Drum Tuning:

Fundamentals:
Diameter = Pitch
Depth = Articulation/Resonance
Batter - Feel
Resonant - Tuning
(GENERAL RULE)
Sweet Spot in middle of head, gets smaller with the size of the drum.
Power - Column of air causing resonant head to vibrate
Longer Column - More power required/'fatter' tone
Shorter - Less/More articulate
Head Construction/Concepts:
Coated - Warm/Mellow
Clear - Brighter/Clear
Ebony - Somewhere in between (Warm in Overtones, Bright in attack)
2-ply - Aid in durability and can also limit high pitched overtones
When tuned high can produce some high pitched ringing
Snare Side - Thinner, so can be excited more easily.
Most resonance comes from two heads of the EXACT SAME TYPE
Polymers of equal thickness vibrate reasonably equal to each other at same tension
Thicker Resonant Head - More resonant in lower freqs (greater mass - harder to stop
vibrating)
Thinner Resonant Head - Hollow sounding
Shells:
Thick Shells - heads more responsible for tone
Thin Shells - More of a fundamental tone (Tuning heads to this results in more resonance)
Woods:
Mahogany vs. Maple - More Low end than Maple, Mids/Highs Same
Maple vs. Birch - Birch Less Low End, Increase in Top End

Kick Drum
Hole or not?

Any hole larger than 7 is like having no hole at all.

A 7 hole creates the feel of a one headed kick drum, feeds more beater attack to
the audience and keeps some of the tone of the resonant head. Also easy to
position dampening and mics inside.
A 4 1/2 - 5 hole (or even two such holes offset) allows some relief to rebound of

kick beater, contains more of the drums resonance, so resonant head is more
pronounced in the tuning of the drum. Allows internal muffling to be adjusted and
mics can be placed inside.
No Hole Very resonant, creates more bounce or rebound from beater. Can be
difficult to get the click from. Tone mostly from resonant head.
Tonal Impact of hole

A lot of bass portion comes from the surface are of centre of drum. Works
like a speaker.
Remember pitch is dictated by the tension and the surface area in movement
If you remove a large centre portion you remove a large portion of the head
reinforcement
Thicker heads tend to stay in motion longer, with loose tension they will
vibrate at a lesser rate, which all translates to a lower pitch and resonance.
Solid resonant head warmer, more bass heavy.
Small holes give relief to head but still retain some resonance in front head.
Larger holes, make drum louder and more present out front
So, if you want more acoustic impact from resonant head, create less hole
area.
If total area of holes is less than the area of a 7 hole then there will still be
some resonance in front head.

Pads/Pillows
One pad/pillow 15-20% of BATTER head
Accentuate beater attack.
Tone and sustain linger
One pad/pillow 15-20% of RESONANT head
Beater attack lessened
Tone/sustain develop as short burst of energy followed by bright overtones
One pad pillow 15-20% of BOTH heads:
Beater attack accentuated
Overall volume diminished
tone and sustain more focused
Overtones diminished
One pad pillow 25-30% of BATTER, 15-20% of RESONANT.
Beater attack becomes sharper and accentuated
Overall volume same as above
Tone/sustain become more focused
Overtones all but gone.
Single ply muffled batter head easy to get sharp sound.
One pad pillow 25-30% of BOTH:
Very focused sound, made for close micing (PUNCH)
Beater attack, as sharp as it gets
Sustain short bursts of energy
When listened to without mic sounds dull and lifeless.
Kick Tuning

General points of '(tom) tuning' apply.

Typical Tuning Method is to have the batter head be 'attack' and resonant as
sustain.
For more punch, tune the resonant one or two pitches up from batter.
Plastic/Metal sound use single ply and tune to lowest note and then loosen by
about turn. Hard felt beater without a patch or wooden or plastic beater with
patch works well.
'Fat' kick drum same as fat toms sound. Taking the resonant head and tune to
lowest note and then detune by about a 1/16 th or 1/8th of a turn. Batter head is then
used for pitch.
For a short 'open' burst of resonant tone Evans EQ pads pad moves off and on
to head when hit.
No Pillow or pad? Use strips of felt
Drum off floor as much as possible for more resonance.

