I use Robs method. Quick, easy, and you can do it in a noisy environment. Very important point. If you're on a house kit that sounds awful, with almost zero soundcheck, you can get this done quick.
And to build off what Trey says, this works MUCH better the lower the drum is. It's pretty near perfect for floor toms in most sitches. Rack toms, less universally. Additionally heads past their prime generally need to be tuned a bit higher than fresh ones to have nice tone. IMHO
@Trey Harrell It's not a bass though Tuning to notes in my experience isn't really advisable as it limits you to a certain key straight away and tends to upset bass players, and make recording a nightmare. That's just my experience
@Trey Harrell Definitely all for pitch. I get ocd over it if i'm not careful, That's why Robs method appealed to me, a little fine tuning and i've never been happier with the sound of my kit.
@@paulknight6083 exactly.. I too tune with Robs method and tweek a bit after.. My toms have never sounded better... And I no longer have "Fear of tuning".
I use Rob’s method for gigs and Rick’s method for recording. Those two vids were really helpful as drum tuning used to confound me a bit. If you’re at a gig where you’re using your own drums, you better be able to make tweaks quickly, because drums almost always start the sound check. I’ve played a lot of gigs outdoors in my day, on either drums or bass. If the weather is moist or cold, the tuning you did at home is going to be all over the place. The wood in a drum shell will expand or contract just like the bow in the neck of a bass... and your intonation is toast.
Also, I tend to use Rob Brown's method. It's just quick and easy. From that foundation one can go audibly nuts with tuning; but Rob's method is the foundation. I will tap the shell now however for further tweaking of this process.
Rob Brown's is great if you can't really hit the drums until show time, but in some lighting conditions it's difficult to tell if you the head is wrinkled or not. Also, I"ve found it works better if you do quarter turns rather than tighten all the way until wrinkles are gone on those first ones. Otherwise you might way overtighten one of the first ones and by the time you get to lug 6 or 8 the wrinkles are already gone. This is especially t rue on a house kit with heads that might be pretty beat. I've never missed with Rick Beato's method. In fact, if you use a towel to help you really press on the rim, you can get the batter to tension just with fingers. Then do the same with the reso and give them 1/8 of a turn or maybe 1/4 and your toms will sound great. I used Rob's for years, but for the last year I've used Rick's and I find it more effective, especially with beat heads.
Thanks for another great video! The only thing I would point out is that if you’re tapping the shell to get its fundamental pitch but you haven’t muffled both heads you’re actually going to hear the resonance of the unmuffled head, and not the note of the shell. For whatever it’s worth…
I appreciate you showing all four. It gives me a much deeper thought process to work through as I relearn everything about being a true percussionist. Thanks.
I have seen all those videos when I got my new Pearl drums. You took a great approach in explaining them all and showing the difference. Your videos are always fun and I very often learn something, but I think this was one of your most informative videos.
It was excellent to watch someone who can tune drums perform the different methods popular on YT and show the results. Very helpful to someone who hasn't figured this out yet. Thanks!
Congrats on making a drum tuning video entertaining. I like Rob's method, then tuning the reso higher and making sure the pitch near each lug is reasonably close.
Rick's tuning video is the best for toms imo, he clearly demonstrates how to seat a drum head properly and frankly his video changed the way I start tuning. It's helped a lot, and I've been playing for 30 years.
@@thomashauge4798 and when i say tune to the reso head what i mean is that i get the reso head in tune with itself, then the batter head will inevetibly need to be tuned again. I am not trying to match pitch or anything necessarily. once it sounds like its not so wobbly when im checking i know its pretty close. Really get my drums to "open up" that way.
This was such a great video. Thanks a lot. I'm surprised you didn't include Bob Gatzen's video - I remember his videos were what the whole of TH-cam swore by a few years ago.
I use Rob's method as a starting point. That gets close, but then I tend to lower the pitch of the batter head bit from there, and make sure the reso is higher than the batter. Lastly, I'll even out the lugs on the batter. That tends to get my toms right in their sweet spot. I have a buddy that's a master of tuning drums. I don't think he's ever shared his method, but he has an absolute gift at it and can make any kit sound amazing.
