More about drum tuning!

*WHAT WE WANT TO DO IS FIND THE OPTIMUM NOTE FOR THE DRUM.*

By evenly adjusting the tension, you’ll finally find the note or key you like. Personally, I generally find that it is a medium or slightly below average tension that is most pleasing to my ear. I also find this to be very effective in the studio as well.

If you’re looking for ‘that note’ for yourself and looking for where that tonality is, I suggest you go back to listening to the best studio musicians.

Take a break and listen… this is important and you don’t want to skip it…

Let me suggest some subliminal listening options here. Listen to Steve Gadd, Paul Leim, Jeff Porcaro, JR Robinson, Bernard Purdie, and Vinnie Coliauta to get you started. All the monstrous studio legends. Try to find original recordings, not YouTube performances. This will give you a better perspective.

You will find a remarkable similarity in the tonalities.

*RETURN TO DRUM TUNING.*

At this point, once I’ve found that tension, I place the bottom head on the drum and repeat the process. By bringing the lower head to a similar and slightly higher tension, I can get the optimum drum note to my ear and taste. It takes a few minutes of adjustment, but then the drum gets closer and then it ‘sings’.

When you’re checking the tuning, be sure to hold the drum with your hand by the rim or lugs, as if it were suspended by the hardware. Strike the drum and then make small adjustments to the tuning. When you’re checking the tuning, you want to recreate the physical environment in which the drum lives as closely as possible.

drums

The same process applies to the snare drum as well. Start with a great instrument, a good selection of pads, application and tuning and you’ll be well on your way. One note, if you play using a lot of rims on the snare, be careful to watch the lugs below your strike position. They tend to loosen up quickly.

Here is a problem that is often overlooked. The traps themselves are very delicate. Take care to maintain not only the health of the lower mass of the trap, but also the wires of the trap in particular. Check them every time you put your box on the stand! They are responsible for creating an extremely important part of your sound!

I always carry a set of wire cutters with me in my toolbox in case I break a tripwire. If I do break one, I am very careful to trim it down as much as possible and check the balance of the traps to make sure they are clear of obstacles and vibrate correctly.

Regarding the tuning and variety of snares, I usually show up for a session with 4 snares. The producer will choose one of the given traps depending on the material. I carry a Ludwig Black Beauty brass snare, a Taye maple snare, a Pearl piccolo brass snare, and a DW maple soprano snare. All drums have the same selection of heads as listed above.

Remember! When installing your snare on the stand, make sure the snares below are below the top snare mic location. The engineers again say they can hear more high end from the snare drum with this type of drum placement.

*TUNING THE DRUM.*

The best way I can describe kick drum tuning is that I want to show some attitude. I try to give myself as much flexibility as I can in my overall tuning and use all the options given to me. When I say overall tuning, what I mean is that I want the drum to sound good whether it’s struck hard or soft.

First of all, I would say that one should never show up to a session without a front head and a fine head that resonates. However, it should be controllable.

What I mean by that is that it shouldn’t be fully open without damping. Cutting the hole in the front of the head accomplishes several things. The engineer can access the inside of the drum for miking purposes. He can adjust the damping inside the drum both at the front and at the rear. And he can adjust the damping of the front head.

The front head plays a vital role in the actual sound of the bass drum and creates the lower octave and decay required of the drum. But it has to be constantly adjusted depending on the room or the acoustic situation.

So:

*DO NOT SHOW UP TO A SESSION WITHOUT A TIGHT FRONT PAPER ON YOUR KICK! BUT… DO NOT SHOW UP TO A SESSION WITH YOUR HEAD CLOSED IN THE FRONT!*

Regarding muting the kick drum:

I add some padding that I can adjust. I have a sandbag left in the bottom of the drum that will stay where I put it. I can apply more to the beater head or less depending on what the grower wants. Sometimes we take it out and let the drum ring openly. However, the idea is that you want flexibility in this area. You don’t want a huge bed pillow on your kick drum, but you do want the ability to alter decay and tonality when necessary.

I can also loosen the top 2 lugs on the top of the beater side of the kick drum if I want more thump or slap and less tone or ring in the drum.