Call me stupid, but it truly took me forever to understand "skip one to the right" for the tuning order. For anyone else wondering, it's actually "skip one going counter-clockwise."
4:50 For years I tuned without touching the center of the head, i just tapped near each lug and made adjustments. LAST WEEK I was tuning at practice and had trouble hearing over my band warming up, and I used the finger in the center to focus and as I fine tuned each lug I actually felt the head begin to vibrate more as it got more evenly tensioned. My drums never sounded better to me.
Honesty time, i have never seated my drum head before. This seem like small fixes that will really help improve my overall drum sound. Now I gotta wait till i’m outta work so i can rush home and try some of these tips out!
dont forget about pre-muffled heads like the aquarian studio-x, focus-x, superkick and impact series heads, where you dont need any extra muffling :) (unless you really want to of course)
NOTE: Do not hit the resonant front bass drum head with a stick, you could mark it up or even dent it! Use a mallet or finger tap it. Nice video but just sayin’.
Best tuning video I’ve seen. Lesson for gig drummer... ALWAYS tune your drums. Watch some TH-cam vids. You can always hear those that don’t take that time to tune.
Hey, jordonpolete7381. Thanks so much for your interest. Welcome to the world of drums. As you will find, tuning drums can be a really involved task with so much information out there. My rule of thumb is that the bottom head of the floor tom is ever so slightly tighter than the top batter head. Never tension the drums with a circular motion, meaning going from lug to lug. I would always tune in a star pattern. It’s similar to putting on a wheel when you’re changing the tire on your car. I hope this helps. Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
Hey, Jimmy. It would work the same way. You’d still want to stretch the mylar a bit to seat the drum head. I hope this helps. Jason Thiele, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
@@sweetwater Aquarian Drum heads or Evans G2 coated. Thanks. I need them for my sons DW Acrylic drum kit that we got from you guys like three years ago.
@@jackseddie Hey Eddie, I hope you’re well. That is definitely personal preference. Do you know what music your son is playing? G2 are thicker 2-ply heads suitable for more heavy music. Thanks, Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
I work with real licensed engineers and "engineers" that add the word to their title to sound fancy. Construction engineers, project engineers, real estate engineers, sandwich engineers. Drives me crazy and I'm sure the pro engineers don't appreciate it either.
I want my drums to sing out, but I mostly play sans PA and in small clubs and Art galleries, etc. I've played in a couple venues where the sound guy is taken aback by the room suddenly filling with kick drum woof, lol, but they always seem to EQ it into control without losing the sound of my kit. I have had several opt for only an overhead and a front-placed kick mic. I run into some real artists of sound reinforcement that seem to make it work out. It's like they try to use the PA to make it sound like there is no PA and everything just fills the room perfectly.
Hey, mattdamsel2176. All drums for sure. Especially with the toms, it will be super important. I hope this helps. Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
Well, I appreciate the effort here and I don't mean to be arrogant, I like pretty much everything Sweetwater post here, but no offense, this one is not a good video, or at least it doesn't mean you're tuning like a pro. Pretty basic information and just mechanized steps without getting into deep useful aspects let's say on how we can deal with resonance on toms. If I need more of it what should I do and if I need less, too. Snare side head, you don't necessarily have to crank it up, that can take your snare drum to sound a little higher pitched (or at least promote more overtones than you would want to) not to mention harsher and more reboundable. Bassdrums, head choice, ported or non ported front head, beater rebound, how to get more or less low end out of it, how to get more or less sustain, punch, etc. Anyway, videos like that pop up everyday here in TH-cam and this one doesn't offer any interesting or new information. Just my opinion, but if it helped you somehow, GOOD!
Are Aquarian Heads good? I was going to get Evans G2 coated for my sons DW Acrylic kit but I heard about Aquarian Heads and noticed that they are on the kit you are using to sample. Thanks for some advice.
Hello, Eddie! Both Evans and Aquarian make fantastic heads. You can’t go wrong either way. I’m a drummer myself and recommend looking into the Aquarian Studio-X heads. Super easy to tune up to a nice EQ’d kind of sound and they are incredibly durable. Thanks for the interest! Cody Kraus, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1766, cody_kraus@sweetwater.com
It took me so long to figure out what was going wrong. I thought this video would be very helpful since the snare I use is the exact same one this guy did for this video. But mine always had that "trashy" ring which reminds me of St Anger or Superunknown. But after seeing this, I suppose the shell is supposed to sound like that no matter what?