I've used Rob Brown's method a lot. You need to have decent lighting so you can see the wrinkles and, like he said, don't over think it. I used the butt end of a stick to press in the center, which makes the wrinkles appear, then tighten until the wrinkles near the lug you're turning disappear. One thing I would mention is that skins and snare come into play with this also, where the frequency of the tom causes awful 'feedback' on the snare even though they are both tuned fine individually. In that case, you need to tune up a bit on the tom until the feedback is gone (or get a different snare). One last thing is tweaking your sound on the fly by tuning one lug up or down as needed, especially the snare. You can leave a drum key on the lug closest to you while you play and make adjustments quickly, just watch your hand so you don't punch into the key accidentally. :)
I love how dust blew out of your Tom when you pressed down on it lol.. thanks for the video, I've been tweaking my Toms for months now trying to get the right tones.
Your analysis was great, as usual! It's funny, over the last few years, I have stumbled across all 4 of these videos. So it was interesting to see you referenced them. When changed all of my heads recently, I did stretch all of them before I put the rims back on and then after finger tightening them which then required more finger tightening 🙄🤣 One thing I noticed with my Evans EC2s was that trying to break the glue seal on the batters didn't really do anything. I assume that is no longer necessary, at least with those particular heads, but the stretching did give me that comforting popping sound 🙂 Beyond that, I have the bottoms slightly detuned to the top but haven't been thrilled with the result. After watching this, I may go back and try John Good's approach of tuning to the shell pitch although my drums are not DW 🤣 Thanks again for yet another piece of great content!
Nice! Over the years and several teachers, I’ve used a hybrid of all of their approaches! I used robs method on the kick and floor. I find it wicked for larger diameter heads. Then I use the star pattern. Reso heads an octave higher for gigs and as equal as possible for recording. I really dig the John good approach to tone testing. Definitely putting that in my truck bag. Thank you for the awesome video.
The Nolly tuning videos are definitely some of the best out there. Bob Gatzen also had a phenomenal series back in the day that has some really helpful tips and explanations.
Been rolling with John Good’s method circa 1999. It does take practice but years ago he did a video on wood types and sounds expected from those woods, cross tuning versus circle tuning, head choices and sounds, head tunings (match, Upper Hi - Bottom Lo and vice versa), and pair woods together to make the entire kit ‘sing’. Good was my authority on ‘drum sound’ while in college. Dude knows his stuff.
Another great video. I admire how you dig so deeply and scientifically into drumming problems. The effect of the cranked up single ply resonant head with the Emperor skin on the batter did sound great. This idea (minus the exact minor third pitch I think) is something I have heard in relation to John Bonham (via Bonham's drum tech's video, and I think it reportedly came from the old big band players). As Rick Beato is a bit of an acknowledged authority on the Bonham 'sound' I am not surprised he does something similar. I have just never heard of it as working because of the difference in actual pitch between single ply and double ply heads. I wonder if the old calf skin players from the big band days perhaps had the same kind of difference in thickness between resonant and batter skins.
I just got first acoustic set 3 months ago and I've been learning to tune them. It has been a journey, but I didn't stop until they sounded good-and dam it was worth it. Just takes determination and practice and my ears hear things I didn't 3 months ago.
John Goode taught me and another guy in the Sam Ash in Margate, FL how to tune after hours in '96. He had just stopped by and told a great Terry Bozzio story re the new F.A.S.T. toms and showed me how to really tune. Great guy, MASTER salesman.
Great video Nate. I have to cast another vote for Kenny Sharretts. I think you would enjoy his suggestions. As a drum tech he’s thorough, quick, and clear on drum tuning.
Some time ago I got my first fresh new drum kit, and I went with Rob´s approach to get the drums somewhere near the final tuning, then I just modified slightly by ear until where I liked them. But Rob´s method got me 90% of the way there.
Rob’s is my favorite tuning method...2009 Gretsch Catalina Jazz. As he taught us, don’t even listen to them, just get the wrinkles out, and let them sing. His kick drum lesson is the best of all, no dampening needed. Vic Firth pillows are all gone, band members actually noticed the improvement. My bassist said the kick drum sounded like a CD.
I have removed all the bottom sheets, and tightened the top sheets so that I think they sound good. I got rid of that hassle with two sheets 40 years ago. It is nice to see how many problems the two-sheet system causes. Nice video, really funny.
Kenny Sharretts is the tuning wizard. I love his channel. He has by far the best info on drum tuning around. That being said, if you don't want to get super in the weeds, the Rob Brown method is wonderful in its simplicity. I If I'm not recording but just need a quick tom sound that just works I start with Rob's method.
