What pitch should I tune my drums to?
A good pitch relationship for the drum heads is to tune the lug pitch of the bottom head a perfect fifth higher than the top head (1.5 times higher in frequency, see Appendix).
What is tone on a drum?
The tone produces a sharper, higher pitched sound and is played by striking the edge of the drum head with the fingers. It is a quick motion to lift the sound up and out of the drum head.
What note should I tune my snare drum to?
For a 6.5″ snare drum, the pitches G – Bb are what you should listen for (Ab – B for a 5″ drum). Using your drum key, tighten each tension rod ONE EVEN HALF TURN always working in opposites across the drum until you come near the pitch. Use a piano or keyboard percussion instrument to help find your pitch.
Should Reso head be tighter than batter?
To a certain point, the tighter the reso head, the more resonance the drum will have. But after that certain point, the drum becomes choked and doesn’t sound too good. If you want to minimize sustain, detune your reso head until you find the sound you want.
Should drums be in Key?
The first thing you’ll need to tune your drums is a drum key. Tightening the tension rods causes the pitch of the drum to go up; loosening the tension rods will lower the pitch. Drum keys can also be used to adjust hardware such as hi-hat stands and kick drum pedals.
Why do drummers put pillows in bass drum?
The bass drum will eventually sound dead and flat – not what you want. The trick is to put a small amount of muffling in there. Try placing one pillow or blanket resting on the bottom of the drum. This way you get bit more control of the air flow, as well as the resonance on the drum head without killing the sound.
Why do drummers tune their drums?
One of the most overlooked and misunderstood aspects of drumming is drum tuning. While drums generally aren’t tuned to specific pitches, they do need to be tuned to produce clear, full tones. Learning how to tune your drum set will make you sound better and encourage you to play more often.
Why does my snare drum sound bad?
If the top and bottom heads tuning is to the same pitch, there will be conflicting harmonics that will make the snare sound bad, have an excessive buzz, or even have a muddy sound as the harmonics cancel each other out. A suggested tuning trick is to tune the bottom skin a perfect fifth higher than the top skin.
Do drums need to be in Key?
Pro tip: Always have your drum key! While it’s not required, some drummers use two drum keys when tuning drum heads so they can tune opposing sides of the head at the same time, giving them equal tension.
Can you use batter heads as resonant heads?
Re: Could you use batter heads on the resonant side of the drum? To answer your question, yes you can use the same head on the reso side as you are using on the batter side.
How tight should Tom heads be?
Tuneful Toms Don’t rush to tighten everything up with a drum key. From finger‑tight, use the key in quarter‑turns. Working your way clockwise around most modern drums should be fine. As with the other drums, the heads of each tom‑tom should be well seated before you start tuning.
What does it mean to tune a drum?
“Drum tuning” does not mean tuning the drum to a pitch like “C” or “D” but rather to the drum’s resonant frequency or a certain tone preferred by the drummer. If the tightness of the head is not uniform, the tone of the drum will change depending on where the drum is struck, and it will be a muddy tone at that.
Why does the tone of a drum change?
If the tightness of the head is not uniform, the tone of the drum will change depending on where the drum is struck, and it will be a muddy tone at that. Thus, the drum head must be tightened so as to produce the same tone when struck in different places. The top head and bottom heads are also tuned to different tensions.
What’s the best way to tune a bass drum?
A lot of factors go into tuning your bass drum such as, the type of heads, use of cut-outs or kick-ports in the resonant head and the type of damping, eg., a pillow in the drum etc. A good starting point is to tune the lug-frequency of the resonant head a perfect fifth (1.5 times) higher in frequency than the batter head.
Which is louder the top or the bottom of the drum?
If both the top and bottom heads are given the same tension, the sustain of the tone is long, but the volume is low. If this condition is changed, however, the drum becomes louder. In addition, if the bottom head is tighter than the top head, it becomes louder, and the tone rings longer.