Alright, I really need some guidance on tuning. Drumdial gurus might want to help.

Yup, ive read the stickys, googled the articles, and watched a ton of videos and even bought a drum dial... im really, really frustrated with my lack of ability to properly tune my toms. Forgive me, im not a drummer "yet" I have the equipment, have the determination and have the patience... but cant sit down and enjoy practicing with the way my kit sounds right now.

I have a Yamaha Rydeen standard kit. I recently replaced the stock heads with Evans EC2 "coated" batter heads and Evans G1 "clear" resonant heads. I am able to get the toms tuned to each other "I think" but cant quite get the sound im looking for. I love the way these sound on this clip...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8233636570150994214&q=tuning+drums&total=247&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=5

as well as here

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6593320838883000432&q=tuning+drums&total=247&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

in both videos, the toms seem to have a "depth" or punch that no matter the settings ive tried, I cant seem to duplicate. Have I hit a brick wall with the "type" of heads I have or is there something you pros can suggest that might get me close?

As a reference, I have used the following setting on the drum dial...

75 batter/74 res

75 batter/70 res

73 batter/79 res

It seems that no matter the setting I try, I always get sub par results...

Any help is greatly appreciated!

May I offer yet another method because I don't tune with both heads on. It leaves too many overtones going. Here's my method and I've also included Dave Weckl's method as well...

I thought I'd give you some other resources...first my technique and then a link to watch:

Oh yeah, IMO and with my tuning techniques, the bottom head supplies all the pitch. It's where your tone and resonance comes from. The top head supplies the action and feel. You're probably choking your sound instead of letting them sing. Here's how I went about tuning (This is tuning for live, but the pitch is derived the same way. They'll just be muted more for studio...to taste):

You'll want a couple of things for that in your face sound...ring and separation. You'll also need ROUND! Round is open and throaty with a slight downward oscillation, but not too much. This isn't disco any more. I tune (used to tune) my toms at a variety of intervals, depending on how many rack and floors. There was no such thing as a gong drum when I kicked it, so I had to make due with a 16x18 floor to simulate double bass. Usually I used 3 racks on top, a rack and a floor on the side. The racks were tuned in 4ths or 5ths (big separations) and the floor was real close to the bass drum, but more ringy.

Pay particular attention to the "bottom head." By that I mean, set your pitch and tone with the bottom head only. Strangely enough I used a real light bottom head like a clear ambassador head on my toms, but that's not always necessary. Tune the bottom to pitch desired, then bring the top head into tune for feel. You'll hear the entire drum come into tune because the air chamber inside with force both heads to start ringing sympathetically. When it really gets sweet, they'll sound like canons going off. You use the slightest bit of muffling at the rim edges to take out as much overtone as you desire, but leave it in if your playing live. You will achieve the roundest sound like you never heard. And you can tell when they're out of tune because the sound will get less and less the more they stray from the original. Combine that roundness with the big separation and they'll sewar you have a bigger kit than you really do

The way I used to do it was to pull off the batter head, sit the drum in my lap tilted with the head towards me, gently play the bottom head from the outside about 2 inches inward toward the center from each lug, first to get each tension even, then begin to bring the drum to the pitch you want. I let it ring wide open. After I got a pitch and a uniformed sound, I'd flip it over, seat the beating head and rim, hand tighten each lug finger tight, tighten each lug about a full turn or turn or so in a star pattern, play this head the same way about 2 inches inward toward the center from each lug to make sure it seats evenly, and then slowly begin to tighten each lug in a star pattern until I head the drum begin to speak. When it starts to whump (technical term...teehee) and oscillate, you'll definitely hear it. I then muffled to taste, depending on the room acoustics. I guarantee each drum will have it's own sweet spot pitch. And when you get it, and you hear that slight downward oscillation and thud combined, all you can do is sit back and yell like Robin Williams...YEAYAS! Good luck...I hope this helped... I'll leave the snare for another post...

From Dave Weckl:

http://www.onlinedrummer.com/drummer.php?BeatId=526

This is unclear. Do you mean you are able to get both heads of each tom tuned to each other? I assume so since tuning all toms the same doesn't make sense. Also, it would be helpful to tell us what kind of sound you want. Low/high, dead/ringy? Perhaps even more important, tell us what you don't like about the sound you're getting now.

I'll assume you're talking about making each drum sound good; getting a nice interval between the toms is easier.

First, forget the drum dial. Use it later to record readings of the tuning you like in order to replicate it later. You have to listen to the drum to determine whether you've got it the way you like it; there's no drum dial setting for "fat and punchy" or "high and ringy."

Do what the first video told you to do. Raise the drum from finger-tight gradually until you get a real tone. Do both heads at the same time, keeping both at the same pitch. It sometimes helps to lay the drum on its side and strike it alternately on one head and then the other to hear the two pitches. Keep the lug-to-lug tuning trimmed up as you slowly raise the drum in pitch. The last two minutes of the first video show you this. (If you find one head lower than the other one, fine tune the low one lug-to-lug by raising the low ones. That may bring the entire head closer to the higher one.)

Once you have achieved a true pitch with both heads the same, you have found the lowest note the drum will play.

Now keep raising the pitch of both heads equally, in small increments (1/4 turn at each lug). Keep checking that both heads are the same and the drum is pretty good lug-to-lug. Test the sound of the drum at every increment.

Eventually the drum will start to really sing: lots of resonance and sustain. You have entered the resonant zone for that drum.

As you keep raising the pitch of the drum, eventually you reach a point where the resonance lessens drastically and the drum sounds choked. That's too high for that drum and the previous increment is the highest note the drum will play well.

Now go back to a tone you liked along the way. With both heads tuned the same the drum will have its maximum sustain. If you like that, leave it and you're done with that drum. If you'd like less sustain, raise the resonant head in small increments (1/4 turn), keeping the lug-to-lug tuning good, and check out the drum's overall sound at each increment. You'll hear the sustain lessen as you go. Once you hear the sound you want, then you can go around with the drum dial and see what you have. Don't expect the numbers to match--the ear is much more accurate than the drum dial. Record your average reading on each head and use that to get yourself in the ballpark quickly next time you change heads.

The only tricky part of getting the relationship between the drums you want is doing so while still staying in each drum's resonant zone. If you have a "standard" setup like the one in the video (12, 13, 16) this is sometimes difficult: you never want to put a drum outside its resonant zone just to fit the interval you want.

But most drums have a range inside their resonant zone, as you have seen from tuning the first drum. So you may be able to get the same separation between toms, just as in the video.

If you like your floor tom really low and rumbly, start with that drum. Using the method above, tune that drum until it sounds the way you like it. Then move on to the middle tom. Tune it to where you like the sound of it, then compare to the floor tom. Most drummers like about a 4th between toms, you can check with a keyboard or pitch pipe if you like. Otherwise, use your ears. If the middle tom sounds too low to you, raise it a bit. Just stay within its resonant zone. Do the same with the next tom.

Now see if you like how they all sound together. If you'd like them closer together or further apart, make adjustments. Just keep each tom in its resonant zone so they all have the same amount of sustain.