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Quick survey: How do you tune your toms?


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And no I don't mean how do you actually do the tuning. I was wondering how you all have yours set. Do you tune the low and muffle them, or high and let them resonate? Do you tune them to a certain pitch? Or anything in between?

 

Personally, mine are tuned a little high. They aren't tuned to a note but they are all off from each other, maybe a step off. I use coated heads but no muffling so they ring loud and true.

 

I just played a kit tonight that had them tuned very low and almost sounded muffled (nothing wa son them). Sounded like a metal tom setup. Also the bass didn't have a front head on. Don't know why it was like that. Possibly for recording.

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12x10 -

batter- High/Medium

Resonant- Medium/low

 

13x11 -

Batter - Medium

Resonant - Medium/low

 

16x16 -

Batter - Medium/sorta high

Resonant - Low

 

16x14 -

Batter - medium/low

Resonant - Super LOW (as low as the head will go without having ripples in it)

 

Snare - I turn this off once and a while, so Ill count it.

Medium batter, super tight Res'

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Although I do some tuning above this process just to make sure that the drums don't interfere too much, most of the time I just use my Tension Watch and put all of the lugs at the same tension. I haven't recorded anything yet, and my toms sound fine enough as-is for what I do: shows at my high school and local teen center.

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Toms:Bottoms tighter than the batter (batter,more past ripple)

 

Snare batter really cranked up tight

 

Bass drum Front head finger tight and a very, very small turn on the key. Batter finger tight and a 1/2 to 3/4 turn of the drum key

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I just replaced my all of my tom heads, top and bottom. I've got a 10", 12", 14", and 16".

 

Using remo clear emperors on top, and clear ambassadors on the bottoms. I tuned the 16" batter head to the lowest note that produced decent tone (no "fwap" sound, moderate overtones). Then I tuned the bottom head to the same note. Then I figured out what note the 16" produced by punching keys on the piano, and tuned the 10" one octave higher than the 16". Finally, I tuned the 14" and 12" in fifths higher than the 16". In all cases, I try to get the same note on the batter and resonant head.

 

Nice even spread. Plenty of resonance.

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Originally posted by premiumsdrummer

I took Dave Weckl's advice from his video "Back to basics" and tune them just past the ripple. It really lets the drum sing. I think that you really should tune your toms to the way the drum was made, you want the drum to do the work, not some heads.

 

 

 

The way your talking about tuning the drum, actually tunes it an octave below the shell's pitch.

 

 

 

 

Tim

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