Drum Tuning…please?

It frankly amazes me the number of drummers who have trouble tuning and the amount who have just given up!

Go talk to your local club sound guy, he will confirm this universal problem. Many sound engineers don't even ask drummers to tune their kits any more. They just begin their drum mix by working the mixers EQ section looking to kill the ridiculous overtones and tighten up those drum sounds. If that doesn’t work, I have seem them replace the sound with one on their laptop, use the microphone to trigger the replacement sound and use only that.  Drummers who do this enough times find they have been replaced by a keyboard player, his laptop and a cheap keypad. Don't let this happen to you!

Guys tuning is easy…now carefully come down off the ledge of that tall building… and let me help you find your righteous tone.

Tuning, a Guide to Sonic Bliss

Start with your smallest tom. It will have the fewest lugs and tuning rods and thus simplifies the process.

First remove the old resonant (bottom) and batter (top) drum hoops and heads by unscrewing the tuning rods with your drum key. 

Now, with a soft cloth, wipe off the bearing edges top and bottom checking for low spots or flaws. While you have the head off grab a screw driver and check that the screws holding on your lugs and mounting hardware are tight. Maybe use a bottle of guitar cleaner (your guitar player won't mind if you borrow his) and remove the first layer of blood spatters on shell from the last time you clobbered your finger with that B2 stick. 

Place the new Resonant (bottom) head onto the drum carefully centring it on the drum. 

Finger tune

Place the hoop on and using two tension rods put them into the hoop directly across from each other (at the 6:00 and 12:00 position as an example). Screw them down finger tight. Now place the second set of tension rods 90 degrees from the first set (3:00 and 9:00) and tighten finger tight. Add another set and the final set screwing them down finger tight each time. If your drum has more than 8 lugs keep going until all lugs have a tension rod and all the lugs are finger tight. Go around the drum again making sure all your lugs are finger tight. Push on the centre of the drum head with the palm of you hand. Push hard it can take it. If you hear some cracking it's OK it's just the glue releasing it’s fine, really, it’s fine. Tighten with fingers one last time on each tension rod. 

Rough tune

Now, grab two drum keys and put one on each tension rod across from each other. Turn both keys a half turn on each lug tighten at 6:00 and 12:00 first then 3:00 and 9:00, 1:00 and 7:00 etc. well you get the picture. If you only have one key that’s fine do each separately working in that star pattern 12 then 6 then 3 then 9, etc.. Tap the drum with a drum stick. Is it making a pleasing tone? If not, add another half turn on each lug working across the drum every time. When you get to a tuning range you like… stop. 

Fine Tune

Now, we fine tune the drum. Tap your drum key on the head about a half inch in from the hoop at each tension rod position. Listen, do they all sound the same? This takes a bit of practice, but do it a few times and it gets easier. If one or two are LOWER pitched than the others tune them tighter until they sound the same as the rest of the tension rod positions. Tuning a head UP is always easier than tuning down, so tune the LOWER ones HIGHER, do not tune the higher ones lower. 

Now, when all around the drum sounds the same grab your drum stick and tap the skin. You should find the drum is sounding better, maybe even great. 

Now do the same steps with the Batter (top) head. Try to get both heads to roughly the same pitch or note. Do you like the drum with both heads tuned the same? If not return to the bottom head (resonant) and add another half turn to each lug. Now how does the drum sound? 

The key to the process is to keep the tension on the drum even across each lug. This will prevent the skin from being warped by uneven tensions across the drum. Work slowly and make small adjustments it takes less than an 8th of a turn many times to make a sonic difference.

Where things go wrong:

The head does not “seat” onto the bearing edges. This is why you push with the palm of your hand into the middle of the skin after finger tightening to ensure the head is sitting level on the bearing edges. 
Solution: Undo the lugs and seat the head properly.

Tension rods are not evenly tightened and one side of the head is tighter than the other causing a higher pitch on one side of the drum. 
Solution: Loosen off the tension rods and try again.

the fine tuning pitches at each lug tuning rod position do not sound the same when tapped. Solution: Tighten until all are at the same tone. 

The skin has been bent by incorrect installation. 
Solution: Buy a new head and try again. 

Snare Drums

Wait there are snares on the bottom head! How do I change this without completely messing up my snare?

Deep Breath, here we go.

Throw the snare lever into the off position. This lowers the snares away from the resonant head. Turn the tension knob a few turns watching to see that the snares are getting further away from the drum not closer to it. 

