I'm recording my band sometime next week, we're kind of indie-pop with an occasional noisier side...
We're not particularly professional about it all, or all that experienced.
The drummer has probably only been playing for about a year, he's been making impressive leaps in his playing, but he's a bit clueless when it comes to the technical side of it all and has no idea how to really tune his kit. I'm no help either, everything I've recorded before has either been demos no one else would hear so we didn't bother or it was with a drummer who knew his shit.
Is it just a matter of making the skins tighter until it sounds basically "good", or should we tune to specific pitches? what would you suggest? I suppose I'm after a fairly tight sound without a crazy amount of low frequencies....
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Tuning Drums
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oldguitars
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MoreSpaceEcho
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if you've never tuned a drum before, it can really be a motherfucker.
don't go into it thinking you can just mess around with it for 15 minutes before you start recording. set aside a couple hours ahead of time and look at as an experiment/learning experience, much less frustrating that way.
put on a pot of coffee.
if you can afford to get all new heads, it's worth it for sure, but no big if you can't. if you do have new heads, make sure the edges of the drum and the rims are clean and free of any debris before you put the heads on. actually, even if you just have the heads that are on there, it won't hurt to take them off and start fresh. so put the head on, get all the lugs finger tight, then go around the lugs with the key and gradually crank the head way up. then do some CPR on the middle of the head to stretch it out and seat it on the rim. if it's a new head, you'll hear the glue cracking and that's fine, it's what you want to happen. do that a bit and then bring the tension on the head almost all the way back down.
then go around the lugs and bring them up a little bit at a time. like a quarter turn at most. rest a finger gently on the middle of the head and tap around the lugs, the idea is to get them all the same pitch, or at least on friendly terms with each other.
if at any point you're doing this and it seems to sound ok, stop and hit the thing for real. if it sounds good, great. don't overthink it, if you try and get it PERFECT you'll almost invariably make it worse. i seem to anyway.
if it doesn't sound right, just keep at it. you'll likely go through a range in the tuning where it sounds totally crazy, you just gotta work through that and get to the good part. as you get closer to the right tension on the drum, really tiny adjustments make a big difference, sometimes you wanna be just nudging the drum key.
if you get to the point where it's obviously too high, just take all the lugs down and start all over, it's way easier than trying to inch it back.
don't crank the snare heads too tight or you'll lose all the body of the drum.
if the drums sound basically good but there's a little bit of a wonky overtone going on, try a little piece of moongel or something, can really help a lot without killing the sustain too much.
don't worry about tuning to specific pitches, it can certainly be done, but basically just try and make it so the drums all sound ok together...i mean you'll know once everything's on the kit if something is not right.
this will sound like hippie bullshit but: let the drum tell you what to do. drums won't really bend to your will, you have to bend to theirs. you can bend the recording of them to yours, but the drums themselves...they are stronger than you are.
anyway definitely spend the time on it, it makes a huge difference in the recording, and it's a good skill to have in general (just wait until you tune a guitar by ear after you've spent a bunch of time tuning drums. you will be a MASTER). i think if you have a well tuned kit and a drummer who hits them correctly, it almost doesn't matter where you put the mics, it's gonna come out ok.
don't go into it thinking you can just mess around with it for 15 minutes before you start recording. set aside a couple hours ahead of time and look at as an experiment/learning experience, much less frustrating that way.
put on a pot of coffee.
if you can afford to get all new heads, it's worth it for sure, but no big if you can't. if you do have new heads, make sure the edges of the drum and the rims are clean and free of any debris before you put the heads on. actually, even if you just have the heads that are on there, it won't hurt to take them off and start fresh. so put the head on, get all the lugs finger tight, then go around the lugs with the key and gradually crank the head way up. then do some CPR on the middle of the head to stretch it out and seat it on the rim. if it's a new head, you'll hear the glue cracking and that's fine, it's what you want to happen. do that a bit and then bring the tension on the head almost all the way back down.
