Drum Tuning - Tuning Bottom Head

[SmallvilleFann1983]

I wish they made an Electric Drum tuner, like for a guitar but for a Drum, that would make it so much easier for people like us that cant do it. I cant read Music eather Im one of thoseassholes Drummers that plays by ear. Im also Self Taught!

[SmallvilleFann1983]

@iSMITH4life - Your not the only one bro. I've been playing Drums for like 10 Years & I still can't do it, LOL! Only its not funny its sad LOL!

[iSMITH4life]

why do i struggle with tuning a frickin drum! jesus i try so many times but it sounds like crap. maybe i should just switch to a guitar..

[kkirstianTetra]

this guy has no idea what hes talking about -_-

[chrisgr00ver]

lol @ dont hit, dont have to change. Heads stretch over time and eventually get to a point where they just wont tune correctly. While this does happen less often for the resonant heads, that doesn't mean you shouldnt change them. The generally accepted rule of thumb is every 3 times you change your batters, change your resos

[clancedrumscovers]

thumbs up for premier drums!

[Lazetar]

SWAT Snare Wire Arrestor & Tuner Drum Muffler Dampener!

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[z2thaanko]

Dad jeans!

[howycwap]

constant vibrations=replacement is needed

bottom head needs to be replaced. not as often as top maybe every 3/4 top heads

[Lazetar]

Revolutionary new way of dampening your snare, "SWAT Snare Wire Arrestor & Tuner", search "SWAT" in "Musical Instruments" category at eBay.com works great! Check it out!

[noble381297]

what do i do to get the vibration out of my snare, if its on a wood floop? put it on carpet?

[dropsykes]

lol thats not 2 finger lengths, that 2 finger widths

[toungh]

i have been playing and tuning my kit for 25 years it took me half of that to perfect tuning, when ever i practice open air my neighbors who live a good distance from my place always comment on how good the sound is and they have way better kits than i(pearl middle class) so its not just gear it is ear and i do not replace my bottom skins ever time i replace the top ones if i had the money then i would just up grade,because i have tuned many top of the line kits for my students it gets eazier.

[ChazFoulstone]

when one of lugs are lower or higher, when i change it,, it changes the ones next to it too... wtf do i do!? :'[

[DISARRAY3]

@ChazFoulstone OF COURSE IT DOES. your making the head tighter. if you want to keep the same pitch, drop the high ones and raise the low ones. one small movement on one lug makes all the change from correct pitch to way out. hint, look into pentatonic scale. any 2 notes in that will make a cord. ex.= f#, c#, Ab, and C#(low) are a base line pitch for 8, 10, 12, and 16 toms. of course every shell is different and you need to bring up or down, but this will yeild a kit that is musical all tomsmatch

[ISk8Emerica7]

you replace the resonance head once every 3 times u replace the batter heads....FACT!

[WhereFaithFalls]

hey retard people prefer a tighter resonant head for a more attack sound and doesnt resonate forever and in my experiences it sounds way better when recording than a super resonant head so dont down that

[DISARRAY3]

@WhereFaithFalls most people use a piece of moon gel in the studio to keep the better shell tone and kill some of the after ring. tuning the reso up will mute the shell. now if you have cheap shells, its ok. but the prefered method is to tune correctly and only dampen depending on recording gear used. most producers i know retune the beginer bands kits wide open with g2 or emporers/g1-ambsadors and start with the smallest piece of dampening to start.

[apsscinc]

nedarb is an old ballsack

[Ineedwords1121]

Tuning drums is such a pain in my ass. I have been playing for over eight years and i still have a problem with it.  AHHHH! lol im gonna start playing piano let somebody else tune my shit... ha ha

[jonnyboulanger]

@Ineedwords1121 tuning a piano is alot harder

[Ineedwords1121]

@jonnyboulanger thats why i said let somebody else tune my shit... dudes get paid to tune pianos.

[jonnyboulanger]

true

[avdrums09]

what if the batter and reso heads have both been used ?? and if i get just a batter head should i replace the reso head >?>

[dontobeay]

if you have been hitting both of them then yes you should replace both of them. you shouldn't been hitting your reso head though. you should change you reso head about every four times you change you batter head.