I learned the technique Rob Brown uses from my junior high school band teacher back in 1968. And he was a clarinetist! It has served me well to this day.
I was taught to tune very similar to Rick Beato. I then saw the Rob Brown method and, while it doesn't get you tuned in as much as Beato, it's GREAT for when you're using a house kit.
Started tuning all my drums like Rob Brown does and I'm able to get all my toms tuned within 30-45 minutes...about 5 minutes on each drums. That's de-tuning, finger tightning, using the wrinkle technique on both heads. Where as before I was using the Tune-Bot to pitch tune my drums and it would take me close to half the day to tune all 6 drums. The Rob Brown method has saved me tons of time and my drums sound great! If I want to move the tuning I just go a quarter turn on both heads till I like the pitch of it. Rob Brown's method is the simplest and best method in my opinion! He's even made a video about why tuning toms to specific notes is a SILLY idea and it makes sense.
Don't forget that Rick's method is geared to Remo heads. Remo is the only company that still uses glue. The break in method is specific to that type of head. Both Evans and Aquarian use a different manufacturing technique and both tell you that you >don't< need to perform this step. Try "Sounds Like A Drum" next time. Cody does a very thorough job and showing the viewer great techniques for tuning their drums.
I have a pesky 13" about the size of your drum. Surprisingly difficult to get it tuned and sounding good! The last drum tuning you had was the best, by a long way I thought :)
One method I tried that worked wonderfully came from the channel Drummers Review, where the previous host of the show, Adam Nolly Getgood, showcases a tuning trick in which you can pitch-tune your toms by going a semitone lower than the desired pitch on the batter head and three semitones lower on the reso head. I tried it on a Mapex Mars and it sounded KILLER.
Cool vid. My first drum teacher showed me a kinda cheat method for tuning your toms to notes before I had any ear for tuning. Get even tension on the skins and then hold them up to a keyboard speaker. I had a keyboard at the time. Mute one skin at a time and then play some notes on your keyboard. What ever note makes the skin resonate the loudest is the note the the skin is tuned to. You have to listen carefully. The keyboard will be load and the drum vibration soft. Tune accordingly. For 3 toms I used to like A, E, A for rock drums. Im lazy now so I just do it by ear and maybe better results. When I was starting out it was a great way to get a decent sound when I had no ear for tuning. Outside of a recording situation I've always thought that a good drummer can make anything sound good. Style dependent of course.
I feel the purpose of Rob’s tuning is to give you a good general area of tune. It’s for you to get it exactly where you want to after. Basically a good defined starting point
Another great one, man, THANKS!! 💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥💨💨💨🍺🍺🍺🤟🤟🤟 I got sick of the games years ago and now I just start with 1/2-turn on reso and a Full-turn on the batter and tune from there.... usually I don't have to 😁 Also interesting..... on my DW Acrylic kit, I use CS Blackdots on batter, and i took the stock DW/Remo Emperor batters and use them as resos. I get a fuller, boomier sound. BOOM! And I got a set of DW/Remo Ambassadors as spares 💥💥💥
Hey great video thanks for putting this together! I’d love to see lots of techniques put together of Snare tunings, I’ve been dealing with a vintage Ludwig snare that I just can’t seemingly get to sound good.