then go around the lugs and bring them up a little bit at a time. like a quarter turn at most. rest a finger gently on the middle of the head and tap around the lugs, the idea is to get them all the same pitch, or at least on friendly terms with each other.
if at any point you're doing this and it seems to sound ok, stop and hit the thing for real. if it sounds good, great. don't overthink it, if you try and get it PERFECT you'll almost invariably make it worse. i seem to anyway.
if it doesn't sound right, just keep at it. you'll likely go through a range in the tuning where it sounds totally crazy, you just gotta work through that and get to the good part. as you get closer to the right tension on the drum, really tiny adjustments make a big difference, sometimes you wanna be just nudging the drum key.
if you get to the point where it's obviously too high, just take all the lugs down and start all over, it's way easier than trying to inch it back.
don't crank the snare heads too tight or you'll lose all the body of the drum.
if the drums sound basically good but there's a little bit of a wonky overtone going on, try a little piece of moongel or something, can really help a lot without killing the sustain too much.
don't worry about tuning to specific pitches, it can certainly be done, but basically just try and make it so the drums all sound ok together...i mean you'll know once everything's on the kit if something is not right.
this will sound like hippie bullshit but: let the drum tell you what to do. drums won't really bend to your will, you have to bend to theirs. you can bend the recording of them to yours, but the drums themselves...they are stronger than you are.
anyway definitely spend the time on it, it makes a huge difference in the recording, and it's a good skill to have in general (just wait until you tune a guitar by ear after you've spent a bunch of time tuning drums. you will be a MASTER). i think if you have a well tuned kit and a drummer who hits them correctly, it almost doesn't matter where you put the mics, it's gonna come out ok.
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mattwhritenour
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percussion boy
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This will probably be one of my get-contradicted-19-times posts, like telling people to buy Gretsch snare drums.
Nonetheless --
If everything else fails and you're under the gun, go for a dead, low sound. The goal is for the kick to go "thump," the toms to go "boom," and the snare to go "bap" (or at least not be super-ringy).
1. Tuning: Tune the top heads medium to medium low (not tabletop hard and not totally dead; the kick can be pretty loose and still work). Let the drummer tell you if it's too tight or loose to play comfortably, don't make him adapt too much. The snare may work for you at a higher pitch, but tune the top head lower if necessary. (Do not tune the bottom head of the snare low, keep it firm.)
2. Other setup stuff: Set the snare tension knob tight if the other drums make the snares rattle more than you want. Take the front head off the kick (or use a front head with a big hole) and definitely put a pillow in the kick. You may also have to take the bottom heads off the toms or at least loosen the hell out of them so that they don't resonate much. (We only want to deal with getting the top heads right, because it's simpler, so let's leave the bottom heads more-or-less silent).
3. Muffling: Muffle. A lot. I used to have a plexiglass kit that I actually threw a sheet over. Ringo used "tea towels." Some people use duct tape or moongels. The toms can be very thuddy and still work in the music. The pillow should be enough for the bass drum, move it around to control the ring. The snare could get a wallet taped to it, or a handkerchief over its whole head, or whatever.
4. Tweak. You may have to tweak individual drum lugs, especially if tapping the head near a lug gives a much higher pitch than near the other lugs. However, the heavy muffling should conceal a multitude of sins.
This approach is not neat. It is not pretty. It may make your drums sound like cardboard boxes. But single heads, low tuning, and heavy muffling will eliminate most of the high overtones that can get ugly, yielding a serviceable drum sound. If the drummer keeps good time it should work out fine.
----
After you get past this session, go out and learn how to tune drums for real, per Space Echo's post, etc.. Take your time and you will get there. Bob Gatzen has a drum tuning dvd out that will probably tell you more than you want to know. Some folks like to use the Tension Watch things that Tama (?) makes, to help get even tension around each drum.
