Marketing Magic to a Thumping Beat.

Drum Tuning and Head Selection Ask a novice or intermediate drummer what they find the most difficult thing to do on a drum kit and many won’t talk about some complex rhythm or beat but about how difficult they find tuning their kit. The trick to proper tuning is equal tension on every lug. This sounds like a simple concept, but it can drive even the most seasoned professional completely nuts. There is not a day go by in a busy drum shop that some frustrated drummer arrives with a drum that just will not tune to his or her satisfaction. Let’s tackle this problem right from the beginning. Begin on the resonant head (bottom). Begin by removing both the hoops and the old skins from the drum. Clean the bearing edges with a soft cloth and tip the drum over and ensure any loose dust and wood chips are dumped out. You don’t want this clutter between the bearing edge and the new skin. Fit the new head over the bearing edge on the reso side. Does it sit evenly all the way around...

Kick Your kick is the center of your kit and the low end driver behind most tunes. Let’s have a look at what you need to consider when creating your own sound. There are two schools of thought here those drummers that look for a thump without an identifiable note and those who want a tone or note out of their kick. The thumpers out there are looking for the lowest sound their kick can produce and are looking for feel rather than a sound. To get this out of your kick you are going to need a thicker head so look for a two ply head for both batter (back) and resonant (front). I always start with the batter head tuning my 2 ply head until its finger tight all the way around. I then switch to a key and tune until the wrinkles disappear and then add a quarter to half more turn to each lug. My reso head gets finger tightened then I carefully tune using the key until the wrinkles just disappear. This is as low as she will go brother. If you find there is too many overtone...