They all work. I use them all. Never tried the Reso lower. Never tried listening to the shell. I've found Dave Weckl's method effective ... heads minor 3rd apart ( lullaby ) works well on the Rack toms. With the floors sometimes it won't land on a minor 3rd apart, I just find a nice low tone where the bottom is always higher. Sometimes there is a compromise or your floors will sound too muddy. I also always go for intervals between the toms. It pays to know pitches by ear using a phone pitch tone generator app. Tuning close to notes and intervals really works. You don't have to choose just one method. You can combine them all. Experiment and see what works for you. They also work on old heads. Observations. Jarod's sounded best pitched in the middle...hey he did it in the Drumeo Studio. Rob's drums always sound kinda low and dead to me but that's his sound and room . Rick's demo sounded kinda high and tight. He likes the Bonham sound. i think he's into same pitched heads or close. John tunes DW's REALLY high. On the virge of choking but the DW's seem unchokable. His drum sound was the clearest. I use Rob's to get in the ball park. Then raise the pitch, fine tune the lugs. Get em a minor 3rd apart. And go for a call to Post interval between the toms. I wish i could say .... just tune everything by ear and the notes don't matter. But to me doing so only took a longer time tuning drums. Very frustrating. When I started tuning to notes and intervals it all began to make musical sense and my drums sounded a lot better. Dave rules! It worked on a PDP EZ series, a Sonor Force 2001 and a Yamaha PHX I have set up at home. Drum tuning can be as simple as you want or as complex as Voodoo. I prefer to learn some of that black magic. It's more rewarding to hear the drum sound good tuned, knowing you can can always do it again. Just do it the way you want. The best method is the one that works for you. Cheers
Weckl said when tuning toms. He turned them all the way up high to stretch the head top and bottom. Then detune both the top and bottom heads to the same pitch, and adjust as needed. Its worked for me, for almost any kit I've played on live or personal
I've been doing that for decades. I think it was my teacher when I was in grade school that mentioned that. It's really one of the best ways to seat a new head. I will usually let them sit that way for a while, sometimes overnight but at least for about an hour minimum. But this is only after having finger tightened, tuning in a star pattern and making sure the head is in tune with itself the whole time as I continue to raise the pitch. And I only raise each tension rod a half turn each time. I found that using full turns really throws the even tensioning off. When backing the pitch back down after it's seated I take a cue from guitarists. I first go just a bit lower than where I want it and tune up to the pitch and I've heard guys like Weckl say the same thing. I don't know the physics behind it but the head has less chance of slipping down in pitch after you tune up to where you intend. I've tried other approaches even removing all of the hardware on my old Gretsch kit to find the note of the shell as John Good described in an old Modern Drummer interview. That was ok but I didn't care for the actual pitch distribution. On a 2 up 2 down configuration I ended up having to pitch the higher toms somewhat higher. But I found with that method that staying within about a minor third of the shell pitch was about the optimum. Beyond that the resonance tended to be reduced.
@@garydonnelly100 I'm not so sure on the note of the shell, I wish I was that good. However, when I'm tuning I sometimes do not know the exact sound I am looking for, because of how the sound hits a room. When I would get that right tone though it just feels and sounds right.
I liked the more muted sound that the Rob's method produced. Since was the easier of the bunch looks like we have a winner here. Also, great video Nate,very fun to watch and instructive.
I like the Rob Brown method and tweak from there. I use 3 rack Toms and 2 floor Toms. Med. low tuning open. The notes sing high to low beautifully. Also, Gretsch all the way. 😎
I set my head's on the drum, push down until I hear that wonderful snap, and then use the star method for tuning the lugs. My reso is always a minor third above the batter head.
I like Rob's method for quickly getting a decent sound when replacing heads. But I recently saw a video(I think from Inde Drums) that brings up a great point about using 2 keys. So, I put a 5lb weight in the center of the head and then use Rob's wrinkle theory using 2 keys across from each other. Worked like a charm on a buddy's 1985 Swingstar kit with clear G2's. I'm going to see how it works on my Pearl SSC's when I change from UV-1's to UV-2's
@@BeesWaxMinder It works well to get a decent starting point. Depending on the drum, it may be all you need. I currently have one drum that appears to be slightly out of round. Every head I tried(4 Evans, 3 Remos) wants to kink a little at the same spot and it seems like the lugs at that point are more resistant to turning. I may resort to bearing edge trimming.
@@zacdrake Thanks for replying! I shall certainly give it a go (for what it’s worth- IF that drum sounds good, then I would live with it’s wrinkle if I were you…)
I have a 13x9 classic maple tom and have no problem tuning it because of its “odd size”. After many years of playing and tuning, I pretty much know where a drum’s sweet spot falls and I’ve quantified it through the use of a pitch pipe. For a good rock tuning that is open and powerful, a 13” tom emperor batter head sounds great around an F. I too tune the clear ambassador resonant head higher, about a whole step to a minor third. The drum sounds best there to my ears, not necessarily because it’s a minor third. That just happens to work out well most of the time. You can certainly tune it any way you want, but for me, getting the heads in tune with themselves to reduce weird overtones, and then having a complimentary relationship between top and bottom heads seems to be the ticket.
TAMA Tension Watch is quick and sure. Instruction provides decent guide to relate top and bottom, tightens each lug based upon precise indication of surface tension. Works.
