This thread is for people to ask how to achieve a certain drum tunning, or to post how they tune their drums to sound like "x" drums.
If possible, give an example to a specific drum sound from a certain record, or of a certain band. We all get "punch", "woof", "whoomp", "tump", "toobp", etc' differently.
Right now Im pretty much exploring different drum tunings, seeing if I can tune my drums the way my favourite drummers do, and seeking to some other cool sounds.

Right now my toms are tuned so they sound like Michael Dahlquist drums on fire water. My snare sucks and has no snare wires, so I can't speak of it.

My I used to have a pillow inside my kick drum. I tuned the batter side low and fluffy and the resonant side tight. It sounded ok. later on, I tuned the batter side high and the resonant head real low, it was loose as far as I was able to make it loose without having the lugs buzzing. I really liked this one, though it didn't cut through the rest of the kit that well, and I feel it's over dampened because of the pillow. A few days ago, I took the resonant head off, took of the pillow. I thought the sound would suck, having the batter side tuned high and no resonance head. Hell no! this thing sounds the blast, and pretty much have this "big" sound. The batter head is a remo powerstroke with this beater pad.

My rack tom(12") and floor(16") have Remo coated emperors on top and tama's single ply clear head on bottom.

Now im trying to make my toms sound like Todd Trainer's toms.
Im really not a drum expert, and I try to read as much as I can, but the drum tuning bible which everyone is recommending kinda sucks. at least the beginning, whatever it's describing can be understood in at least two ways. maybe I should keep reading it.
My guess is that Trainer's toms have a double ply clear heads on top and a single ply clear head on bottom.
Any ideas how to get this tight toms sound?

anyone else, feel free to contribute to this thread.

eliya

Any ideas how to get this tight toms sound?

tighten them?

i kid. i would bet he uses clear single ply heads but i'm just guessing. i would try a medium tightness on the top heads and as loose on the bottom as you can get without 'ripples'.

i really love his kick sound on the new record, which makes me feel good because i also play a 20" kick. i try to reason with mongoloid drummers how bigger drums do not necessarily=bigger sound, but whatever. they can shoot for that flabby 24" bass drum sound that needs tons of EQ and muffling, i'll be shooting for EIG.

remo muffle rings

For all your Damon Che needs:

-Remo coated Emperor on snare batter (tuned medium-high to very high)
-Emperor Snare Side on snare bottom (tuned very high)
-Coated Emperors on tops of toms (tuned medium low)
-Clear Ambassadors on bottoms of toms (tuned high)
-Coated Emperor on bass drum batter (tuned medium low)
-Evans black on bass drum front (tuned high)
-Pinstripes on Rototoms

(Don't ask me how you get a great medium-pitched TONK out of two snare heads tuned super high.)

skatingbasser wrote:For all your Damon Che needs:

-Remo coated Emperor on snare batter (tuned medium-high to very high)
-Emperor Snare Side on snare bottom (tuned very high)
-Coated Emperors on tops of toms (tuned medium low)
-Clear Ambassadors on bottoms of toms (tuned high)
-Coated Emperor on bass drum batter (tuned medium low)
-Evans black on bass drum front (tuned high)
-Pinstripes on Rototoms

(Don't ask me how you get a great medium-pitched TONK out of two snare heads tuned super high.)

I don't have any damon che needs.

Jeremy wrote:remo muffle rings

don't muffle unless you're recording.

otherwise tune out the more overbearing ring. i can do it and i don't even play drums. use your ears.

knowing a little about music helps. like why they ring in relation to notes, tones, etc.

and putting excessive amounts of shit in a kick drum makes it sound like shit. as does excessive porting or removing the resonator head.

i prefer uncoated single ply heads on everything but the snare.

it's easier to tune them when you have some reference. so having a guitar/bass/keyboard/pitch pipe around is useful. once you get the batter side to where you like it, this makes it a little easier to tune the resonator side as drums are a musical instrument like any other. the 5th, 3rd, octave, unison, are good places. tuning the resonator of the toms a little off unison (sharper or flatter) makes it have that big sustained sound.

snares (to my ears) usually sound best tuned as a chord. so if the batter is root, the resonator as unison, 3rd, 5th, or octave.

i like kick drums like i like the toms. a big boom w/ little sustain. tuning both sides to the same pitch works well for that, if i'm remembering right. it's been awhile.

just use your ears.

that damned fly wrote:

Jeremy wrote:remo muffle rings

don't muffle unless you're recording.

otherwise tune out the more overbearing ring. i can do it and i don't even play drums. use your ears.

knowing a little about music helps. like why they ring in relation to notes, tones, etc.

and putting excessive amounts of shit in a kick drum makes it sound like shit. as does excessive porting or removing the resonator head.

i prefer uncoated single ply heads on everything but the snare.

it's easier to tune them when you have some reference. so having a guitar/bass/keyboard/pitch pipe around is useful. once you get the batter side to where you like it, this makes it a little easier to tune the resonator side as drums are a musical instrument like any other. the 5th, 3rd, octave, unison, are good places. tuning the resonator of the toms a little off unison (sharper or flatter) makes it have that big sustained sound.

snares (to my ears) usually sound best tuned as a chord. so if the batter is root, the resonator as unison, 3rd, 5th, or octave.

i like kick drums like i like the toms. a big boom w/ little sustain. tuning both sides to the same pitch works well for that, if i'm remembering right. it's been awhile.

just use your ears.

NO, I was saying that Todd Trainer uses Remo Muffle rings. They're these retarded foam rings that go inside the head.

When I saw them last, I believe he was using coated ambassadors on his toms (clear ambassadors on the bottoms) and someone mentioned to me he was using the muffle rings which could explain the sound of his toms. Which I do like.

Just to make sure...you have read the Drum Tuning Bible, right? I think it is a pretty valuable resource...it doesn't give tips on how to tune in any specific way, but it does provide a wealth of information on how everything works, and some good guidelines on how to achieve certain sounds.

Here's the link: http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/DTBv3.pdf

Jeremy wrote:NO, I was saying that Todd Trainer uses Remo Muffle rings. They're these retarded foam rings that go inside the head.

When I saw them last, I believe he was using coated ambassadors on his toms (clear ambassadors on the bottoms) and someone mentioned to me he was using the muffle rings which could explain the sound of his toms. Which I do like.

oh. didn't know that. next time maybe say a little more than,

Remo Muffle rings

and we'll know what the hell your talkin' about.

you did clarify, though, so now i know. thanks for the heads up. i still won't use them. i don't play drums.

also, i would like to say, that half of having a good sound is having good sounding shit. the other half is knowing what the fuck you're doing.

i way i found that works for me.

1. drum throne/stool
2. a drum
3. a drum with a broken in head (gtr/bass players strings apply)
4. drum key
5. a drum stick
6. patience

place a snare drum, rack tom, floor tom, or kick on a drum stool... i usually start with the top head, put the resont head on the drum thone/stool. at an equal velocity tap the stick on the drum head (usually 1"-2" from the lug) around the drum head. if the taps sound different, listen to what sounds best to you and what the drum seems good at (incredible varibles...). feel free to tune up or down on lug to get the pitch you want. then, match up the tension of the lugs to the one you like or suits the drum. if the drum has good bearing edges and accurate circumfrance, it will require less labor. once you gt an accurate velocity to pitch, you are getting ground covered.

hope that helps,

hg