Late response here but metal shells tend to have a lot of overtone. I have a Ludwig metal shell and when I don't want the ring I throw my wallet on the head. With my setup and my wallet I get almost the perfect tone out of that. You can play around with dampening to get what you're looking for. Not sure if I'm crazy for wanting a metal shell even though I want to eliminate overtone but that's between me and my therapist.
@@dolfinmicro I dig the same sound. I never saw the point in moon gels I figured electrical tape does the same trick. I gave them a try and they soak up so much more of the bad tones than tape with just one and they leave all of the nice tone you want. They are super affective give em a try. I too like a metal snare tuned super high and tight but also dry. Get the articulation of ghost notes and a killer rimshot/backbeat. The "fat snare" sound is so messy to me.
I’m a guitar player, and I just don’t understand why drums don’t have to be tuned to a certain pitch? Are the shells made to be tuned to a certain pitch? Are the drums supposed to be tuned to certain pitches?
Hey, Judd. Thanks for your interest. There have been books written on this topic and it can get pretty deep, Ha! Most of the time you don’t tune the drums to certain pitches. That is totally subjective, though. Most drummers tension the drums to intervals. Terry Bozzio, for example, tunes his drums to pitches. He also has a monster setup and has a drum for every pitch. But generally in modern rock/pop/jazz music, you don’t tune to pitches. Some manufacturers like DW, for example, have a note stamped on the inside of the shell as a reference point. I hope this helps. Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
its chill to be interested in other instruments. i always wanted to be a drummer when i was a kid, started on piano, moved to guitar till junior/senior year of high school, and ive been drumming for like 5 years now
Well what happened if you tune your drum without the pattern? i mean tuning it like, around the drums you know instead of following the numbers like in the video
Hello, Jeff! The answer is definitely subjective. No doubt, drums will go out of tune with enough time. This is especially true if the heads are still relatively new and still stretching rapidly. It also completely depends on your playing style, the heads themselves, the pitch to which you tune your drums and how heavy you hit. Best bet is to trust your ears. Thanks for the interest! Cody Kraus, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1766, cody_kraus@sweetwater.com
I have had trouble with the way my drums have been tuning. I also have a pearl decade kit with Evans g1s for reso and evans ec2s for batter. When I turn the lugs to just finger tight the drum heads are already super high pitched and I’m looking for a low sound. When I get the heads to sound low the lugs fall out because they are so loose. Can someone please help me out with this.
the best tip I can give you is to try and tune the drums evenly until they start sounding good, even though that may be a high note. Once you have reached that point, try to detune one lug on each tom. It works fine for me on some drums.
Ok...you can detune just one lug...so out of 10..you chose the one rite were your stick is goin to hit when playing..thus coming loose quick and detuning lol!! The mind boggles!!
This is a terrible video. It's just vague statements like tighten the snare side tight but not too tight. Well how tight is that? Skip 2 lugs to the right, but he clearly moves left.. He doesn't care too much about how the reso head sounds, only the batter head. I could go on and on. He might as well have said 'turn the keys till you get a sound you like.' Watch Kenny Sharretts videos and you'll begin to get a clue.
About when he says move two the the right but he moves left technically he is still moving right if you rotate the drum it’s just the point of view that makes it seem like he’s moving left
And he said it’s about personal preference it’s not like guitar where it has to be perfect it just needs to be tight enough to where it sounds good to you
You are absolutely wrong. The pitch and tone of the drum absolutely are important. They should not be the same tuning but instead the 10”drum should be half a step higher at E-#if the top string is D. FYI you don’t seat heads that hard. And you adjust the tension a little bit more before you do that. You are running the risk of cracking one of your layers and leaking your liquids. This video made me cringe sooo hard. Watch Jared Falks video. Always some snobby ass drummer coming up with some crazy tuning pattern. By the way change your pattern when you change the number of lugs… Almost feel like you guys should take this video down
I think one earring looks better than two on a male. If a drummer cannot evenly tighten his drum heads until they sounds good, he shouldn't be playing drums.
Call me stupid, but it truly took me forever to understand "skip one to the right" for the tuning order. For anyone else wondering, it's actually "skip one going counter-clockwise."
Thank you.
I wonder why he says quarter turns and make Half turns... Oo?
@@Pleusch He's right in a sense. He rotates the key by 90 degrees which is a quarter of 360 degrees.
That's it!
Ya that took me a bit to finally get what he meant
4:50 For years I tuned without touching the center of the head, i just tapped near each lug and made adjustments. LAST WEEK I was tuning at practice and had trouble hearing over my band warming up, and I used the finger in the center to focus and as I fine tuned each lug I actually felt the head begin to vibrate more as it got more evenly tensioned. My drums never sounded better to me.