Nonetheless --
If everything else fails and you're under the gun, go for a dead, low sound. The goal is for the kick to go "thump," the toms to go "boom," and the snare to go "bap" (or at least not be super-ringy).
1. Tuning: Tune the top heads medium to medium low (not tabletop hard and not totally dead; the kick can be pretty loose and still work). Let the drummer tell you if it's too tight or loose to play comfortably, don't make him adapt too much. The snare may work for you at a higher pitch, but tune the top head lower if necessary. (Do not tune the bottom head of the snare low, keep it firm.)
2. Other setup stuff: Set the snare tension knob tight if the other drums make the snares rattle more than you want. Take the front head off the kick (or use a front head with a big hole) and definitely put a pillow in the kick. You may also have to take the bottom heads off the toms or at least loosen the hell out of them so that they don't resonate much. (We only want to deal with getting the top heads right, because it's simpler, so let's leave the bottom heads more-or-less silent).
3. Muffling: Muffle. A lot. I used to have a plexiglass kit that I actually threw a sheet over. Ringo used "tea towels." Some people use duct tape or moongels. The toms can be very thuddy and still work in the music. The pillow should be enough for the bass drum, move it around to control the ring. The snare could get a wallet taped to it, or a handkerchief over its whole head, or whatever.
4. Tweak. You may have to tweak individual drum lugs, especially if tapping the head near a lug gives a much higher pitch than near the other lugs. However, the heavy muffling should conceal a multitude of sins.
This approach is not neat. It is not pretty. It may make your drums sound like cardboard boxes. But single heads, low tuning, and heavy muffling will eliminate most of the high overtones that can get ugly, yielding a serviceable drum sound. If the drummer keeps good time it should work out fine.
----
After you get past this session, go out and learn how to tune drums for real, per Space Echo's post, etc.. Take your time and you will get there. Bob Gatzen has a drum tuning dvd out that will probably tell you more than you want to know. Some folks like to use the Tension Watch things that Tama (?) makes, to help get even tension around each drum.
"The world don't need no more songs." - Bob Dylan
"Why does the Creator send me such knuckleheads?" - Sun Ra
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"Why does the Creator send me such knuckleheads?" - Sun Ra
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mattwhritenour
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go to the nearest supermarket where they have those machines with all the 50cent toys, and get one of those sticky hands (you know the things that you throw at the wall, they stick then slower climb down) they are great to get rid of some of the nasty overtones on snare and are cheaper and better than moon gels.
I like my gretsch snare drumThis will probably be one of my get-contradicted-19-times posts, like telling people to buy Gretsch snare drums.
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percussion boy
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rhythm ranch
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The Drum Tuning Bible is cool. MSE's post is great, especially the part about taking lots of time and starting over when it's not right.
I am (by far) not a drummer, but in the past year I've really found out how fun it is to play drums. I found a second hand tension watch that's helped somewhat when tuning - it gets me in the ballpark. More than anything, I feel like I'm starting to feel how the drum responds when it's tuned well...like, a nice little bounce back on the toms, maybe a little bit of a sinking-in when hitting the kick, and a "thanks for hitting me, here's your stick back" response from the snare.
For someone raised on cranking loud amps, playing drums can be a really organic thing - like MSE sort of said, the drum kind of tells you when it's right.
I am (by far) not a drummer, but in the past year I've really found out how fun it is to play drums. I found a second hand tension watch that's helped somewhat when tuning - it gets me in the ballpark. More than anything, I feel like I'm starting to feel how the drum responds when it's tuned well...like, a nice little bounce back on the toms, maybe a little bit of a sinking-in when hitting the kick, and a "thanks for hitting me, here's your stick back" response from the snare.
For someone raised on cranking loud amps, playing drums can be a really organic thing - like MSE sort of said, the drum kind of tells you when it's right.
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@?,*???&?