[TheBlinkisback09]

@dontobeay i think my reso head is great cuz when the guy gave it to me, he didnt realise it was reso cuz i needed batter, and so i was using it for batter and it dented the crap out but i using it now for reso and its great

[Nedarb25]

We are not friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

stop trying because dof the drums and they dont have pitch in my life drums dumb drums dumb drums dumb k?

And speaking of Fargo yort drums suck now in music bcccc they dont have the bottom tom NEmore. Everyone just makes up their. And howlk to ya know drums actually do(n't) have the pitch so you sir have the dumbness in your pooter breein>.

[PanPamoftheCrimson]

@Nedarb25 dude u tune them so they dont sound bad. its not like a guitar. its totaly diff. if ur drum sounds bad. its not in tune. so u tune it. jezz...

[Nedarb25]

You are so unundumb!

Drums don't even exist if you think about it. All drummers just sit and bang on random blocks of wood alllllll day long. How tune wood do you suck....yes...

I cant tune my guitar because all guitar sounds the same like drum....s...

I c

I c

I c

Wow, dude you got some serious porlemos with your my wife.

[Nedarb25]

Why do you even need to tune drums?

Drums have no freaking pitch!

Wow you're all very dumb. ha.

[pilot865]

No my friend, you are very dumb

[raindogred]

@pilot865 Heres the thing- I'm blaming the room, the mics, the 5 lugs toms, the skins as it couldn't possibly be the fact that I just can't and never will be able to tune drums...just came up from my drum room - another 2 hours wasted trying to tune - sound worse than before AND I have a headache-i'm taking up piano accordian - those f#$%ers don't need to be tuned - do they?

[Bryan1659]

fail

[KINGOFCANNABIS105]

@Nedarb25 fucking idiot.

[zeppelinman4232]

@Nedarb25 what's your deal man, tuning drums simply means getting a good tone out of them. You evidently don't play drums so don't act as if you know what you're talking about when you clearly don't have the slightest clue.

[234905780356]

why would you watch this video if you dont even know that?

[evilash1996]

nedarb..you my sir is vedy vedy vedy stupid

[TheJoshua12104]

This guy knows nothing about drums u need to change ur bottom head because it getts as much abuse as the top head while being played

[VegaWgn]

make sure your edges are true!

[KarlToth]

nahh its all wrong.

[ben80s08]

any kind of drum is sweet sounding you just have to learn tuneing to your desire d picth thats all

[samb721]

Personal preference... but Ive done it before, ec2 coated on top and bottom just to experiment, if you like your drums dead, you'll like it. Little to no resonance.

[dud3man6969]

I don't know. I have coated g2s on the batter side now and regualar stock tama heads on the reso side. I was thinking about putting coated ec1s on the reso side but couldn't find them in stock locally. The coated g2s do sound amazing, even with with stock heads on the reso side, but i think the ec1s on the reso side would make it even better. I just got a drum dial and in my opinion it is priceless. I tuned the batter side to 70 and the reso side to 71.

[easye727]

does thi work with every tom? you get good tone and balance with all your toms ?

[dud3man6969]

Yeah, you gotta try it. It's been a long time since I've played. Just got another set a few months ago and it was one of the first things I did. The last kit I had sounded amazing, but it took a lot of messing around with them to get them to sound that good. The drum dial makes it super quick and easy. You just gotta find the settings that you like.

[jpplaysdrums]

aquarian yeah!!!!!

[raindogred]

tuning is a such a black art. it don't matter how many times I watch these vids-when I try to do its such a hit and miss affair as 2 of my toms only have 5 lugs (birch catlina kit). I paid a pro to tune it once and for a short while it was perfect. no matter what I do I can,t get it sounding the way it did-I know because I recorded it when it was in tune. I have played guitar for 30 years and can tune up a guitar in minutes by ear. drums is just infuriating:) don't get me started on the snare:)

[Joes3ff]

amen

[ThEaNtMuRdErEr]

lol

[dud3man6969]

Get a drum dial and start around 70 for the batter side and 71 for the reso side. I can't tune mine without it.

