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HOW

TO TUNE

DRUMS
Four Steps To A Better Sound
By Gene Okamoto

HOW TO TUNE DRUMS

ALK TO TEN DIFFERENT DRUMMERS and youll get ten different ways to tune
drums. The reason is that theres actually no wrong or right way to tune a drum,
or right or wrong pitches to tune it to. So the best I can do is share the ways I tune
drums. As the former product manager at Pearl Drums, I would actually use two
methods: Method A is the quick one that I generally use at trade shows when I need to tune
a lot of drums, and I use Method B to tune my own drums. Sometimes I combine the two.
Both methods include four steps: (1) preparation, (2) seating the head, (3) getting the head
in tune with itself, and (4) fine-tuning. Steps 1, 2, and 4 are the same in both methods; only
step 3 is different.
Learning how to tune effectively takes practice, and I recommend practicing on drums
that are relatively easy to tune, such as 10 or 12 six-lug toms. The skills you master from
tuning these drums can be applied to all other drums.

FIG.

FIG.

PREPARATION. Start by removing


all the tension rods on one side of
the drum (FIG. 1), and then remove
the head and counterhoop (the rim
or hoop of the drum).
Especially if youre installing a new head,
check the fit of the head in the counterhoop
(FIG. 2). The head should fit into the counterhoop like a glove or with just a little bit of play.
If you have to force the head into the counterhoop the drum may be difficult to tune and
the sound could be choked.
Put the head on the drum and center it
squarely to the shell. The head should fit loosely on the shell if it fits tightly it might choke
the sound. Mount the counterhoop and center
it to the head. Make sure the head and counterhoop arent lopsided relative to the drum.
Tighten the tension rods with your fingers
to make sure none is cross-threaded. Use the
crisscross pattern in FIG. 3 to ensure that the
head stays square to the drum.

FIG.

3
When the tension rods are finger tight,
switch to your drum key and continue tightening using the same crisscross pattern (FIG. 4).
You may hear cracking noises dont worry,
this is normal.
Periodically tap (FIG. 5) the head
at each tension rod to hear the
progress of your tuning. I like
to softly hit a rimshot with
my finger; however, many
drummers prefer to use a
stick or the end of a drum
key. Whichever method you
prefer, try to hit the head at the
same spot near each tension rod
for consistency.
Tighten the head until all the wrinkles disappear, then tighten it some more until the
pitch is a little higher than what you normally
tune to. Now youre ready to seat the head.
FIG.

SEATING THE HEAD. Tap the


head, and this time memorize
the pitch. Press the center of the
head with the palm of your hand
like youre giving the drum CPR (FIG. 6).
You may once again hear cracking sounds
from the head this is normal. Tap the head
again and compare the pitch you just heard
to the pitch you memorized a second before.
Did the pitch drop noticeably? Are there
wrinkles in the head that werent there a
moment earlier? If you answered
yes to either question, the head
needed seating.
Retighten the head and
remove the wrinkles if any
are present. Press the center
of the head and compare the
pitch again. Repeat until the
pitch drop is minimal and the
wrinkles dont reappear. (When
this is achieved, the head is seated
adequately.) Turn the drum over and seat the
head on the other side.
Be sure to control your strength when
seating heads. If you push too hard you can
FIG.

HOW TO TUNE DRUMS


dent the head or even cause damage to the
drum. Start with light pressure and apply only
enough to do the job.
Its also important to know the strength of
your heads. The thickness of heads is measured in mil; 1mil equals 1,000th of an inch. To
put this in perspective, a typical sandwich bag
is 1mil thick. The thickness of Remos thinnest
head is 2mil, and though Remos material is a
lot stronger than a sandwich bag, its still very
fragile. I recommend seating 2mil, 3mil, 5mil,
and 7.5mil heads by pressing on the counterhoop instead of direct pressure on the head.
Heads that are 10mil and thicker can be
seated with direct palm pressure, but again,
start with light pressure and apply only
enough to do the job.

TUNE THE HEAD TO ITSELF.