Honesty time, i have never seated my drum head before. This seem like small fixes that will really help improve my overall drum sound. Now I gotta wait till i’m outta work so i can rush home and try some of these tips out!
Make sure to do it with a fresh head. Speaking from experience, attempting to re-seat an already broken-in or semi-broken-in head is not fun.
well you're probably out of work now
Papa bless
@@billrobertjoe Lmao🤣🤣🤣
Big thanks for this video. Explained in short and understandable way. That's what i needed
Thank God for this video!!
It's a good starting point
Thanks Mark. Happy Drumming!
dont forget about pre-muffled heads like the aquarian studio-x, focus-x, superkick and impact series heads, where you dont need any extra muffling :) (unless you really want to of course)
NOTE: Do not hit the resonant front bass drum head with a stick, you could mark it up or even dent it! Use a mallet or finger tap it. Nice video but just sayin’.
Thank you for that tip!
That was cringe number three for me lol OL
A hammer works great too
Best tuning video I’ve seen.
Lesson for gig drummer... ALWAYS tune your drums. Watch some TH-cam vids. You can always hear those that don’t take that time to tune.
The visual effects were really helpful so thanks
Just saved my life
Just ordered a bunch of stuff from sweetwater!
Same here
What happened to Nick?! :o
Just got my first kit. Just wondering what is best to quieten the drums so I can practice more and not get complaints.
either towels or buy some remo silentstroke heads, God bless!
Evans soundoff/Remo Silentstroke
Or just use single ply 10 mil heads with dampening rings and no resonant heads
I play my kick finger tightened only, no tighter, sounds best in my opinion with no overtones and resonance, nice quick loud thud. Is that wrong?
If it sounds good to you and your not hurting your kit, seems legit to me!
Very informative video! Thanks!
Don’t tell Simon Phillips to make his drums sound dead live. He gets one of the best live sounds out there….totally wide open.
Super helpful. Thank you for your time.
I'm kind of teaching myself how to do the drums personally haven't had drum lessons! I was curious what is the tuning pattern for a floor tom?
Hey, jordonpolete7381. Thanks so much for your interest. Welcome to the world of drums. As you will find, tuning drums can be a really involved task with so much information out there. My rule of thumb is that the bottom head of the floor tom is ever so slightly tighter than the top batter head. Never tension the drums with a circular motion, meaning going from lug to lug. I would always tune in a star pattern. It’s similar to putting on a wheel when you’re changing the tire on your car.
I hope this helps.
Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
Wow I feel like an idiot... I didn't even know you had to tune drums but it makes perfect sense lol
When you did the snare how many turns in total did you do as you like fast warded it
Very clear video, but what about dampening the opposite head when finetuning?
my childhood best friend had that exact same rug on the wall in his stairwell
Where were you 15 years ago? No one, none of my drum teachers or local music shop back then knew wtf to do. Always use to frustrate me. Thank you
i just bought a set of evans hydraulic heads from you guys, my question is, do i press down on those type of heads before finger tightening them?
Hey, Jimmy. It would work the same way. You’d still want to stretch the mylar a bit to seat the drum head. I hope this helps.
Jason Thiele, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
@@sweetwater Aquarian Drum heads or Evans G2 coated. Thanks. I need them for my sons DW Acrylic drum kit that we got from you guys like three years ago.
@@jackseddie Hey Eddie, I hope you’re well. That is definitely personal preference. Do you know what music your son is playing? G2 are thicker 2-ply heads suitable for more heavy music.
Thanks,
Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
Wow what a lesson
But What the heck is a sales engineer??
I have no idea, but this sales engineer does know how to tune a drum.
I work with real licensed engineers and "engineers" that add the word to their title to sound fancy. Construction engineers, project engineers, real estate engineers, sandwich engineers. Drives me crazy and I'm sure the pro engineers don't appreciate it either.
I want my drums to sing out, but I mostly play sans PA and in small clubs and Art galleries, etc. I've played in a couple venues where the sound guy is taken aback by the room suddenly filling with kick drum woof, lol, but they always seem to EQ it into control without losing the sound of my kit. I have had several opt for only an overhead and a front-placed kick mic. I run into some real artists of sound reinforcement that seem to make it work out. It's like they try to use the PA to make it sound like there is no PA and everything just fills the room perfectly.
for the tom, in the reso head how many turns more should i turn than the batter head
Thanks alot it was really helpful appreciate it
Hey Mate can u help me to tuned my new drum set please
Thank bro for this video
Very helpful thank you!
is it bad that i have a 5 lug tom 1 and tom 2
Skip one to the right is a good album name
2 to 3 is 2 counter-clockwise?
