Topic: Tom tuning preferences

[DrumnDad]

Keith, as the result of another thread, I listened to your snare drum recordings, which were sounding great.  But the thing that really blew me away was your tom sound.  Very warm and sweet; an exemplary sound.  I see where you use one ply Aquarian coated batter and reso (identical heads, I'm guessing), but what about the relative tuning?  I usually tune the reso about three notes above the batter, but how do you do it to get that sound I love so much? You have maple, I have birch, but I don't think that the relative tuning would need to be any different. Your toms really sing with resonance, which won't happen so much with my birch toms, though.

Thank you for taking the time to answer this question.

Doug

By the way, I started playing in 1974 and quite frankly had forgotten how warm coated heads sound.  Used to be that nearly everyone had them, then black/silver dots and pinstripes took over (ARRRGGHHH), then mostly clear heads today, except for jazz/swing types.  I really love coated heads, though. 

[Mister Acrolite]

Thanks for the kind words! I'm using identical 1-ply coated heads on the tops and bottoms of those toms. When tuning, I usually start with the bottom heads. I slowly tighten them up, trying to find a note where they really sing. Then I flip the drum over and work on the top head. I usually end up with the top head about a minor third lower in pitch than the bottom. (A minor third is the distance between the two notes in that universal schoolyard taunt "nyah-nyah," an ear-training trick I picked up in music school.) 

Using this approach, the top head is pretty loose, so don't expect a lot of rebound from it, unlike a higher pitched "bebop" tuning. I use little or no muffling, and the drums ring quite a bit, but it's such a nice sound, it usually isn't a problem.

When tuning a drum, I always rely on my ears more than theory, looking for sonic sweet spots. If you've ever messed around with a Roto-Tom, it's a vivid lesson in sweet spots. If you get a head evenly tensioned on a Roto, and then start spinning the frame to tighten and loosen the head, you'll find 2 to 4 different pitches where the drum really sings. That's the sweet spot I'm talking abuot, and most drums have several of them. I don't know the science behind that - I just know what my ears tell me, so I've always found a Roto-tom is a great way to teach students to tune.

Hope this helps - thanks again.

[DrumnDad]

Great tips.  Thank you for the insight and advice!
(I'll go to bed tonight thinking the nyah-nyah thing - HA!)

Doug