[suburbanriff2009]

Keep practicing, the more you practice, eventually you'll get it. It's like when your learning double bass, you have no idea why you can't do it at first, but after a while it clicks, there is no gradual improvement as such, it just clicks and you wonder how you were ever unable to do it, it's very similar to tuning, you will get it.

[sanamji2]

Mate I don't know if I will ever get it. Its been 5 years since I took up drums and have been home recording for about 15. I have played guitar and harmonica professionally in bands, currently play bass in a band and sing. seriously I fully understand how to tune other instruments and how I just can,t crack the kit I have. think I will try another-cheers

[BeneathTheShadows95]

@raindogred for some reason bro, my snare is the easiest. but i have the same problem with my toms. dont sound like they used to.

[airsoftgunner10]

@raindogred i dont know about the tom drums but the snare if you play rock type music then tune the snare really tight on the top batter head and the bottom head semi tight thats the way i play mine but it is all personal preference

[WoWintosh]

@raindogred

If it takes you minutes to tune up a guitar, as you say, I can see why you're having a hard time tuning drums! AS for me, I am fluent in guitar and drums, and I'm also skilled in the craft of tuning either instrument. I guess I'm in the minority, though

[dripgoss]

I used to use single ply (usually clear) reso heads and either thick or 2 ply batter heads for toms until recently. I found a really great, round sound but with the right amount of sustain and attack by using Remo renaissance emperors on both the top and bottom. I have a 12" Ayotte tom with smooth whith emps on top and bottom also and it's even more chunky.

[silasjones04]

Yea moongel tabs work good. I have some on my drums. Something else that works really well is evans e-rings. I have those on my toms also. Its just thin, clear rings that you put on your toms that take all of the ring out.

[LIGHTRONIX]

I can never tell witch sound to listen for.. there's like 5 different sounds coming out of the tom and I can't tell witch one is the harmonic.

[grotrev]

i reckon there is only 3, the attack, the "tuning sound" and the resonant sound, the tuning sound....the one in the middle of the two is the one to tune to.....it takes a lot of practice but you will get there...

[silasjones04]

Yea it does. Tuning drums is an art in itself.

[jacob952]

My drums sounded like crap when i got them. So i tuned both drums. Then i broke my drum head. So i went out to get a new one and bought remo pinstripe for my toms. i tuned them and took of my resonant head and my drums sound great.

[BYROM3YA]

YOU TOOK OFF THE BOTTOM HEAD ? :S

[atvdavid13]

yeah you can do it, but i dont think it sounds very good, i have a hard time tuning my drums too, so i could see where he got the wierd idea of tuning.

[AcDcDrummerJake1215]

it was popular during the 70's personaly i dont like it

[Pumaphonebook]

im thinking about taking off my bottom head just to experiment but if it doesnt sound good i probably wont be able to get it sounding as good as it does now :S

[BigRooster747]

youre welcome:-)! Headchoice can b demandign esp. on cehaper drums. All has to do with the exactness of the bearing edge. My small sonor s class-pro kit sounds better than my sonrlites. it even has the clear sonor medium heads on it. Maybe its the sound of maple which I prefer to birch? Who knows. Toms sound so much more open with thinner heads. They play easier too.

[BigRooster747]

"Since i dont hit it, it doesnt really need to be replaced"........??? Baloney, the resonant side is most important for tone! It makes a large difference when fitting new head, its false economy to not replace the bottom.

[HowAudioTV]

Great point. Thanks for posting

[ChristianEggers]

@BigRooster747 The point he's trying to make is that because the res head doesn't experience any wear outside of the normal stress from tension, it does not need to be replaced as often as a batter head. You can get a lot of life out of any resonant head as long as you keep it tuned up.

[xFaLLeN28]

@BigRooster747 you did spell "bologna" wrong.

[MikeDrumsForFun]

@BigRooster747 well it depends on what you're going for. If you want a large boomy open sound then every time you replace a batter head get a reso head. I have ad my batter heads for two yrs and reso's for three they still sound fine. And it really doesn't make much of a difference when recording with a mic'd kit.. cuz now adays people edit the sound so much XD haha

[darrylfulton]

how do you get rid of that awful RINGING? It sounds bad in our recording sessions.