If we start at 1 that would be left correct?
Uh, tuning the reso side lower than the batter will create a pitch bend down, not up.
Does the fine tuning apply to all drums or just snare?
Hey, mattdamsel2176. All drums for sure. Especially with the toms, it will be super important.
I hope this helps.
Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
Well, I appreciate the effort here and I don't mean to be arrogant, I like pretty much everything Sweetwater post here, but no offense, this one is not a good video, or at least it doesn't mean you're tuning like a pro.
Pretty basic information and just mechanized steps without getting into deep useful aspects let's say on how we can deal with resonance on toms. If I need more of it what should I do and if I need less, too. Snare side head, you don't necessarily have to crank it up, that can take your snare drum to sound a little higher pitched (or at least promote more overtones than you would want to) not to mention harsher and more reboundable. Bassdrums, head choice, ported or non ported front head, beater rebound, how to get more or less low end out of it, how to get more or less sustain, punch, etc. Anyway, videos like that pop up everyday here in TH-cam and this one doesn't offer any interesting or new information.
Just my opinion, but if it helped you somehow, GOOD!
Are Aquarian Heads good? I was going to get Evans G2 coated for my sons DW Acrylic kit but I heard about Aquarian Heads and noticed that they are on the kit you are using to sample. Thanks for some advice.
Hello, Eddie! Both Evans and Aquarian make fantastic heads. You can’t go wrong either way. I’m a drummer myself and recommend looking into the Aquarian Studio-X heads. Super easy to tune up to a nice EQ’d kind of sound and they are incredibly durable.
Thanks for the interest!
Cody Kraus, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1766, cody_kraus@sweetwater.com
It took me so long to figure out what was going wrong. I thought this video would be very helpful since the snare I use is the exact same one this guy did for this video. But mine always had that "trashy" ring which reminds me of St Anger or Superunknown. But after seeing this, I suppose the shell is supposed to sound like that no matter what?
Late response here but metal shells tend to have a lot of overtone. I have a Ludwig metal shell and when I don't want the ring I throw my wallet on the head. With my setup and my wallet I get almost the perfect tone out of that. You can play around with dampening to get what you're looking for. Not sure if I'm crazy for wanting a metal shell even though I want to eliminate overtone but that's between me and my therapist.
@@dolfinmicro I dig the same sound. I never saw the point in moon gels I figured electrical tape does the same trick. I gave them a try and they soak up so much more of the bad tones than tape with just one and they leave all of the nice tone you want. They are super affective give em a try. I too like a metal snare tuned super high and tight but also dry. Get the articulation of ghost notes and a killer rimshot/backbeat. The "fat snare" sound is so messy to me.
Everyone knows you don’t tune drums!
Sincerely, the Bass player.
everyone knows bass players are too cheap/broke to change their strings.
sincerely, rest of the band :P
@@jameskirkbydrums damn bruh, you didn't have to roast him that hard.
@@jameskirkbydrums As a bass player, Never have I ever been so offended by something I 100 percent agree with
@@jameskirkbydrums who wants to pay like 20-30 dollars for new strings lmao
This guy must be in a st anger cover band
Mark Johnson
I’m a guitar player, and I just don’t understand why drums don’t have to be tuned to a certain pitch?
Are the shells made to be tuned to a certain pitch? Are the drums supposed to be tuned to certain pitches?
Hey, Judd. Thanks for your interest. There have been books written on this topic and it can get pretty deep, Ha!
Most of the time you don’t tune the drums to certain pitches. That is totally subjective, though. Most drummers tension the drums to intervals. Terry Bozzio, for example, tunes his drums to pitches. He also has a monster setup and has a drum for every pitch. But generally in modern rock/pop/jazz music, you don’t tune to pitches. Some manufacturers like DW, for example, have a note stamped on the inside of the shell as a reference point.
I hope this helps.
Jason Thiele, Senior Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1391, jason_thiele@sweetwater.com
If you think I'm about to put my weight down on a new drum head, you got me f'd up
I am a guitar player. Why am i here?
Kory Hope i wonder the same thing
I’m here because I bought my 4 yr old a tiny drum kit. It came with keys and some heads...
its chill to be interested in other instruments. i always wanted to be a drummer when i was a kid, started on piano, moved to guitar till junior/senior year of high school, and ive been drumming for like 5 years now
Same here but the best guitarists have a decent sense of rhythm and are more than just guitarists lol
That's the power of drums bro 😂
Applause
Well what happened if you tune your drum without the pattern? i mean tuning it like, around the drums you know instead of following the numbers like in the video
It’ll cause one side to have too much pressure
What about the bass drum?