The method that works best seems connected to the drum itself. I have two kits, on my Starclassic B/B with super shallow toms (10x6.5/12x7) and a clear 2 ply batter/1 ply reso they seem to prefer being pretty darn close in pitch. On my Ludwig club date the 12x8 works great with the 3rd interval. Floor toms do seem to universally tend towards being at the bottom of their possible range tho Bob Gatzen's cross-tuning method is helpful for ironing out weird disparities between lugs. The biggest takeaway I had from his guide was that each tension rod is paired with the rod directly across the drum. Keeping the same amount of tension on opposite rods throughout the process makes it a lot less of a headache.
Rob Brown. Quick ,simple, realistic If your at a gig and change a head or just want to retune. Get the wrinkles out , done . His snare and bass drum tuning videos are different then toms .
I've used all the videos in the past and the methods they employ. All get you to a usable sound. The problem is that if you have too many toms like i do (3 rack, 2 floor), its the relationship the toms have to each other that gets maddening! The Rob Brown method is totally fine if all you have is a rack and a floor but I find it gets too all over the place for my kit. The John Good method may get you a good sound too, individually, but you'd have to have shells that naturally fall into a pleasing set of intervals. The Jared method doesn't ever get me a good sound but others have said it works for them. The Rick Beato method is very time consuming but I've had the best luck with it.
Not to say that all of these guys don't know their craft but THE man on drum tuning on TH-cam is Kenny Sharretts, All drummers who feel they suck at tuning (i AM one of them) should study his videos and his methods. The guy does this thing for a living btw, he is Lil' John Roberts tech, among many others!
Great video! Rob Brown's down and dirty method has never let me down for it's simplicity and utility. You can use it in tight situations where you don't know the drums - say at a backyard jam, club or neighbor's garage - and whip them into listenable shape fast and in less than ideal conditions--like with a lot of background music/noise. Anything after that is sonic icing on the tuning cake...
I understand wanting to just use your own sensibilities to tune a drum, but man...I swear by the Tunebot. Its created tom sounds that I've spent MONTHS trying to figure out. Its a great tool for any drum.
Rob Brown's video is what I always point people to. I also recommend strongly that they buy a Drum Dial. While you should always attempt to tune by ear first, it's great to have a tool which can measure tympanic pressure at each lug. Of course, that's presuming your drum is in round and the bearing edges are level...not by any means a given. If the drum isn't true, then all bets are off.
I too use Rob's tuning method and after I tune both heads I go back over them with a Tune-Bot to make sure both heads are at the same pitch, rather than just very close. This method works well, but if you are in a noisy envirement then I'd definitely try Rob's method with a DrumDial(I also have one of those too)
If tried Jarred's and John's methods and I got ok to decent results. As much as I practiced tuning there was still something off about the drums tuning. Then I found Rob's video and it changed the game. Easy and fast and now my cheap ass drums sound way better. The other advantage of Rob's method is you don't need to hear the drum. You can tune in a loud environment or out side before a gig (If or when will be able to gig again) With the safety net of knowing your drums will sound good. If you want a higher tuning just turn each tension rod the same amount top and bottom. I use Rob's method all the time and it never fails. They are all great tuning videos and it what ever method that works for you. Its more about knowing your drums and applying the right method to make them sing.
My tecnique is a mixture of Rick Beato and John Good, for me I like to know the basic note of the drum shell without a head on and work toward getting close to that with the heads. They then sing!
I've used all of these techniques at one point or another, and for the "best" sound, I have to go with Rick Beato's method, which is also the way Todd Sucherman teaches how to tune.
I use a method similar to Rob Brown's - after I saw how Simon Phillips tuned his bass drums on an older VHS tape I applied the same method on my toms as well, without jumping on the heads though like he does with his bass heads.
I do Rob Browns method. I SUCK at tuning drums. I've always found the process tedious and frustrating. Using his method put an end to that and my drums now sound awesome.
My method is similar to Rick Beato's. I usually start with the reso head, but it doesn't really matter that much, as both heads get adjusted later on. I press down on the hoop, but I do not rely on finger-tightening as a starting point, as that only works if you know the amount of friction in each lug is about the same. Instead, I turn each tension rod just until it makes contact with the hoop (always star pattern, BTW). However, there's also no guarantee that I'm pressing with a consistent amount of force, so after I do all the tension rods, I give each a quarter to a half turn, then tap-check and adjust to get them the same all around. I repeat for the other head, going for an interval of about a half step. Then I gradually raise the pitches of both heads by very small increments to see how the sound changes, and I can know for certain where it sounds best, and then reset it to that tuning. I'll sometimes experiment with different intervals as well - larger toms sometimes favor wider intervals. I do a final check and fine-tuning of the interval after I mount the tom - even with RIMS-type isolation mounts (I've used old and new RIMS), toms can sound a little different after mounting. Obviously I wouldn't get this meticulous about it if it's a rush job, but if I'm at home and I have the time, this is how I do it.
