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Drum Set Tuning

The act of tuning a drumset is a mechanical process directed toward an audible outcome determined by a drummer's personal and musical requirement.

Drumset tuning differs from tuning a guitar or other pitched instrument. This is because a struck drum head will produce a fundamental and harmonics that are hard to perceive as a particular pitch.

The human ear however, can usually detect a fundamental frequency - the lowest note audible. Using this fundamental tone, a drummer can proceed to tune drums' pitches relative to each other to generate combinations that are harmonically pleasing.

Tom Toms

Tuning toms is the act of ensuring that:

• the tensions on the individual batter and resonant heads on each drum are consistent and deliver a clear tone;
• the tensions on the heads deliver the desired fundamental pitch when struck;
• the relationships between the batter head and resonant head provide a sound character suitable for your intended use; and
• that the relationships between individual drums and the overall drumset provide a logical and pleasant sounding combination.

When tuning a drum, know that the top (batter) head controls attack and ring, while the bottom head controls resonance, sustain, overtones, and timbre.

Snare drum and bass drum

Snare drum

• The thin, sensitive bottom (resonant) head is generally tuned looser than the batter head;
• the resonant head tensioning is adjusted to allow the snares to sit into the snare beds; and
• treatment or muffling may be applied to the drum head to control overtones.

Bass or Kick drum

• The batter head is tensioned to deliver the desired pedal rebound, although it will also affect the tone of the drum;
• The resonant (front) head is usually looser than the batter head and is mainly responsible for the fundamental, audible tone of the drum;
• The resonant head can have a small (approx 6") offset hole to allow for air pressure escape and for the insertion of a microphone;
• Some drummers use some kind of treatment inside the drum (such as a pillow, towel, etc.) or one of the many head variations and appliqués to control overtones, this could be that a drummer fills up his kick drum with materials to absorb the sound, or that the batter head has a ring of foam on it or perhaps a kick pad placed on the batter head.

The Process

• Checking that the physical condition of the drum, drum head and hardware that is to be used are in appropriate condition;
• seating the head - this shapes the generic factory-shaped head to match the specific drum that you will be using;
• tuning the batter head to pitch;
• tuning the Resonant head to pitch relative to the batter head; and finally
• relating each drum's pitch and sustain to the other drums in the drumset to make the drumset a pleasant-sounding unit in accordance with the drummer's requirements

When tensioning a head,start by tightening the tension rod closest to you; don't tighten it all the way, just a couple of turns. (This is because you want keep an even tension across the drum head, which you can't do if one lug is super-tight and the others are super-loose.) Now move to the tension rod opposite the first lug and give that tension rod the same number of turns; do the same with the remaining lugs, in order, moving from one side of the head to the other.

When you return to the first tension rod, tighten this rod a little tighter, and then move around the lugs again, applying a little extra tension each time around. Keep this up until the head is free of wrinkles and a very low tone is produced when you hit the head.

Continue tightening the rods (in order), a little bit at a time—no more than a quarter turn each time. From time to time, you should tap the head next to each tension rod and tighten or loosen each rod so that the tones are all the same all around the drum. (When drummers say that a drum "is in tune with itself," they mean that the head is equally tensioned all the way around.)

Repeat this procedure until the head has the desired pitch. Give the head another set of taps around the edges to make sure the tuning is even, and then you're done—with that head. If you use double- headed drums, you'll need to repeat this procedure with the bottom head. ^[1]

Muffling

Many drummers prefer a dryer sound with less ring. There are many different techniques you can use to reduce ring.

One approach is to loosen the batter head a quarter to a half turn. Another way is to either increase or decrease the pitch of the bottom head so that it's different from the pitch of the top head. Either of these approaches produces a slightly dryer, funkier sound.

If you still have unwanted ring—or don't like the tone of these types of heads—then you can turn to any of the following external muffling techniques:

• Use a commercial muffling device, like those that look like Mylar "O" rings. (You can also make your own muffling rings by cutting up an old drumhead.) Some of these come with multiple rings of different sizes; you can layer multiple rings on top of each other to increase or decrease the muffling effect.
• Put a strip of duct tape on your batter head. Experiment with different lengths of tape, and with different positions for the tape on your head. You can even layer multiple strips for a heavier muffle.
• Tape an tissue or napkin to the rim of your drum, and let it lay loose on your batter head. Again, experiment with different thicknesses and positions.
• For toms and snares, try putting a hunk of moongel on the head. The bigger the piece of gel, the more the sound is muffled.
• An "old school" muffling technique is to cut a long strip of felt and mount it underneath the batter head on a tom or snare, or across the front bass drum head. Know, however, that many of today's drummers dismiss felt muffling as dated, and feel that the felt strip interferes with the seating of the head to the drum's bearing edge, making the drum slightly more difficult to tune.
• For bass drums, put a pillow inside the drum. You can control the amount of muffling by adjusting how much of the pillow touches the front or rear heads; the less contact, the less muffling. (Some companies produce dedicated bass drum mufflers that look like odd-shaped pillows; these work in the same fashion.)
• Also for bass drums: Cut a hole in the front head. The hole eliminates the drum's natural resonance and creates a punchier sound with a more defined attack. And the bigger the hole, the less resonance you'll hear.

References

1. ^ Miller, Michael. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Drums, 2nd Edition. (2004) Alpha Books.

External links

• Tunadrum.com - Detailed factual step-by-step information on drum tuning

Printed Reference Matter

• Fundamental Modes Of A Circular Membrane With Radial Constraints On The Boundary

Wang C.Y. Journal of Sound and Vibration, February 1999, vol. 220, no. 3, pp. 559–563, Ingenta.

• Comments On “Fundamental Frequency Of A Wavy Non-Homogeneous Circular Membrane”

Laura P.A.A.; Rossit C.A.; Bambill D.V. Journal of Sound and Vibration, December 2000, vol. 238, no. 4, pp. 720–722, Ingenta.