So, are the lugs the tuning points?
Google "anatomy of a drum".
Do you need to seat the bottom heads?
Not on the snare drum ... they are so thin they'll tear.
I‘ve done this and all my toms still make an ugly metallic sound. Any advice?
What Tom’s are they?
@@roccohiggins7756 The mid and hi toms. The heads are Remo’s and the actual cylinder is from Sonor.
didn’t know #SeanPenn worked at #sweetwater🤔
There’s not a tuning device in sight! 🤟👍
5:01 Leaked footage of Lars discovering St Anger drum tone
🔥🔥🔥
how often should you tune your drum heads?
Hello, Jeff! The answer is definitely subjective. No doubt, drums will go out of tune with enough time. This is especially true if the heads are still relatively new and still stretching rapidly. It also completely depends on your playing style, the heads themselves, the pitch to which you tune your drums and how heavy you hit. Best bet is to trust your ears.
Thanks for the interest!
Cody Kraus, Sweetwater Sales Engineer, (800) 222-4700 ext. 1766, cody_kraus@sweetwater.com
My brothers felt the nerve to put a lego piece in the airholes on the sides and I can’t get it out cuz my finger is too big, what should I do?
Needle-nose pliers might work
is that a pillow in the bass drum, there is some black thing inside the drum
I have had trouble with the way my drums have been tuning. I also have a pearl decade kit with Evans g1s for reso and evans ec2s for batter. When I turn the lugs to just finger tight the drum heads are already super high pitched and I’m looking for a low sound. When I get the heads to sound low the lugs fall out because they are so loose. Can someone please help me out with this.
no
the best tip I can give you is to try and tune the drums evenly until they start sounding good, even though that may be a high note. Once you have reached that point, try to detune one lug on each tom. It works fine for me on some drums.
The 9 o’clock lug was flat?
How do you tune a 8 lug snare drum? I'm pretty sure you only covered 10 and 6.
Had no idea to tune the bottom higher than the top
how do you pro tune like a drum though....?
Skip one go to the right as he actually goes to the left in some cases. Very confusing!
Thank you Peter Parker 🧐
This video is as useful as taking a blind girl to a sight seeing date
❤❤❤❤❤
What if the head pops literally 😢?
Find your sound
It didn't work it still has the very annoying g after sound when you hit like a ringing noise :(
Where’s nick?
Do "How to get good tone like a pro" Electric guitar
Your saying go to the right when your going left!
The snare didn't sound in tune at all when you went around each lug.
Are we just going to pretend we didn't stare at the werewolf teeth.
Ok...you can detune just one lug...so out of 10..you chose the one rite were your stick is goin to hit when playing..thus coming loose quick and detuning lol!! The mind boggles!!
as a guitarist I find this extremely cursed
This is a terrible video. It's just vague statements like tighten the snare side tight but not too tight. Well how tight is that? Skip 2 lugs to the right, but he clearly moves left.. He doesn't care too much about how the reso head sounds, only the batter head. I could go on and on. He might as well have said 'turn the keys till you get a sound you like.' Watch Kenny Sharretts videos and you'll begin to get a clue.
About when he says move two the the right but he moves left technically he is still moving right if you rotate the drum it’s just the point of view that makes it seem like he’s moving left
And he said it’s about personal preference it’s not like guitar where it has to be perfect it just needs to be tight enough to where it sounds good to you
Just discovered Kenny. I'm about to give that dude money to help my kit. Tuning drums is a horrible experience . I use to have hair. I'm bald now.
Tom sawyer.
absolutely terrifying
You are absolutely wrong. The pitch and tone of the drum absolutely are important. They should not be the same tuning but instead the 10”drum should be half a step higher at E-#if the top string is D. FYI you don’t seat heads that hard. And you adjust the tension a little bit more before you do that. You are running the risk of cracking one of your layers and leaking your liquids. This video made me cringe sooo hard. Watch Jared Falks video. Always some snobby ass drummer coming up with some crazy tuning pattern. By the way change your pattern when you change the number of lugs… Almost feel like you guys should take this video down
Please get rid of that music! too distracting!
Like a pro??? Lol!
I think one earring looks better than two on a male. If a drummer cannot evenly tighten his drum heads until they sounds good, he shouldn't be playing drums.
what is this critique?