Tuning drums to notes

[floid]

On one of the last jazz session I did, I talked extensively to the drummer about how he tuned his kit. Not only is he an excellent player, he's very aware of how his instrument is tuned and how it reacts to other instruments. His tuning system involved every drum tuned to a minor or major third (or sixth) away from each other to avoid sympathetic vibrations from other drums. Whenever he hit the kick drum, nothing else would ring. Same thing with the snare. Made things real easy.


P.?

hmm...
although there's something to be said for tuning one of the toms to ring a chord w/ the kick as well...
on a recent song toms were tuned so i could play "oh-oh see can you say," w/ the "say" note being played on ride bell. i'd originally intended the floor tom's "see" to be key of song, but found it worked better a full step sharp of that (don't know much about chord theory, so i'm not really sure what kind of scale was being formed or anything). it was fun stuff, but i'd hate to go through that for every song - and how would go about replicating several songs like that, in different keys, live? (assuming you wanted to...)
A local drummer was showing me how to pull multiple notes from every drum on the kit, depending on how you finesse the hit...but i'm not quite there yet, probably never will be. as long as the kit sounds good against itself, i usually just hope for the best.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

fwiw i rarely, if ever, worry about tuning the drums to specific pitches for each song, and i really don't think it matters all that much in the big picture. my point in my previous post was just that the drums are tuned tuned to SOME specific pitch. i.e i can hit my rack tom and my bass player will slide up the neck and say "D". that's all.

[@?,*???&?]

Even if you tune the drums to notes, you'll still get one note ringing or droning through an entire song that may or may not have any relationship to the pitch center of the track for example when the drummer whacks the snare drum.

[thethingwiththestuff]

Even if you tune the drums to notes, you'll still get one note ringing or droning through an entire song that may or may not have any relationship to the pitch center of the track for example when the drummer whacks the snare drum.

oh yeah? why is that exactly? and which note? does the flat 5th of the particular key always appear from a pitched rock drumset?

inserting "may or may not" allows you to not back up this totally ad hoc crap and renders your argument meaningless. if tuning a drumset produces one note that MAY have a relationship to the track, then what the hell is the problem?

besides, rock toms dont ring long enough to produce pitches, correct?

[MoreSpaceEcho]

ha HA!

i'm trying to imagine a situation where the resonance of the toms would be SO LOUD that it would actually be noticeable, much less a problem, in the context of a whole mix.

and if that really was the case, i'd rather have an actual note resonating than a cluster of unrelated overtones.

it is called "tuning" right? not "turning the lugs till it's only sort of offensive and then putting tape on all the heads".

[@?,*???&?]

it is called "tuning" right? not "turning the lugs till it's only sort of offensive and then putting tape on all the heads".

One could take the Joel Hamilton approach and use ANY drumkit tuned or not tuned in ANY fashion possible and make a great record...

?

[MoreSpaceEcho]

duh.

i'm really only arguing that drums can indeed be tuned to specific notes...

[lanterns]

I'll just tune my guitar to Z and drown you out anyway.
stupid drummers

[MoreSpaceEcho]

*hurls stick at lanterns eye without missing a beat*

[markee2004]

http://www.drummingweb.com/tuning.htm

I believe tuning drums is probably the most important, and hard to learn skill for a producer/engineer.

I found the information about phase relationships very helpfull in the link above. And personally I do think you need to tune a drum to particular notes that are going to compliment the shells natural pitch. for two reasons 1) if you just tune it instinctively "until it sounds right" your never going to be able to get it to sound like that again, which is obviously an important point in the studio, what with drums going out of tune etc... And 2) if a drumhead is not in tune with itself, and/or not tuned to a note that is sympathetic to the pitch of the shell this will really affect the sustain of the drum + sound like a piece of shit in to the bargain. if you want to control the sustain, a far better way of doing it is to to use thicker drumheads, or drumheads with dampening gizmos built in.

I bassically use the method described by thomas howie, I've found that following the order he describes of tuning the lugs makes a big difference, and that when I follow his order the head is allot closer to being in tune with itself already. I tune to a keyboard and don't have any problems hearing the note. Another thing that helps you hear the note allot easier is using a soft mallet, as opposed to a drum stick, or fingers when tapping the head.

Hope this helps.

[markee2004]

As for tuning the drums to the key of the song when recording, I generally prefer not to because they tend to dissapear in to the mix more (like on tool's lateralus for example, where danny carey tunes his drums for every song), also especially with cheaper drums the timbre and sustain often suffers for the sake of getting them in tune with the song.

Also people don't really listen to drums as notes in terms of the harmony of a song. I think the best approach is just to tune the drums to where they sound best at, and a sound that generally compliments the band (like john stanier in battles).

[firby]

I am a jazzer with a four piece kit. All of the toms are tuned in relation to one another IE if I hit rack tom and floor tom together its a 4th I believe like wise the snare works with the bass drum especially with the snares off.

I dont tune the bass drum though. The bass drum sounds great and the song can tune itself to the bass drum. or sometimes I use heavy eq on a room mic(ribbon) to make it work.

[TheStevens]

forget all that, just run the drum tracks through auto-tune!

[NU-TRA]

I like tuning the drums to where they sound the best. I get the snare and kick in the right key but the toms are a whole other story. The toms seem to fit in the mix better when they are not in the key giving other instruments their space in the same key range. That'a just me though.

[Brian]

OK, TWEEET! (whistle sound, like a ref's, but, out of tune)
How about this:
IN Pre production, listen to the song with everyone playing and try to see how the drums should be tuned for each song, assuming it wil change per song, and rthen try to pull that off when recording.
I learned how to do it from Neil Peart during a rehearsal cycle. It's basicly the "Andy Johns" method although I call it the Neil Peart method, since Neil plays drums.
He pulls his shells apart to bare naked when moving them, all hardware off.
I hardly pull any hardware off. Neil plays well, I suck, but, I record drums well when my advice is taken.
Pull your drums apart, hit the shells if you can determine pitch, mark them.
The edge of the shells must be ground flat to tune really well. Even low end drums have that these days.
Don't use a bottom head, you don't NEED them. If you think you do, go ahead, waste your time. I don't care.
If you like that "not tuned" sound use bottom heads, or if you have a lot of time on your hands, tune them too. Top and bottom TO THE VERY EXACT SAME NOTE.
Not to a third or fifth or pint.
Kick to the fundamental 1? Nice. That will normaly work well. It will not resonate out of control. Ucchhhk! The very thought of that! Who? Nevermind.
Someone mentioned lug order, but, no one mentioned "seating the head properly"
gotta do that first.
I usuall end up with (if the song is in E) Kick=E, Snare=G, Toms=A, B, D, going hi to lo.
I NEVER TUNE THE BELL OF THE RIDE. It's too ard and my hammer is too big I'm not braggin.