Ableton Forum

Does any body tune their drums using this http://www.drumdial.com/index.html

my drummer old drummer bought one, and he sounded like crap. When my current drummer replaced him, and saw he left his drum dial, he just laughed. I guess to him it's all in your ears and purely subjective. But if you really want your drum heads to be tuned to notes/in-key, then it may work.

No one I know uses such a device.

I have just finished using my Drum Dial to 'check' my batter and resonant skins. Although I was pretty close to the suggested range of membrane tension, I was surprised at what a difference 1/2 a turn made with the key. I tensioned them to my ear first, and then measured them with the dial. I was at times 5-7 'clicks' of the dial out over the range of screws (about 1/2 a turn of the key). When I balanced them within 1 click the pitch didn't change but the tone did. It made each drum crisper. I have yet to look at altering pitch (ever so slightly anyway), but I was very happy with the result. As a fine tuning or last step task in tweaking the skins I am happy to have it as a part of my kit. BTW I paid $70 CDN.

Yes. OWn one, and it greatly helped me LEARN how to tune my kit...I mean, where do you start when you dont know what "correct" is in terms of tone/pitch. I now use it to record tunings I really like. Then, when I change heads it really gets me in the ball park by using the DrumDial. If you are an experienced tuner, it probably wont help much...but for the newcomer its a great starting point.

I've always wondered about this, what do you tune a drum to? I think all I've heard is that you tune a drum to itself so it resonates correctly.

Tone Deft wrote:I've always wondered about this, what do you tune a drum to? I think all I've heard is that you tune a drum to itself so it resonates correctly.

The pitch of the drum is primarily generated by the width and depth, and a very distant 2nd is the tension of the Batter (top skin) and reseonator (bottom skin) assuming they are tight. Snare drum skins are generally tighter than toms. There is also different types of skins that either have a textured coating (think using brushes on snare) and 2 ply (knda like toilet paper. The tension of the skins differ, the batter generally being tighter than the resonator. I tried to use my Korg DT-3 guitar tuner to find some reference point but it didn't work.

I tune one drum in reference to the next (larger or smaller) in line. There is some fine tuning to be had here similar to testing your guitar strings via harmonic's being out of phase. This is where the Drum Dial might shine. Apart from that I think it is personal preference built up over time.

i think you don't need one really, your ear it's good enough to tune your drums, if you really want to go to a specific note you can use a guitar or keyboard to get the reference.

my opinion

Tone Deft wrote:I've always wondered about this, what do you tune a drum to? I think all I've heard is that you tune a drum to itself so it resonates correctly.

Drums usually have a specific range for each piece of the kit. If you look inside a DW shell you will find it is marked with its tuning preference. From there you can usually adjust up or down one note. The timbre and resonance is then adjusted by what kind of skins you choose and how they are adjusted. It is a black art really. I have heard what most people would consider shit kits sound amazing once the right tech touched them and I have heard amazing kits sound like crap after the wrong hands got a hold of it but, I have never seen a drum dial be used by a good tech.

Tone Deft wrote:I've always wondered about this, what do you tune a drum to? I think all I've heard is that you tune a drum to itself so it resonates correctly.

As mentioned above each drum has a 'sweet spot' created by the particular dimensions and material of the drum (& this is the note that DW prints on the inside of their shells). A well made drum with a good bearing edge (where head contacts the shell) should have a tunable range with several 'slightly less sweet' spots above and below the sweet spot where the drum will also sound good and resonate well.

For tuning an individual head the key is to first equalize the tension between all lugs at a loose tension. One slightly higher/lower lug will muddy up the tuning. Once they are equal you can bring them up equally by quarter/half turns until you get it where you want. The press firmly on the center of the head to pull up any slack and equalize the lugs again. This is where the drum dial may help a beginner train their ear. The key is to play with your drums and spend hours tuning, and don't be afraid to adjust tuning as moisture levels change, different rooms, etc.

Having the bottom head tuned the same is probably the best place to start, if its higher than the top the pitch will pull up as it decays (my preference for jazz), lower and the pitch goes down (my preference for reggae & funk).

As far as intervals between toms, some people prefer to use a chord, or tune in fourths/fifths. I prefer tritones or diminished chords so that I'm not implying a distinct tonality that might clash with songs in different keys.

As a final note, if you are trying to tune older/dented drum heads, do yourself a favor and buy new heads; tune new heads very tightly over night at an even tension to seat the head onto the edge, (or you can use a hair drier to do it quickly). then bring them down the next day and tune 'em. If you don't properly seat your new heads they will never contact the bearing edge with even pressure and it may be impossible to get any sort of decent tone out of your drum.

There are several amazingly comprehensive tuning guides online.

very cool stuff gentlemen, thanks!!

I love the areas of expertise around here. I had no clue about all that.

pabloaugustus wrote:

Tone Deft wrote:I've always wondered about this, what do you tune a drum to? I think all I've heard is that you tune a drum to itself so it resonates correctly.

As mentioned above each drum has a 'sweet spot' created by the particular dimensions and material of the drum (& this is the note that DW prints on the inside of their shells). A well made drum with a good bearing edge (where head contacts the shell) should have a tunable range with several 'slightly less sweet' spots above and below the sweet spot where the drum will also sound good and resonate well.

For tuning an individual head the key is to first equalize the tension between all lugs at a loose tension. One slightly higher/lower lug will muddy up the tuning. Once they are equal you can bring them up equally by quarter/half turns until you get it where you want. The press firmly on the center of the head to pull up any slack and equalize the lugs again. This is where the drum dial may help a beginner train their ear. The key is to play with your drums and spend hours tuning, and don't be afraid to adjust tuning as moisture levels change, different rooms, etc.

Having the bottom head tuned the same is probably the best place to start, if its higher than the top the pitch will pull up as it decays (my preference for jazz), lower and the pitch goes down (my preference for reggae & funk).

As far as intervals between toms, some people prefer to use a chord, or tune in fourths/fifths. I prefer tritones or diminished chords so that I'm not implying a distinct tonality that might clash with songs in different keys.

As a final note, if you are trying to tune older/dented drum heads, do yourself a favor and buy new heads; tune new heads very tightly over night at an even tension to seat the head onto the edge, (or you can use a hair drier to do it quickly). then bring them down the next day and tune 'em. If you don't properly seat your new heads they will never contact the bearing edge with even pressure and it may be impossible to get any sort of decent tone out of your drum.

There are several amazingly comprehensive tuning guides online.

Hey, thanks for that, this hack just got educated!