Drum tuning

[midiot]

Chris, I was only bringing up the perfect pitch issue because I thought you were saying to tune without a reference. That didn't make sense to me. Guess I misunderstood what you meant.

[squizo]

cgarges has a point with those clear heads....you can see dem ripples.....i've just always loved the resonance from coated heads....okay fine im biased.....
fuck it .....i'm just gonna use ATR-1 and start a virtual "in tune" drum corp super pop group


just kidding
about the ATR-1 anyway

cheater!

[Slider]

IMHO those drum tuners are great for someone just learning to tune a kit (like me last summer). They are nice for at least getting in the ballpark of how it should sound. Your ears have the final say of course and you really do have to experiment and listen to whats going on- don't just follow the instructions and call it good.

One thing I don't understand about people who all totally against drum tuners coming from a guitar/bass players perspective- would you tell someone learning guitar, bass, or any other instrument for that matter "Don't ever use a tuner. Tune each string by ear with absolutely no reference, go with whatever sounds good"? Might work for someone into Sonic Youth but not most people.

The problem is there's no such thing as "in tune" with drums.
In tune is whatever sounds good.
I just tune the fucking thing till it sounds cool.
I don't tap on the sides with a drum key or any of that stuff.
I go by the tension of the lugs, and the tone of the drum.
I've worked on many records with studio drummers where i become the drum tuner cause I get it to sound good.
whatever works.

[squizo]

fuck yeah slider

spoken like a true member of oasis

i tune 'em till they sound good mate.....fuck all

[wing]

these kind of things are so overrated... my advice when it comes to tuning drums: take your time and tune it til it sounds GOOD to your ears, regardless of what note or pitch it matches.

[cactus]

this all sounds like hard work - think i'll just run my snare through a pitch corrector...

[midiot]

thats interesting cactus. I wonder if anyone has ever tried that.

I've spent the last week "attempting" to tune my drums to specific notes. I used a sine wave generator and tried to match each head to the wave. I ended up getting them to pretty much match the tone and did them in 5ths. But once I started playing the kit as a whole, I had to make adjustments. So, I guess I'm leaning more towards the tune them until it sounds good method.