Undo the butt end of the snares. Stop giggling..the butt end is the end that does not have the snare leaver attached to it. if you can, leave the other end attached and just move the snares aside and remove the drum head. Wipe the bearing edge, place the paper thin snare side resonant head onto the snare. Finger tighten, then using your drum key get that bottom skin really tight working across the drum as we did with the other drums in a star pattern. The snare bottom head is always the tightest head on the kit as you want the slightest touch of the drum to get those snares moving. Bring your snare strands back across the newly installed head and fix them to the butt plate. stretch it across pretty tight and screw down the retaining screws. Now tighten up the tension knob on the level end of the snares get it as tight as you want until those snares are singing. Too Tight and the drum goes dead. Back off a bit. Check to see that the snare ends are NOT touching the bearing edge of the drum or all hell sonically will break loose. If you need to make an adjustment to them pull the snare one way or the other by rolling off the tension knob loosening the butt end or lever end and pulling the snare straps or stings to centre the snares on the drum head away from the bearing edges. Tighten the knob and see if the ends are not touching the bearing edges. All good? Now tighten the tension knob until your snare sounds great. 

If your snares are buzzing look to see that the snares are pulling evenly across the drum this happens frequently when using the strings to mount the snare rather than the straps. If one string is tighter than the other the snares warp and pull away from the head ever so slightly causing the buzz. 

Mechanical tuning aids

I like some of the tuning aids currently out there. My favourite is the Drum Dial. It requires no batteries and uses the tension of the head to show you on a little dial the tension level at each tuning rod position. Tricks of the trade. Lift…don’t slide the Drum Dial from one position to the next. Keep a consistent distance between the dial and the hoop. That’s what that little bent piece of metal is for in every Drum Dial box. Sometimes the Drum Dial's little brain can get confused (don’t we all) and it stubbornly refuses to show a difference, even though you are turning the drum key. This is because the tension rod directly across the drum is too tight and messing with the poor Drummy Dial’s wee brain. 

There are drum tuners that measure the tone (note of the drum) for you guitar players who want to tune a drum to a specific pitch. They work well if you like your drums batter and resonant heads to be an equal third or forth apart. Ask your guitar player what that means. 

Tunings

Great snare drums can be tuned high, medium and low. But each drum seems to have a pitch at which it really sings. The only way to find your drums perfect pitch is to tune and test until you locate it. 
The difference between low and high is usually no more than a couple or three turns on a tension rod. 
The less expensive the drum the smaller the tuning range. 

Overtones

I have drummers come in all the time who have applied so much tape to their drum trying to get the overtones to stop to have rendered their drum all but unplayable. If you need a roll of gaffers tape something else is wrong. 

Most drums can be controlled through great tuning. You want some overtones as this is what allows your drum to cut through the band and have character and appeal. Sometimes behind the kit is not the place to make these judgements. Ask someone to play your kit while you stand out front and listen. That overly bright and ringing snare may be sounding fantastic just 10 feet away. 

Remember too that the fundamental tone of a kick drum is so low that the wavelength of the sound wave does not "bloom" until you are 10-15 feet back from your bass drum. 

If you’ve got the drum well tuned and there is still a bit of ring you’d like gone, I would use a gummy patch of MoonGel. I always place my MoonGel on the logo on the head. It’s the right distance from the hoop and I can always find it should I need too. Gaffer or duct tape will work too, but leaves behind a sticky mess. You can even cut the MoonGel patch into smaller pieces if one is too much. Great thing about MoonGel is that it can be washed with soap and water, dried and be just like new again.

A different drum head may help too. The Remo Pinstripe or the EVANS EC2S may be just the ticket. On snare drums the Evans Genera HD or HD Dry are good choices to tame a crazy snare with their internal dampening rings.  

On snare drums, try laying your wallet on the drum head away from where you are playing. This may provide just the right amount to dampening to your snare. It also ensures you know where your wallet is at all times making it easy to buy the rest of the band a beer. 

I personally do not like the clear plastic rings you lay on the head as I feel this deadens the head so much, it takes all the life out of it. 

Kick drums are a bit different. You usually want the batter head (the one you hit) just tight enough to make a clear tone. This is right at the tuning point where all the wrinkles have left the skin. The resonant head (one facing the audience) I like just a smidgen tighter. I like my kick to have a clear note. But you can make it looser for that dead thud tone if that’s your thing. Some guys put a pillow in the drum and have it just touching the batter head. Some stuff a blanket in there for that completely dead thud and others run it wide open with nothing or maybe an EVANS EMAD or GMAD foam ring riding shotgun. 

If you’ve tried everything, pulled out all your hair and are about to throw the snare or yourself into the river… bring it to your favourite drum store and the guys/girls there will be happy to help you and maybe even show you what you are doing wrong. 

Hey, it might not even be your problem; maybe the skin is warped, or the bearing edge is gone…maybe aliens are messing with the molecular structure of the skin…could be…right?