Giving Your Drums a "Tune Job"!!Giving Your Drums a "Tune Job"!!Realizing that this page is well overdue...SORRY...I'm going to try to be as precise and as to the point as possible. I'm certainly not an expert at tuning drums and have always been quite lucky to own drums that seem to tune themselves, naturally. Many of today's drumsets have qualities that are unique to their individual brands and models. These qualities certainly affect the ability to tune the drum in order to produce a specific sound. I have been extremely fortunate in owning drums that produce the quality of sound that I prefer and not much tuning is necessary other than putting the drum head on and tightening.
Qualities such as beveled edges of shells, types of wood used, number of plies per shell, choice of drum heads all contribute to the unique sound of each drum. For many modern day commercial drummers, the open thud sound seems to be the preferred sound. Although jazz drummers prefer, for the most part, the open sound which produces somewhat sustained note qualities, some do prefer a muffled bass drum or, for lack of a better word, one that produces more of a "thud" than a slightly sustained note. For sounds such as "thud" verses "open/sustained", drum batters play a major role. I'll discuss this more in depth a little later.
Famous sayings such as "That Great Gretch Sound" typify what is genuinely true of particular brands of drums. For me, the "Gretch Sound" is the one I have been associated with for years. I have owned many sets of Gretch Drums throughout my career and find that the "Gretch Sound" works best for the style of music that I love.....Jazz. The drum sound is very unique to the Gretch name and it is said that many of the now famous drum lines have copied, although not able to completely duplicate, manufacturing techniques once consistent only with the Gretch name. I find that the older Gretch Drums, pre 70's (round insignia), are the most musical although I own a post 70's set also and find that these work and sound as good as the older ones in many situations.....Jazz Music mainly. For R&B or Funk gigs I use a set of Yamaha drums with a completely different batter setup and slightly larger bass drum..one that produces more of a punch or thud but with a slightly sustained note....gotta hear those notes!
I have been experimenting with different drum batter types for years and, for now anyway, have found the following setups work best for me. For most of my jazz gigs on which I use either a pre 70's set of Gretch (12 & 13" mounted T.T.'s, 14" floor T.T., 14" Snare, 16" B.D.) or a set that was manufactured in the early 70's (slightly different sizes with an 18" B.D.), I use clear Remo Diplomat heads on the bottom of the T.T.'s and Snare and coated Ambassadors on the top. The bottom heads are tensioned slightly more (tighter) than the top (this creates the sustained note on the bottom head)......no muffles in any of the drums except the B.D. Here I use a narrow strip of felt stretched vertically along the inside of the batter head (a Pinstripe Bass Drum Batter Head) and at the point of contact with the beater...slightly above the center. On the front of the Bass Drum, I use a plain old uncoated Bass Drum Head, tensioned slightly tighter than the batter side.
As I tension the heads on the drums, I first tighten the lugs diagonally, at the same time putting pressure on the middle of the head with one fist so as to evenly distribute the tension. By diagonally, I mean slightly tighten one, then slightly tighten the lug directly across the drum...then to the next one to either the right or left and back to the one diagonally across the drum...and so on until you reach the desired sound and tension. Tighten the lugs in small amounts each time, then return back to the first and tighten again in small degrees. Repeat the cycle until you obtain the desired sound. Try to eliminate all loose, flappy sections of the batter head, unless you dig that flappy thud sound. Remember, tighten the bottom heads a little more than the top, and in the same diagonal direction as the top. The bottom head will produce the sustained note as the top will produce the attack of the stick...except of course for the snare drum's bottom head. As you tighten each head, use your ears and make sure that each head is in tonal sync. with each other. By this I mean that both heads, as they resonate, must produce a consonant sound or interval...they must be in tune with each other....kind of like playing a minor second interval on the piano (2 notes directly next to each other..played at the same time) as opposed to a major third (two notes, 4 half steps apart..played at the same time) or unisons (same exact note)...for now, minor 2nds are not cool, major 3rds and unisons are cool..SORRY if I'm getting a little too technical but explaining this is getting harder than I thought.
For funk, rock and roll, and R&B, I use a Yamaha set...20' Bass Drum, different size T.T.'s along with a deeper snare. I use mainly the same tuning technique with these drums as I do with my Gretch, however with different heads..Remo Pinstripe on the Yamaha T.T.'s. It's the sound of the Yamaha drums and heads that produce a great Funk/Rock and Roll/R&B sound. The top heads might be slightly looser then the Gretch but the technique is basically the same.
The drumset sound as a whole is very much left up to the discretion of the individual player. Some like to tune their T.T.'s to specific intervals in respect to each other. I find that my drums tune most naturally in Perfect 4th's to each other...without much effort...Perfect 4th's meaning notes on the piano that are 5 half steps apart....play one note and count up 5 notes...then play these two notes together. These two notes, played together is a Perfect 4th. For those of you that are familiar with the piano keyboard, play a Middle C and F above....this is a Perfect 4th.
I sure hope this helps as I have been asked, many times, about hints on tuning. I really never thought about it much in the past however as I write this article, I realize how hard it is to try explain it in meaningful terms. I would really like your feedback as to how much and if..at all, this makes any sense. Please let me know and as I "Tune Out"...you "Bash On"!!
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