Snare Drum:
Snare Head Characteristic:

Batter:
Single Ply, Thin Weight
Very articulate, extremely sensitive, bright, open overtones
Not Very durable
Single Ply, unmuffled/unvented, Medium Weight
All Purpose
Articulate
Take Punishment from all but very heavy hitters.
Single Ply, Muffled or heavy weight
Mellower
Overtones Less Prevalent on Attack
Sustain shorter
Still an element of ring.
Single ply muffled and very 'dry' or 'vented
Sharper, quicker attack, almost void of overtones
Requires careful attention to tuning
Will make midrange of shell stand out, while limiting the low end
2 ply Muffled or wear resistant heads (anything with a 'power dot')
Fast attack
Short sustain
Heavily muffled with an oil barrier:
Dull or Boxy
Hardly any sustain.
Resonant

Thin Weight
Increase snare response, sensitivity and crack
Ghost notes/rolls more articulate
Medium Weight:
More focused and less bright/articulate

Heavy Weight:
Very dry and inarticulate

Tips:
Having the snare stand tight on the drum reduces vibration
As a drummer hits harder crack of the drum or volume of snare does not rise but
pitch can change or perception can change due to more of batter head tone coming
through.
Snare Construction in Brief:
Shell Material

Brass
Sharp edge to sound
Rich in mellow overtones
Steel
Step towards bright
Very bright ring
A lot of body
Longer decay than Brass
Aluminium
Clear, open sounds
Bright, crisp overtones
Bronze
Similar to brass
Similar to wood
Can be loud
Well rounded drum
Copper
Close to Aluminium but warmer
Hammered
Same characteristics of normal metal
Slightly less resonant

Metal Thickness - 1mm are less lower to mid-range resonant than thicker shells (3mm+)
Metal Cast Drums Very loud and resonant due to use of cymbal alloys.
Wood Drums See above
Bearing Edges 45 degrees common, less than that slightly less resonant/darker.
Snare Drum Tuning:
#1: Fat & Wet:
Single ply, medium weight muffled batter
Clear resonant side
Resonant head to lowest pitch
Bring each lug up 1 turn and even out
Tune batter head up to lowest pitch
Then tune up to 3-5 notes higher than highest tom
If resonance is too low tune up in increments of turns

#2: Top 40/Articulate, Not Choked:

Tune up as previous
Tune Batter Head to same pitch
Raise resonant head up about 3 notes

#3 Highly Resonant

Tune up as previous
Single ply medium weight, unmuffled texture coated heads
Either Diplomat Clear or Evans Hazy 300 Snare Side
for warmer but more focused and a bit softer while resonant use Ambassador,
Aquarian Classic or Evans Hazy 300
Tune Batter head to same pitch as resonant
Move Resonant Head up and find point of most resonance

Extra Tuning Guidelines

Tune up through zones like tuning tomes but tune up resonant head rather than
batter
Move in an X pattern opposite lugs (with two keys if possible)
thin snare side heads can be easily knocked out if one side is tuned higher.
Differencial for 'Pop' or 'Fat' tuning of 2-3 notes
Pop: Resonant higher than batter
Fat: Batter Higher than resonant
Can be moved up
Minute changes in pitch phase cancellation
bring out overtones or reduce them
Fat/Wet keep resonant head low pitched regardless of pitch of batter
Articulate/Pop tune resonant head up above batter
Tension of snare bed controls punch
A snare head which is too tight doesn't seat properly against bed.

Snare Unit:
Installation:

Place snare a little off centre opposite release side

Tighten down strings paying attention to it being square to hoop.
Put retainer down but with screw up (as if loosening) and pull to a moderate tension
With strainer now on start to tighten whilst hitting the head, you'll get to a sweet
spot.
Slightest adjustment here can make a huge difference turn in 1/16 turns
5 stages of sound when tightening:
Contact with buzz, sounds a little sloppy
Fewer buzzes and a little dry sounding. Almost like over tightening.
Warmth starts to come out with a nice sort of slap to snares
Becomes more articulate, warmth goes away.
Garbage stage. Extremely tight, choked, void of character. Little to no response

from outer 3 inches of batter head at low volumes. GONE TOO FAR.
Snare Count/Length/Material:

Carbon Steel brighter than Steel brighter than Cable, Synthetic or Gut
Less Curl to wire less volume & more articulate
Wider snares louder & more sensitive
Sometimes so much, sympathetic ringing becomes uncontrollable
Wider snare + thinner one inside FAT/WET sound