I start with Rob Brown's method & then tweak the lugs to make sure the heads are in tune with themselves. But I inevitably end up having to tweak all of the toms to get the middle size to sound right with the high rack & floor toms. I guess I fall into the Sounds Like a Drum camp of "it depends." Not only are the drums resonating with each other, they are also affected by their placement in the room. What I hear is different from what a listener in front of the drums hears. Rob's method still makes the most sense to me, since it quickly gets me to a decent starting point. If I needed to quickly change a head in a noisy environment, that's the way to go.
Excellent video as always from this channel. One thing that’s confusing: tapping the shell gives a sound that includes the heads at their present tuning, so I don’t know how that could show you the pitch/tone of the shell alone.
i find that rob's method allong with a half or hole turn on the reso brings good results and maby a fine tuning lug by lug after that. alternatively i will hit the drum constantly and tune with my ears
I use the "Goode Method", but I have a DW Collectors kit and each drum shell is tuned to it's counterpart at the factory so you get a family of drums, and therefore each shell has a note value stamped on the inside. His method works really great for me. This said, when I try using the same method on my lower-end Pearl kit it doesn't work out so well.
To be honest I've always had no problem tuning my toms ,until I went to a vintage set I'll leave unnamed. Struggled for years trying head combo's, drum dials and increments between the top and bottom head. Not until I watched that DW guy tap the shell and matched my reso with the shell tone. It worked for me. ...Peace and love "RINGO"...
It’s also a really good idea to make sure all screws inside the shell are tight. You can chase over tones all day long with skin tuning and never get them if even one screw is even slightly loose
the Rob Brown method ALWAYS works and gets you to a great sounding tone that you can tweak from there. Jared isn't someone I would take tuning advice from since none of the house kits on that channel sound the way i think they should.
Hey.A tip.Tune the bottom head tight.Tune the top head between low and medium to get the wrist strokes workin aswell.Worked out for me but im using evans hydraulics.
I did this method recently with my bass drum and it worked really well. I have tried just about all these methods as well as following the drum tuning bible I am sure everyone is seeing. Robs is great for quick and dirty and I found on my yamaha tcm (new) that it worked really good. But, on my gretsch renown, not so much maybe due to the fact the tom's have less lugs than the Yamy. I use more of Beato's method on my gretsch kit and that seemed to be the trick. From what I can tell over the years with all the various kits I've had, you just need to figure out which method works the best. Also as we all know, each room is different and many times a drum that sounds great in one room can sound like shit in another so its all subjective. If I am 30 minutes before a gig and the sound check is crap, I go with Rob's method as its quick and gets it close enough. If I am prepping for a gig where I already know the room, I like to take my time and start with Rick's method.
The video is correct, you have to listen for the right overtone. When he hits the top head you can hear the "fundamental" of the drum very clearly, which is lower, but the "head pitch" we use when tuning is actually the next overtone up, the one left ringing longer, which is higher. It's the overtone you hear when you place the drum on the ground and completely dampen the "boom" of the drum.
I like Rob's method for floor tom and bass drum, especially bass drum. He likes to tune a bass drum where it doesn't need a bunch of stuff inside of it. I like Jared's method for high toms if you're in a hurry and Rick's method for high toms if you want a specific tuning.
To quote Bill Bruford:
"No matter how many drums you have, one of them will always sound crap."
[drummers start bringing a garbage can to every gig so none of their other "drums" sound like crap]
@@8020drummer 🤣🤣🤣
The 80/20 Drummer that’s the most brilliant idea I’ve ever heard lol 😂 it would make even the worst tuned drum sound studio worthy 😅
@@8020drummer I'm 80% sure that this is why rack toms exist in the first place.
The 80/20 Drummer I wouldn’t underestimate a potential of a garbage can. Some cans out there could be pretty powerful.
