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Author Topic: Tuning a Drum set!  (Read 2765 times)
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drumnut1
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« on: December 30, 2005, 10:22 PM »

I used to tune my Drums 1,3,5. I met a guitar player that likes me to tune to the horse race song and it works.  What do you all tune too???
I have never had a lesson or even attended a drum seminar but I do know what a para-didle is.  I have been playing for 36 years and I play by feel.  I can pull off most of it.  I would like some expert advice since I am getting ready to put new heads on my drums? Where do you start and what do you tune to?  I have enough drums to do a whole octave. I read music but I don't read drum music. I just play!!
Any advice would be appreciated?
                                       Nutty
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« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2005, 10:35 PM »

Mostly I tune to the tone the shell produces when its thumped with no heads, rims, or tension rods.  Other easy-to-remember intervals I've used:

Minor thirds (Brahms Lullaby)
Taps
The first first 2, 3, or 4 notes of "In The Mood" (depending on how many toms)
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« Reply #2 on: December 31, 2005, 10:51 AM »

I used to tune my Drums 1,3,5. I met a guitar player that likes me to tune to the horse race song and it works.  What do you all tune too???

By "1, 3, 5", do you mean a major third (in which case "1" would be "R" for "root")?

Tuning to the horse-race song ("First Post") is basically tuning to the harmonic series, a method I've employed in the past with good results.  But I don't stick to anything.
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« Reply #3 on: December 31, 2005, 10:53 AM »

I met a guitar player that likes me to tune to the horse race song and it works.

It's nice when guitar players tell you what to do!  Smiley
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« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2005, 11:29 AM »

So if I wanted to utilize my drumsound to best of their ability I should tune the resonant head to the sympathetic note stamped inside my drumshell and then the batter slightly lower? I've been too lazy to look into using the note stamped on the shell, but since I just changed heads...I would be interested. I just bought a DVD by Bob Gatzen on drum tuning yesterday(gotta take it back,does'nt play) Any DW players out there doing this...I say DW because I think they're near the only ones (that I know of) stamping their shells with the sympathetic note.
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« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2005, 11:50 AM »

http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/id9.html
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« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2005, 12:15 PM »

So if I wanted to utilize my drumsound to best of their ability I should tune the resonant head to the sympathetic note stamped inside my drumshell and then the batter slightly lower? I've been too lazy to look into using the note stamped on the shell, but since I just changed heads...I would be interested. I just bought a DVD by Bob Gatzen on drum tuning yesterday(gotta take it back,does'nt play) Any DW players out there doing this...I say DW because I think they're near the only ones (that I know of) stamping their shells with the sympathetic note.

DW stamps that pitch on the inside as a guide to what the shell sounds like when thumped all by itself (no heads, rims, tension rods).  That's one way to tune.  Try that concept and see if you like it.  If not, try other intervals.  There are no rules.  If there were, everybody's drums would sound exactly the same and it would be pretty boring out there.
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« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2005, 01:15 PM »

http://www.huggle.com/forums/index.php?f=109&sid=d701099ad2aac67ddf3b082d10be7856
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« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2005, 05:07 PM »

"Here Comes the Bride" works for me.
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« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2005, 05:53 PM »

I guess mine are tuned to 1-3-5.  I play the snare and ride tom together to make sure they resonate nicely together, then both toms, then snare and floor tom together.  Overall, to my ears anyway, they resonate and ring nicely.
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DWdrmr
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« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2005, 06:40 PM »

Ranman...I just spent 3 hours, more or less in there...thanks. Dr. Sound is definitly worth the time to read...whoever he is.
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drumnut1
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« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2005, 06:47 PM »

Yes,  I Do mean Major 3rds.  The guitar player that I am working with plays Satriani Note for note.  I do like the horse race song tuning.
But it was his suggestion that convinced me to try it.  I just wondered how many different ways you could tune a drum set.  I am getting some good feedback.  Thanks,
                         Nutty
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« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2005, 06:52 PM »

I actually don't fall for the guitar player syndrom very often but we all have to get along or not have a band.  If Stevie Ray asked me to be his drummer I  would probably kiss his ___.  But so far I haven't worked with anyone of his status or popularity.  Plus his is dead.
I have worked with someone that thinks he is Stevie reincarnated but we didn't last very long because a band is not about what one person wants. It is about being a band. Thanks,
                                Nutty
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"You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with'. "I love The Cafe. "If there is music today, it is a great day".
"Tama Star Classics and Paiste cymbals for ever" !!!
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« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2005, 08:26 PM »

