Drum Tuning

[aqueousi]

Hello there!

I was wondering if anyone can offer a answer to this question.

I know everything about tuning drums but this... what freaking note should I tune them to! Every thing I have read off of google just says something like "oh whatever you think sounds good" but if you are just getting into tuning drums, it's hard to know exactly what you are looking for and when you have found something good.

What I am thinking of doing is getting the samples off of EZ drummer and then trying to match my kit to those.

Any suggestions?

[MetalDave]

It depends on alot of things. What is your snare tuned at? how many toms are you using? what kind of music is being played? Digital drums are so nice for this reason. You can instantly tune the drums different by switching to a different kit. But for the most part they should be tuned in harmony with each other.

[aqueousi]

My snare is not tuned at anything right now, it's completely random as far as I'm concerned haha. I'm using two toms, high tom and low tom.

I like digital drums also, but the problem I have ran into is that you can't really do complex things with them. Such as fluent rolls, complicated fills.. things like that. Most rudiments seem impossible to properly translate using digital drums.

It's funny because I've been playing drums for 3-4 years, but I'm self-taught and thus far have had no experience tuning them. I bought a DrumDial a while back but got rid of it, it did not work like advertised at all.

So again thanks for any help you can offer!

PS: Check out my music at MySpace.com - Ella Lane - Sheboygan, Wisconsin - Pop - www.myspace.com/ellalanemusic to get an idea of what kind of style I am going for.

[MetalDave]

I think the drums should be tuned to sound good when played with other instruments. Go here to read all about tuning drums...
Toms Howie Drumming Web - Tuning

[ferguson66]

My drums are not tuned to any specific note or anything like that. I tune the drums to themselves basically. I run two rack toms and a floor tom. I usually tune them at their lowest point where they resonate very well.

I get the heads just tight enough so there is no distortion and then slowly (16th turns usually) until I get a great resonance. It just turns out that doing this with each tom gives me a good sound relative to each other tom.

If I need a higher sound, I can easily crank em up from there.

[badlight]

I've recently come accross this article. Toms Howie Drumming Web - Tuning It has helped me to better understand tuning drums.

[MetalDave]

Hey badlight, Wow thats amazing! how did you find out about this site? was it maybe 2 replies before yours? Anyways Yeah it is really good to check out.... LOL

[aqueousi]

Hahaha thats hilarious, it must be a damn good site!

[badlight]

Hahaha, damn.

[ferguson66]

Here is another comprehensive drum tuning site. The Drum Tuning Bible.

Drum Tuning Bible