Once the heads are seated you
can proceed to the next step and
get each head in tune with itself.
The goal is to get the same pitch all around
the head to achieve a clean tone with the
least amount of annoying overtones.
METHOD A: Tap the head at each tension
rod and listen to the pitches. If the pitches
are the same all around the head, the head
is in tune with itself and youre done with this
head. Chances are, however, some pitches
will be high and others will be low relative to
each other. If they are, do the following:
At each location where the pitches are low,
tighten the tension rods by about an eighth of
a turn. As your tuning skills improve, youll de-

velop a feel for how large or small your adjustments need to be. As you zero-in on the final
pitch, only tiny adjustments are required.
Tighten only the tension rods where the
pitches are low. Dont make any adjustments to the tension rods where the pitches
are high. I normally dont seat the head
when bringing the head up in pitch; however,
it doesnt hurt to do so. I always seat the head
when bringing the head down in pitch.
Tap the head again at each tension rod and
listen to the pitches to see if the head is in tune
with itself. Are the pitches the same? If yes, the
head is in tune with itself. If not, repeat the steps
until the pitch is the same all around the head.
NOTE: The pitch of the head will get higher
and higher as you repeat this process and
the final pitch may be higher than you want.
Well adjust this later.
Turn the drum over and tune the other
head to itself by following the steps previously described.
METHOD B Tuning In Opposites: I
learned this method from a drummer named
George Rutter and it works by lowering the
pitches that are high and raising the pitches
that are low until they meet in the middle at
a common pitch.
As in the example above, tap the head
at each rod and listen to the pitch. Some are
likely to be high and others will be low.
Then loosen the tension rods by about an
eighth of a turn where the pitches are high
and tighten the tension rods by about an
eighth of a turn where the pitches are low.

FINE-TUNING. Once a head is


in tune with itself, you can tune
it to the final pitch. You should
be able to tune the head up or
down and still keep it in tune with itself by
turning the tension rods tighter or looser
by the same amount. An analogy is a zoom
lens on a camera: Once its in focus, you can
zoom in or out and still be in focus. However, its nearly impossible to turn tension
rods with 100-percent accuracy, so it may
be necessary periodically to get the head in
tune with itself.
With two-headed drums, there are only
three ways to ensure that the top and bottom
heads are tuned relative to each other:
1 The two heads can be tuned to the
same pitch.
2 The top head can be tuned tighter
than the bottom.
3 The top head can be tuned looser than
the bottom.
Tuning the top and bottom heads to the
same pitch provides a pure tone and relatively
long sustain. Tuning the bottom head lower
than the top allows you to tune to your drum
low while still maintaining good stick response off the tighter top head. Additionally,
the sound will pitch-drop or growl as the
drum is played harder. Tuning the bottom
head tighter than the top produces a shallower sound and shorter sustain. The sound
will also pitch-drop or growl as the drum is
played harder.

FINE-TUNING TOMS. Now you have the necessary elements to tune all the toms in your
kit. You can tune the smallest one first and
progress to the largest, or tune the largest
drum first and progress to the smallest, or
start in the middle and work your way outward
it doesnt matter. Just remember that each
drum has a range of pitches where it sounds
best, and if you try to force a drum to tune
higher or lower than its range, its sound will
be less than optimal. For example, if you start
with your smallest tom and tune it too low, by
the time you get to your largest tom, the pitch
may be too low for that size. You may need to
get a larger tom or tune all your toms higher.
Take a tom whose heads are seated and
in tune with themselves. Tune the top head
close to the final pitch you desire by raising
or lowering the tension rods as equally as
possible. Tune the bottom head using one of
the three top/bottom head relationships described earlier. Seat either head if necessary.
The most difficult of the three top/bottom
head relationships is tuning both heads to
the same pitch. Tuning in opposites is helpful in this situation. If the top head is higher,
loosen it and tighten the bottom head. If the
top head is lower, tighten it and loosen the
bottom head. Seat the heads and get them in
tune with themselves as necessary. Repeat
this process until the top and bottom heads
are the same pitch.
MOUNT THE TOM TO YOUR KIT. The weight
of the drum on the tom mount may change
the tuning slightly, so compensate according-

