My Method For Tuning Heads-What's Yours?

[JeffS]

Hello All,I use a 2 sided stick.Mallet on one end,wood tip on other type.I place my drum on a table,on top of a folded up towel.I make sure that the towel is always showing outside of entire circumference of shell.I put head and hoop on,then finger tighten tension rods,then I place my hands CPR style in middle of head and apply pressure,this helps stretch the head and seat it so it will hold it's tuning better by not loosenig up later from playing.Do this until you hear no more cracks or pops.I repeat this process,tightening tension rods in a criss cross pattern,while tapping with mallet end until I'm getting near the "Note" I want,then I take a pot holder and sit it on head,and switch to wood tip side to find final note.A mallet and the pot holder will feed your ears more of the drum's true sound and helps eliminate overtones and resonance that fools your ears into thinking you've found the sound.I use this method on all my toms and my kick,except for that,I put a blanket on the floor .I've used same tuning-batter and reso tuned alike,and bend tuning=batter and reso tuned a step or so apart.Whichever works best for you.

[PHROGGE]

Dang "Dr Jeff ".....I Had No Idea!!!!! Hahahhahaha
Great Detail Tho....Thxs For Sharing...."MY EARS"
And This Comment Comin From An Old Man
Dat Took 2 Days To Tune A 20"x8" Pearl Rhythm Traveller
Bassdrum Head!!!!!!!!(Aquarian Super Kick 2 On Batter / Black Stock On Front-
I Tuned Da Head From Behind....Walked In Front And Had My Grandkid Stomp
On It;Then Put A Strip Of Felt Underneath Reso Head And Did Da Same Thing....
Dat Lil Baby Boooooooooms!!!!!!!

[pastor_bob]

Thanks for offering your tuning method JeffS. I am always amazed at all the different tuning methods. Since I have both mallets and sticks (and potholders in the kitchen), I will have to give this a whirl the next time I am tuning. Thanks.

[JeffS]

Thank you.The pot holder thing also helps free up your hands to tap and work the tunig key,a really small washcloth will also work on smaller size toms like 8's and 10's,and on floor toms and kick I use more mallet than stick,it let's helps me hear the lows.And I think we have all wrangled someone into stomping on our Kick or whacking some toms while we stood in front and said"Again,Hit it Again!Stomp Harder!I said Harder!!HaHaHa.

[Timactionfigures]

The most important thing is to have equal head tension all the way around. The slightest turn of a lug makes a huge difference. Also the batter and resonant head should be in sync with each other...either tuned the same, or 2 different notes that form a "chord" with each other.

To help filter out over/under tones you can lightly place one finger in the center of the head you are tuning and hit in front of each lug...this brings the note up an octave (easier to hear). Alternating between octaves all the while tuning to the exact same note in front of each lug. When the heads are perfectly in tune, even the cheapest drum should have little to no over/under tones.

[RickyT]

I tune my drums very similar. What's a pot holder? A hot pad? or a clamping devise used to hold a handle less pot?
Years back i saw a Dave Weckl video in which he explains his method of tuning
a drum. Same thing you said as far as finger tightening and then pressing down in the middle of said head while tightening each lug across from each other.
Trying to get the head to be correctly seated around the bearing edges.
I can tune a drum, but i can't tuna fish.

[mainedrummah]

It's like an oven mitt, I think.

This is cool though, I was just messin around tuning my 12" cuz I was bored, and I was sick of the overtones, so I put a washcloth on it. I wondered if anyone else had thought of it before.

[JeffS]

I came up with the pot holder/oven mitt thing because the finger in the middle method requires applying the exact same pressure being applied at a constant rate,which is too inconsistent for my liking,and it ususally won't eliminate all the overtones.My way free's up a hand that can work the tuning key while the other is tapping by lug screws.It also allows you to tap and turn lug screws on opposite sides of shell to even out head tension.It is no different than placing the drum on top of a towel etc. so that you don't hear the bottom.I tune my heads a full step apart in an alternating fashion as follows= 8 inch reso,8"Bat,10" reso,10"Bat etc etc for 12"-16".So when you tap my heads from reso to batter all thru the sizes it forms an equal note scale,in others words I tune my 10" reso to be a step down from my 8" batter etc.My method for checking my tuning is to hit my 8 & 12 simultaneously,then my 10 & 14 etc etc and if they sound like harmonized I good.

[Tam]

Ah, sheesh, I must be real old school, but that's OK. I use a cloth strip, run across the outer rim, tightened by the rim, for dampening. Like said, you'd be surprised at the dampening and tuning effect any old shirt cloth with work for your uppers, or your lower or bass, takes time, it DOES dull the sound, but IMO it deepens the hit, with no change of stick or pedal response.

[JeffS]

I too am old school Tam,I've been playing for 30+ years now,and I remember when duct tape was a drummers best friend.What I sometimes miss is the internal mufflers that drums and snares used to come with,but the manufacturer's,apparently felt they were no longer necessary.The stuff we used to creatively invent to tame our kits sound,are nowadays things that are ready made,just buy and apply.I see you"ve taken the really old school jazz bass drum muffling method,and applied it to your toms.Very Cool.There is no right way,what we do is so personal preference,so many varied sounds to harness and master,but tuning ranks high on the pain in the butt list of drumming skills,and how to do it is strictly on a suggestive take it for what it's worth basis.Plus tuning is relative to the type of drum,drum size,weather,venue,room,musical style,type of head,how hard you hit,coated or clear heads,single ply head,double ply head ,pre-dampened heads.Sound Bend,No Sound Bend-It's enough to give you a migraine-Peace

[Russ]

pitch pipes can also help a bit, or something with a tone you can tune to