving out, either sitting beside the kit, or get someone else to hit it and listen from several distances. It mightn't be the best for recording or whatever, but give it a try.
Experiment with different muffling techniques for the bass drum, certainly, but think twice before you start taping your toms as most sounds can be achieved with tuning and proper heads.