[zZmekmekZzDrummerzZ]

duct tape....... or stupid e-rings....... but ive never used e-rings so i have no idea but I dont recomend spending money on a little ring of plastic...

[dud3man6969]

I used to use different types of rings and stuff to dampen the ringing sound. Then one day I decided to go with ebony ambassadors on the reso side just because I thought it would look cool that way. I also used coated ambassadors on the batter side. To my surprise they sounded great. It wasn't a high end kit either. It was a Mapex Mars kit with standard 12, 13, and 16" toms. The only drum I had to dampen after that was the bass and I got a perfect studio sound out of about an $800 kit.

[lordieuan777]

try using the coated ambs. on the reso side. gives a really full, retro sound.

[zash008]

I dont know what the Mars series is made of but I have the Mapex Maple shelled Saturn Pro Series. I used to dampen my drums to help eliminate the "ring" then when I got the Maple shelled Mapex kit they sound so awesome that the ring is a pleasant "tone" resonance, not an annoying ring. the Mapex maple shells sound so good I dont even dampen the bass drum. I tune the bottom heads up "just above wrinkle" and the top heads just high enough to eliminate the thin paper sound. they are awesome!!!!

[pavko48]

yeah maple drums are pretty sweet sounding

[dayoman7]

i wanted to know.. for rock styles, what bottom head would go best with a coated top head...or does it make a difference at all?

[pokerguitar2203]

loved the video, very informative. I bought a tuning dial and I don't agree with the specs. Also when you tune your drums, Which head should I tune first, batter or res head first.

[HowAudioTV]

Personally I go with the bottom head first but will have to do some fine tuning once the batter head is on.

[ricwool]

any one think that them tuners rally work. i don't want to waste me cash. i normal tune by ear .lol

[HowAudioTV]

Don't waste your money.

[avp715]

i tried tuning by ear but it still sounds horrible...

[kickmydrums]

same here

[mat876]

i have the same problem., i bought drums, wasnt very expensive, just £200

and they sound really crap, i was expecting them to sound good, but i was tightening them, and the lugs popped, ive broke about 10 so far, why do they keep ringing and just sound shite

[xamixfnx]

try to tune them the best you can and then add moon gel you can get them for about a fiver

[mat876]

ok thnx bro, ill look it up

[djfireball999]

Get some new skins, the skins that usually come on lower end drum kits are crap. Also get some new lugs and don't over tighten! :)

[shackworth953]

Yea, dont over tighten - the more you tighten, the higher the pitch. When the pitch is raised, the sustain (ringing) lengthens.

Good heads tuned properly will have a pleasant sustain. Good luck

[icantbebothered52]

ur tightenin them way too much, i got a shit set, nd managed to get em to sound awesome.

[mat876]

i know, but i test them every turn each lug, and they still sound bad, i will go with djfireball who suggested getting better skins.... i play guitar , but i would like to get my brothers drums sounding good for a jam, i gave him my drums because they were bad sound, but i will buy skins, thanks tho

[netram888]

i have pearl pro tone drum heads with my new Pearl export and i hate the sound! its terrible! Ive tuned it and still its hell to the ears. can someone help me out? maybe should i buy new drum heads? someone plz message me on youtube!!

[HowAudioTV]

What style of music do you play?

[netram888]

all around really.

[therelicspa]

you got to get new heads man.

[dontbuyscions]

I had a similar kit with the same problem. the thing is they will probably sound worse from the front than the back. heads wont make much of a difference. look into gretsch catalinas.

[xXxhaloitupxXx]

i have the same drum heads. did ur toms keep ringing for a prolonged time when u hit them?

[jsltm888]

Littlecressy,

first off, I wouldn't choke off the drum sound with the tape. No bueno.

