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Intervals between drums and the "sweet spot"


hammsterstyle

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the past week or so i've been on a mission to tune my drums as perfectly as possible. i have a new pearl export select kit. i first found the ideal pitch of each drum by knocking on the middle of the shell, and then tuning it to that. i removed the hardware from the drums so the pitch would be altered as little as possible. each drum resonated nicely when they were tuned to these notes. but... what i learned was that it wouldn't really work to tune all the drums to their sweet spot pitch.

 

for example, the ideal pitch for my small rack tom is C, and the large rack tom is A or A# (can't remember which). at first i thought my ears were off, but i asked my girlfriend to attempt to find the pitches, and she came up with the same ones as me. this obviously is not good because i know you want to tune the drums 3rds or 4ths apart. is it just me or is something wrong here? or is this just what i have to live with for buying a relatively inexpensive kit??

 

Pete

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My main thought is to say that every substance has more than one resonant frequency, even though it only has one fundamental pitch. If you can find one of the harmonic frequencies of the drum that works, then go with it.

 

Failing that, the drum might be able to be tuned differently with different heads. Failing that, you may have to live with tuning a drum to a frequency that doesn't have as much resonance.

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Pearl exports aren't timbre matched coming from the factory, so it's not suprising that they aren't evenly spaced (I think DW is the only company that worries about this). It's really not a big deal anyway..

 

Here's the problem: relatively speaking, the 12 and 13 inch toms are very similar in size, and the 16 is not only propotionately bigger in diameter, but in depth as well. It just stands to reason that the shells' "ideal pitches" won't be perfect intervals.

 

Here's what I'd do: tune the 12" to it's "ideal" note. Do the same with the 16". Then ask yourself the following questions:

 

If the answer is "yes" to both questions, then skip ahead to tuning the 13" drum. If you say "no" to either question, make the necessary adjusments (tuning the drums up or down as appropriate) until you're happy.

 

Then go tune the 13" drum. If you're happy with the 12" and 16" toms, use a keyboard to figure out what notes you've tuned them to. Then figure out what note is halfway between the two, and tune the 13" to that note...this will ensure that your intervals are as good as they can be.

 

I wouldn't panic too much if I were you. You're not the only drummer in the world who has dealt with this problem. In the future, you might take this into consideration when you buy drums. For example, a 12", 14", 16" combination is usually easier to tune interval-wise because the 14" is halfway between the two other toms (unlike a 13" that is skewed higher).

 

Bottom line, if you're being this anal about tuning, your drums will sound great. Good luck!

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Originally posted by Old Steve

Pearl exports aren't timbre matched coming from the factory, so it's not suprising that they aren't evenly spaced (I think DW is the only company that worries about this). It's really not a big deal anyway..


Here's the problem: relatively speaking, the 12 and 13 inch toms are very similar in size, and the 16 is not only propotionately bigger in diameter, but in depth as well. It just stands to reason that the shells' "ideal pitches" won't be perfect intervals.


Here's what I'd do: tune the 12" to it's "ideal" note. Do the same with the 16". Then ask yourself the following questions:


If the answer is "yes" to both questions, then skip ahead to tuning the 13" drum. If you say "no" to either question, make the necessary adjusments (tuning the drums up or down as appropriate) until you're happy.


Then go tune the 13" drum. If you're happy with the 12" and 16" toms, use a keyboard to figure out what notes you've tuned them to. Then figure out what note is halfway between the two, and tune the 13" to that note...this will ensure that your intervals are as good as they can be.


I wouldn't panic too much if I were you. You're not the only drummer in the world who has dealt with this problem. In the future, you might take this into consideration when you buy drums. For example, a 12", 14", 16" combination is usually easier to tune interval-wise because the 14" is halfway between the two other toms (unlike a 13" that is skewed higher).


Bottom line, if you're being this anal about tuning, your drums will sound great. Good luck!

 

 

thanks for the advice! I actually did almost exactly what you said. i tuned the 12" tom to C, and based everything around that. I tuned the 16 to the fundamental pitch, and then tuned the middle tom in between the two.

 

the only thing i'm not sure about is the snare. i tuned it to F, if i remember correctly. the reason i did this is because it is a good interval between the next higher drum, and it seemed to resonate nicely.

 

to be totally honest, i am a beginner drummer. i know very little about drums.. but playing guitar and violin has taught me enough to make me realize that i am very anal about stuff like this!

 

i had a hell of a time tuning the bass drum. i did my best to tune each lug evenly, but i still had some spots were there were wrinkles. so what i did was just tune it until basically there were no wrinkles in either had.

 

thanks again for all the help!

 

pete

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I tune my bass drums and snares independently from the toms. With toms, you want a nice interval between the different notes. A snare is a completely different sound, so I don't worry about how it mixes in with the tom intervals.

 

Bass drums are a different animal as well. I imagine some guys would take the intervals from their toms, and just continue it downward to the bass drum. I don't worry about this so much.

 

My band plays mostly pop covers, so the kick needs a nice "thump in the chest" sound, and the snare needs a nice "crack". As a result, I tune my kick as low as I can get it while still getting tone (a quickly decaying 'boooom', not a 'thwap'). I tune my snares up pretty high so they'll cut through the mix, and give me the stick response I like.

 

Like anything, there's no 'written in stone' rules about intervals, or the notes that your snare and bass should be tuned to.

 

If you haven't already, download Professor Sounds Drum Tuning Bible (do a google search for it). Print it out and keep it...it's a fantastic source for tuning info...how to do it, tips and tricks, head selection....I can't say enough positive things about it.

 

All drums, through different heads and tuning methods, can be coaxed to make a wide variety of sounds...none of them are necessarily 'wrong' or 'right'. You just need to farmiliarize yourself with tuning, and then pick the half dozen or so drum sounds you want to use out of the millions that are available to you. Easy, right?

 

Finally, it's great that you have experience on another instrument. I was forced at gunpoint (ok, not quite gunpoint) to take piano lessons as a kid for a couple years and couldn't wait to quit. Luckily, most of what I learned has stuck with me, so even though I'm not an expert on music theory, I can speak somewhat intelligently about it to other musicians, which I think increases my marketability as a drummer/musician rather than just a guy who hits drums.

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