drum tuning

[plishous]

Has anyone Heard of tuning drums to the pitch of the bass & guitar for recordings?

[Whoopysnorp]

I have heard of doing that in a studio setting. I don't think it'd work out quite that way, since most drums you can't just tune to whatever pitch you want; they have certain pitches at which they resonate well and others that don't resonate quite as well. But certainly, if you were doing a studio recording, there's a lot to be said for tuning the drums higher for certain songs and lower for other ones.

[Nubus]

I've totally tuned drums to specific pitches, but not to the key of the song per se. I had a piano by the drums for a while and really like the snare in C, with the toms following some musical relation to that. My friend Todd's bass drum was tuned to G for a while... which came out super cool for our songs cause they gravitated towards that key more often than not....

[dagosto]

I like to tune toms as close to a perfect interval apart as possible. I personally like fourths.

[DreamwaveMusic]

Though I am not a drummer, I am curious, how would I find a drums most natural resonant frequency? Will you get the best tone from a drum that is tuned to reflect its natural resonance. I heard DW drums lists this on their drums or as documentation, so how I could this be found on other drums?

[Whoopysnorp]

I don't think there is much of a way to find that out aside from experimentation--just make gradual changes in the tuning of each head and see which ones give you the richest-sounding tone with the nicer overtones. And remember to always tune up to a note--never tune down to one (much like on stringed instruments).

[clineaudio]

Originally Posted by DreamwaveMusic

Though I am not a drummer, I am curious, how would I find a drums most natural resonant frequency? Will you get the best tone from a drum that is tuned to reflect its natural resonance. I heard DW drums lists this on their drums or as documentation, so how I could this be found on other drums?

It'd be a function of the size of the drum and therefore its resonant pitch. Whether this would be the top head or the bottom head, i'm not sure. Ideas?

[dagosto]

Top head is most important so I start with that one. I will sit the drum on my knee so the bottom head is muted. I will tune the head down until I am sure the lugs are all even in tension and the head is seated properly. I start to tune up very slowly, every one in a while checking the pitch of the head. The point at where the drum starts sound ing good is ussually pretty close is usually the plase where the drum is most comfortable. I usually tune it just slightly up from there so the tension of the head provides good stick response. Bottom head I do the same thing but tune it just slightly high to get a little bit of bend. Or you can do like lukedavo and remove the bottom head.

[Nubus]

Another thing to consider is tuning the drums together as a family. Don't take one tom into the booth to tune it by itself unless you intend to record it alone.

[Whoopysnorp]

Tuning toms a minor third apart tends to work out pretty well, though I usually tune my floor toms as low as I possibly can for an extra-evil amount of rumble.