And for the deal with your ride, and hi hat/ not being independent from your bass (foot) it's all about developing independence. Personally, I would have you break down the beat in itself. Seperate the parts of it, if it's really troubling you. Just do the snare hand, and the foot. Then the hi hat ride/and then the snare hand. And then the bass, and the hi hat. Then put them all together. Hope I helped ; )

[littlecressy]

hey,wat u do is get gappa tape and stick it over the top head like / \ it works -

ps i am having trouble keepin time on my hi hat and/or ride while drumming, instead of hitting my hi hat like 1 2 3 4 i hit it with wat my bass is doing.... anyone got any pointers/ tips to help.. plz

[misan89]

Try to slow down, concentrate on the coordination. You´ll have to get the movements automatized - muscle memory and get them coordinated.

[littlecressy]

thanks man

[ravenshire43]

Wha? Resonant tighter than batter and you'll lose resonance?? That's exactly backward from the truth. Personally, I tune mine equally tight then back the batter down a bit. Resonance is awesome and that's using plain jane coated Emps on all my tom batters along with coated Amb on my resonants. No damping, gel etc whatsoever. Sorry, just don't agree with this guys assessment of tom tuning. Just my op.

[Babdinho]

Exactly, mate

[Jody2405]

Thanks man, I needed that!

[beatmaster997]

thanks a lot i needed that..!!problem with my toms..

[chromosomesix]

thanks for the info...

[willmanhi1]

wot about taking the bottom head off? cos i taken them off cos it takes away that anoying buzz sound cosim more of a metal / punk drummer

please give me some tips

thanks!

[GNRjungle87]

i've seen queen's drummer do that live, and put the mics under...and it sounds amazing!

[mathcore4400]

it does the smae thing if you tune the bottoms alot tighter then the tops, it gives it more of a "mini" bass sound, sounds kinda like a smaller bass without a damper pillow

[budlover124]

moon gels are teh shit

[TomMSTie]

hell yeah!!!

[i001100i]

Nah man, let your drums breathe!

[surleydrum]

aquarian studio rings work much better than moongels do and they probly work better or the same as any other brand of rings soo just check prices on them

[lambogatti]

i use aquarian too like em allot like the sound

[hoebiee14]

there called moongellies? or you could just tape some shit to your snare, if it sounds like balls: get a new one . if your snare has only 6 machine heads its probably a cheap snare.

[Hellhammer1010]

noongels...the damper moongells are better

[egoegoegoego]

what?

[Germzcsp]

What is that thing called that you used to get the ring out of the snare? And how much do they go for?

[REiGNxFTA]

you can also try using overtone rings, remo and evans makes them, i would suggest these over moongels, as you can take them right off in a second and with out the need to clean them or your drum head

[egoegoegoego]

you can take moongels off the drumhead without really quick then without cleaning the head, too.

[REiGNxFTA]

i ahd a friend the used the moongels and had them on his set for a long time. and were messy to get off

[Skaterdrummerboi]

ok i have no clue wat moongels are but i like Orings they take the ring out real ez and u can take them on and off in less than a second cause they just sit on ur drum and as long as u dont mean to take it off it will stay.

[surleydrum]

moongels are these weird little gel squares that stick to ur drum made by remo i think

thats how studio rings work u just set it on them and it just goes around the rim of the drum

[Pur3p0w3r06]

Moongel is made by RTOM.

[surleydrum]

haha ya i just checked to make sure thnks i guess

[rafauk21]

lovely

TNHX

[sada232]

Yeah, It't alot easier to puncture it...

[Ahmedmagdi]

hey guyz i tuned my drum set really tight n it sounds well, is it possible of causing trouble to drum heads if they were so0o0o tight...for ex being teared ,cut, expanded or somthin ???????????????????? plz help before its so0o late !!!

[mypennis]

nope. check your tuning grid if its rusty, you might think its tight cos its rusty

[Coupesm]

lol funny user name...

[locodrumer]

very exact

[DrumrGrl]

thnx ;)

[DrumrGrl]

what about the top drum head ? lol

[47themovies]

Tune it either exactly to bottom head tension or slightly tighter. Remember that 12", 13", and 16" toms generally have 3 tones in between them. Otherwise a roll will sound less fulfiled and only seem to go half way.

[fujifilmistheshit]

thanks man, helped me alot