HOW TO TUNE DRUMS


ly. To hear the pitches more clearly, I touch
the center of the head lightly with a finger
while tapping the head at each tension rod.
A lot of drummers like to tune their toms
the interval of a fourth apart. If you sing the
Bridal Chorus (Here comes the bride)
the interval between here and comes is
a fourth. Once you have your intervals, try
to get the resonance and sustain to be as
similar as possible so your toms sound like
boom, boom, boom, boom, and not boom,
boom, blat, boom.
Once you find pitches you like, its a good
idea to identify them by using a piano or other pitched instrument and write them down.
This way, you can tune your drums to their
former glory the next time you change heads.
Be aware that drums sound lower as you
move away from them. You may have a killer
sound in the close confines of your garage
but in a real-world situation like in a club or
on stage where your sound has more room
to mature your drums may sound muddy.
If possible, have someone play your kit while
you listen from the audiences perspective
and tune them if needed.
The goal of getting your toms in tune with
themselves is to eliminate annoying overtones so you can play them wide-open without muffling. However, if muffling is needed,
ring type mufflers like Remo RemOs, Evans
E-Rings, and Noble & Cooley ZerOrings are
very effective in reducing or eliminating unwanted overtones. Self-muffled heads such
as Remo Pinstripes, Evans EC2, and Aquarian
Performance II are also excellent.

FIG.

7
FINE-TUNING BASS DRUMS
The bass drum can be tuned the same way
as toms with the same top/bottom tuning
relationships: both heads tuned the same, the
back head tuned tighter than the front, or the
back head tuned lower than the front.
I personally tune the resonator head (front
head) lower than the batter (back head) to get
depth while maintaining good rebound from
the tighter batter head.
Bass drums usually require some sort of
muffling to control sustain, and the simplest
mufflers are pillows or blankets. However, if
you want a cleaner look, visit your favorite
drum store to see and test the wide variety of
self-muffled drumheads and other types of
mufflers that are available.
Its also popular to put a hole (FIG. 7) in the
front head to reduce the amount of boom
and/or to allow a microphone to be put into
the bass drum. As a general rule: the smaller
the hole, the fatter the sound; the bigger the
hole, the flatter the sound.

FINE-TUNING SNARE DRUMS


Put your snare drum on a snare stand. I use
a hose clamp (hardware or auto-parts store
variety) as an improvised memory stop on
my stand to allow the basket to spin like a
turntable for easy access to the tension rods.
Tune the top head to the approximate pitch
you want, get it in tune with itself, and seat it,
if necessary. Like toms and bass drums, you
can tune the bottom head three ways relative
to the top. Most drummers tune the bottom
head tighter than the top; however, experiment with the other two tuning possibilities to
find the one you like best.
Speaking of the bottom head, the bottom
bearing edge on snare drums has two cutouts called snare beds that allow the snares
to lie flat against the head for optimal snare
response. When tuning the snare head, youre
likely to encounter wrinkles at the snare beds
(FIG. 8). There are two schools of thought
on how to deal with them. One school says,
Tune the head to itself, and if you get wrinkles thats okay. Ive heard of symphonic players tuning this way and using a hair dryer to
take the wrinkles out. The other school says,
Tighten the head tighter at the snare beds
and take the wrinkles out even if the head is
not in tune with itself. Both ways are valid,

FIG.

8
however I prefer the second method in order
to take the wrinkles out. Try both options and
see which one works best for you.
I always tune my snare drum to the same
pitches: I tune the snare head to the G
above middle C and the batter head to
the E or F below the G depending
on my mood. I got these pitches from Paul
Yonemura, a good friend and a great drummer who has perfect pitch. While listening to
Ed Shaughnessy and Joe Morello tune their
snare drums, he discovered that both tuned
their snare heads to G and that Morello
tuned his batter head to E and Shaughnessy tuned his batter head to F.
Just for fun, try giving these pitches a try. If they
work, great! If they dont, at least youll have a
starting point to find pitches that you like better.
With careful tuning you should be able to
play your snare drum wide-open. However,
if you need muffling, you can use one of the
ring mufflers mentioned earlier to eliminate
unwanted overtones.

FINAL WORDS. Practice tuning to get proficient and fast, and experiment with different
heads, muffling, and pitch relationships to build a mental encyclopedia of sounds. There
will come a day when a musical director, bandmate, or producer asks you to get a particular sound when he or she does, youll be ready.

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