Getting rid of buzz/sympathetic Ring:

Retune other drum.
5th between drums reported to be good.
Towel between
Other Tips:

Certain point where snare won't get any louder when hit and crack reduces
Only exciting batter head more more timbale sound comes through.
To keep tone but get warmer less powering snare reduce snare count to 10

(Tom) Tuning
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Remove heads, and eliminate rattles from shell

Set up drum on a absorbent surface
Batter side down, put resonant head on
Tighten Lugs to where contact is just made with the rim then back off a of a turn
Using opposites technique tune up in half turns until 2 full turns are made
Lift shell up and hit, to see if distortion free. If not, tune up in increments until
there is no distortion.
7. Tap about 1.5 from edge of each lug to check pitch and focus in on one resonant
frequency. Once you have chosen a pitch you like, go through and tune other lugs
to that pitch. DON'T EVER TUNE DOWN TO A PITCH! INSTEAD TUNE BELOW
THEN BACK UP TO DESIRED PITCH.
8. Make sure head is seated apply pressure to centre of head, depressing by 1/2
9. With shell off floor, detention the head just to the point of no resonance.
10. Now put an 1/8th of a turn on each lug until you get a distortion free and clear tone.
11. Now like in step 7 even out each lug so they are at the same pitch.
12. Turn shell over and repeat steps 4-11 with the batter head.

(Tom) Fine Tuning

Dialing the drum in. Note: letting the head sit for a couple of hours/overnight will aid in
process.
1. With resonant head facing you, hit once. If have low resonant tone go to step 2. If
not begin tightening in extremely small increments of about 1/16 th turn until you get
that low clear tone. STOP HERE.
2. Do same with the Batter head. STOP THERE
3. Like it or not, this is the lowest the drum will go.
4. Now it's time to go through the tuning zones to get the most out of the drum.
Focusing on the batter head, tune up in small increments of 1/16 th of a turn, hitting

the drum between each turn. Every few rounds of tightening, stop and check the
skin is in turn with itself.
What to expect: Go through phases where the drum will sound good and then
sound bad for a couple of turns, then opens up again. Usually you can do this
for two zones, and then the top head will deaden and produce high
overtones/ring.
5. If you want to go higher, tune up the resonant head in or 1/8 turns, again always
hit drum between each turn and always check the drum is in tune with itself every
few full rounds. Do this until the drum starts to sound dead again, then you can tune
up the top head again another few rounds.
What to expect: You'll experience phases in the tuning where when struck the
drum will have a descending pitch. Some like this and stop. If you continue to
move up in pitch, as you move out of phase you'll reach a point when it evens
out again. The doppler dissapears and the drum sounds open again, this is the
point where both heads are of similar pitch.
6. Beyond this point the drum will go dead again, repeat with the tuning up of the
opposite head.

Tips:

Use muffling devices such as moongel/rings.

If that 'bothers you' can intentionally detune/raise the pitch of one or both head to
give a phase shift.
Tuning your resonant head close to it's lowest pitch and then loosening it ever so
slightly, and then use the batter head to pitch the drum will result in a 'fat,loose and
dark tone'. Note that for a 'fat' tuning the pitch can be somewhat limited.
For more punch or attack, the resonant head is raised in pitch slightly over the
batter head.
For an open, resonant tone the two heads should be tuned to as close as pitch as
possible to each other

Tuning Sequences:

Intervals of 5ths drums sound fuller, bigger, sympathetic tones are complimentary
Intervals of 3rds Drier & thinner.
Lowest/fattest:
Start with lowest floor tom and work up.
'Pop' start with toms and work down. Get rack toms sounding nice.
Don't let kick drum get too low. Work with 5th below lowest floor.

Brief Guide To Cymbals:

Size:
Smaller Quieter, less sustain, respond quicker, DRIER.
Larger Louder, more sustain, respond slower, WETTER/WASHIER
Construction:
Cast
Considered 'superior'

 More Complex sound

Each different sounding
Sheet:
Cut from large sheets
Cheaper
Usually worse quality
However, more uniform sound within models
Alloys:
All cymbals are a bronze variation of Copper and tin
Cheapest B8 8% Tin
brittler (cheaper)
Up to B20 20% Tin
Warmer/more musical quality