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Or you can just buy a drum dial and be done with it. Keep the bottom resonant heads tuned 3 to 5 pounds tighter than your tops and be sure to keep you tension ratings documented throughout the session.MoreSpaceEcho wrote:if you've never tuned a drum before, it can really be a motherfucker.
don't go into it thinking you can just mess around with it for 15 minutes before you start recording. set aside a couple hours ahead of time and look at as an experiment/learning experience, much less frustrating that way.
put on a pot of coffee.
if you can afford to get all new heads, it's worth it for sure, but no big if you can't. if you do have new heads, make sure the edges of the drum and the rims are clean and free of any debris before you put the heads on. actually, even if you just have the heads that are on there, it won't hurt to take them off and start fresh. so put the head on, get all the lugs finger tight, then go around the lugs with the key and gradually crank the head way up. then do some CPR on the middle of the head to stretch it out and seat it on the rim. if it's a new head, you'll hear the glue cracking and that's fine, it's what you want to happen. do that a bit and then bring the tension on the head almost all the way back down.
then go around the lugs and bring them up a little bit at a time. like a quarter turn at most. rest a finger gently on the middle of the head and tap around the lugs, the idea is to get them all the same pitch, or at least on friendly terms with each other.
if at any point you're doing this and it seems to sound ok, stop and hit the thing for real. if it sounds good, great. don't overthink it, if you try and get it PERFECT you'll almost invariably make it worse. i seem to anyway.
if it doesn't sound right, just keep at it. you'll likely go through a range in the tuning where it sounds totally crazy, you just gotta work through that and get to the good part. as you get closer to the right tension on the drum, really tiny adjustments make a big difference, sometimes you wanna be just nudging the drum key.
if you get to the point where it's obviously too high, just take all the lugs down and start all over, it's way easier than trying to inch it back.
don't crank the snare heads too tight or you'll lose all the body of the drum.
if the drums sound basically good but there's a little bit of a wonky overtone going on, try a little piece of moongel or something, can really help a lot without killing the sustain too much.
don't worry about tuning to specific pitches, it can certainly be done, but basically just try and make it so the drums all sound ok together...i mean you'll know once everything's on the kit if something is not right.
this will sound like hippie bullshit but: let the drum tell you what to do. drums won't really bend to your will, you have to bend to theirs. you can bend the recording of them to yours, but the drums themselves...they are stronger than you are.
anyway definitely spend the time on it, it makes a huge difference in the recording, and it's a good skill to have in general (just wait until you tune a guitar by ear after you've spent a bunch of time tuning drums. you will be a MASTER). i think if you have a well tuned kit and a drummer who hits them correctly, it almost doesn't matter where you put the mics, it's gonna come out ok.
What was that last post about anyway?
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mattwhritenour
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I bought one of those drum dials once, I guess I was doing something wrong cuz it made my drums sound worse, So i tried tunning them just by ear (my first time tunning) and they sounded much better, so i returned the dial and put the money towards new heads@?,*???&? wrote: Or you can just buy a drum dial and be done with it. Keep the bottom resonant heads tuned 3 to 5 pounds tighter than your tops and be sure to keep you tension ratings documented throughout the session.
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oldguitars
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@?,*???&?
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I have been using one now for about 4 years and have had nothing but success. The great thing is being to completely re-head a kit and then get the same tone back because the tensions are exactly matched.mattwhritenour wrote:I bought one of those drum dials once, I guess I was doing something wrong cuz it made my drums sound worse, So i tried tunning them just by ear (my first time tunning) and they sounded much better, so i returned the dial and put the money towards new heads@?,*???&? wrote: Or you can just buy a drum dial and be done with it. Keep the bottom resonant heads tuned 3 to 5 pounds tighter than your tops and be sure to keep you tension ratings documented throughout the session.
There is no way to come close as quickly tuning by ear. In particular with regard to top and bottom head tensions. Considering the level of noobies on this board, I can't condone "going it alone and learning by trial and error trying to tune by ear". Isn't this the era of quick gratification? Make it simple and be done with it.
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