Ranman,
Thanks for the link.  I do know how to tune my drums and I do have my personal favorite drum heads.  What I was looking for was more
the actual notes that people tune too.  I tuned to 1,3,5 for years and
I did like what it sounded like.  I really didn't know that a drumset could be tuned any other way.  About 5 or 6 years ago I met a very humble but killer guitar player that suggested that I tune like the race horse song.  I tried it and this tuning seemed to sound good on everything that I played.  I have been listening to some of these guys that tune to a note that is stamped inside the drum it self.  I guess DW does this.  I have been playing a set of Tama Star Classics for about 3 years and I love these drums better than any that I have played.  I am not sure if the shell note is what I am looking for.  Some drummers tune drums high and some tune in the middle and some tune low.  In my earlier days when I was really starting to playing drummers that I never thought I could play, I heard some earlier Journey before Steve Perry and the Drummer was Ansley Dunbar and he tuned really low.  I have looked for that sound.  My drum heads starting with my floor tom are fairly loose.  Just above any rattle.
I usually will start at the bass players low E I think and tune to the race horse song.  I do tune my snare kind of tight but I like my drums
to sound musical.  16in,14in,12in, two 10in's, 8in, 6in, and 14in. snare.
22in X 18in. Bass. The object of this message was to see how drummers tune differently like the one gentlemen said he tunes to the wedding song. That is cool and if it works for him then it is the right way for him.  I am going to probably stick to the Race Horse song.  It really works for me and I can thank, yes, a guitar player for suggesting it. I have not been doing this for so long or consider myself so good that I don't need to try anything new.  I may already seem a bit uncomfortable  to some guitar players because of the, I am the man pride, because since 1980 I not only play drums but I sing lead vocals too, I have even gone up front some but I do feel a bit naked without my drums. Thanks again,
                                        Nutty
                               
                   
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"You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with'. "I love The Cafe. "If there is music today, it is a great day".
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« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2005, 08:34 PM »

Hey Dave from Chicago,
Isn't taps, Revely and the race horse song the same notes?
I can play all of these on a bugle.  I think we may tuned the same way.
Do you call that minor 3rds? That makes me think that most people tune to either a minor third or a major 3rd scale? Thank you,
                                        Nutty
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"You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with'. "I love The Cafe. "If there is music today, it is a great day".
"Tama Star Classics and Paiste cymbals for ever" !!!
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« Reply #15 on: December 31, 2005, 11:27 PM »

While tweaking my 12" tom the other day, I thought of something - and I'm wondering if anyone here has tried it previously.  

It occurred to me...my toms (on the six-piece kit) tend to be tuned a third or fourth apart from one drum to the next.  Similarly, I realized that on each tom, I usually end up with the resonant head tuned higher than the resonant by - you guessed it - a third or a fourth.  

What I'm thinking now is, would it make sense to merge the two together?  In other words, start with my lowest-pitched tom, with the resonant tuned (for the sake of discussion) about a third higher than the batter.  Then, move on to the 14" tom, and tune its batter to the same pitch as the reso on the 15, and tune the 14" reso up a third (or fourth) higher...tune the next tom batter up to the same pitch as the 14" reso - and so on, and so on, and so on.  Whether the intervals are thirds, fourths, or something else, isn't the point - it's the matching of the pitch of one tom's resonant head with the pitch of the next tom's batter head.  

I haven't tried it yet, but for some reason, I find it an intriguing notion.  I may have some time later this week to try experimenting with this sort of tuning system, but I'm curious to know whether anyone here has tried it already.
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« Reply #16 on: December 31, 2005, 11:41 PM »

After being in a drumline for years, I got into the habit of tuning the whole set by thirds starting with the lowest tom and going up from there with the snare being a third above the highest tom.

These days, I'm more of a 4 piece guy, and I tune the floor down and the kick up so that they are the same note, tune the tom as a third of the floor/kick and the snare being a fifth of the floor/kick.
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drumnut1
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« Reply #17 on: January 01, 2006, 05:04 AM »

Wow, This is good James and Rei, This kind of stuff is what I was looking for.  Some different Ideas.  I usually tune my bottom heads
the exact note of the race horse song because these heads change very little over time and then the top heads I try to keep the same.
I find it hard to stay in tune when one of my bottom heads go out.
You can try this next drum tuning.  Let us know how it turns out.
                                Nutty
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"You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with'. "I love The Cafe. "If there is music today, it is a great day".
"Tama Star Classics and Paiste cymbals for ever" !!!
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« Reply #18 on: January 01, 2006, 09:04 AM »

Hey Dave from Chicago,
Isn't taps, Revely and the race horse song the same notes? . . .

Do you call that minor 3rds?

Yeah, just throwing out a couple of different options - some are easier to remember than others.  The lullaby is a minor third.  The camp song Kumbaya is a major third.
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« Reply #19 on: January 01, 2006, 06:47 PM »

I think the wedding song is 1 3 5 Major 3rds.  Very interesting.
Seems we all tune to major or minor 3rds depending on taste.
I guess I have my answer then.  I would like to hear back about
James Walkers tuning Idea.
                  Nutty
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"You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with'. "I love The Cafe. "If there is music today, it is a great day".
"Tama Star Classics and Paiste cymbals for ever" !!!
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