Rob Brown’s method has my kits singing! Straight ahead, practical, and quick. He’s a super cool human with a great channel.
Agreed. RB's method works every single time.
Sounds like a drum is the best channel for anything and everything drum-sound related
Came here to say this exactly
Vouch
I can also say that this is true ^
Drops sticks and walks away
I saw the title and was like “sounds like a drum?”
I use Robs method. Quick, easy, and you can do it in a noisy environment. Very important point. If you're on a house kit that sounds awful, with almost zero soundcheck, you can get this done quick.
And to build off what Trey says, this works MUCH better the lower the drum is. It's pretty near perfect for floor toms in most sitches. Rack toms, less universally. Additionally heads past their prime generally need to be tuned a bit higher than fresh ones to have nice tone. IMHO
@Trey Harrell It's not a bass though Tuning to notes in my experience isn't really advisable as it limits you to a certain key straight away and tends to upset bass players, and make recording a nightmare. That's just my experience
@Trey Harrell Definitely all for pitch. I get ocd over it if i'm not careful, That's why Robs method appealed to me, a little fine tuning and i've never been happier with the sound of my kit.
@@paulknight6083 exactly.. I too tune with Robs method and tweek a bit after.. My toms have never sounded better... And I no longer have "Fear of tuning".
I use Rob’s method for gigs and Rick’s method for recording. Those two vids were really helpful as drum tuning used to confound me a bit. If you’re at a gig where you’re using your own drums, you better be able to make tweaks quickly, because drums almost always start the sound check. I’ve played a lot of gigs outdoors in my day, on either drums or bass. If the weather is moist or cold, the tuning you did at home is going to be all over the place. The wood in a drum shell will expand or contract just like the bow in the neck of a bass... and your intonation is toast.
Also, I tend to use Rob Brown's method. It's just quick and easy. From that foundation one can go audibly nuts with tuning; but Rob's method is the foundation. I will tap the shell now however for further tweaking of this process.
Rob Brown's is great if you can't really hit the drums until show time, but in some lighting conditions it's difficult to tell if you the head is wrinkled or not. Also, I"ve found it works better if you do quarter turns rather than tighten all the way until wrinkles are gone on those first ones. Otherwise you might way overtighten one of the first ones and by the time you get to lug 6 or 8 the wrinkles are already gone. This is especially t rue on a house kit with heads that might be pretty beat.
I've never missed with Rick Beato's method. In fact, if you use a towel to help you really press on the rim, you can get the batter to tension just with fingers. Then do the same with the reso and give them 1/8 of a turn or maybe 1/4 and your toms will sound great. I used Rob's for years, but for the last year I've used Rick's and I find it more effective, especially with beat heads.
I will try it, thanks!
Thanks for another great video! The only thing I would point out is that if you’re tapping the shell to get its fundamental pitch but you haven’t muffled both heads you’re actually going to hear the resonance of the unmuffled head, and not the note of the shell. For whatever it’s worth…
The Beato method gets closest to the type of sound I hear in my head, but to each their own. Thanks as always for awesome content.
Thanks for telling me don’t know what I’d do without you. 😐
*points Nate to the "sounds like a drum" channel*
I appreciate you showing all four. It gives me a much deeper thought process to work through as I relearn everything about being a true percussionist. Thanks.
I have seen all those videos when I got my new Pearl drums. You took a great approach in explaining them all and showing the difference. Your videos are always fun and I very often learn something, but I think this was one of your most informative videos.
It was excellent to watch someone who can tune drums perform the different methods popular on YT and show the results. Very helpful to someone who hasn't figured this out yet. Thanks!
Congrats on making a drum tuning video entertaining. I like Rob's method, then tuning the reso higher and making sure the pitch near each lug is reasonably close.
This is going to change everything. Thank you for doing the leg work to collate some great approaches to tuning
Rick's tuning video is the best for toms imo, he clearly demonstrates how to seat a drum head properly and frankly his video changed the way I start tuning. It's helped a lot, and I've been playing for 30 years.
I prefer to tune the reso head first and then tune the batter head to the reso head. usually how i get the best results.
Interesting, will try that out
@@thomashauge4798 and when i say tune to the reso head what i mean is that i get the reso head in tune with itself, then the batter head will inevetibly need to be tuned again. I am not trying to match pitch or anything necessarily. once it sounds like its not so wobbly when im checking i know its pretty close. Really get my drums to "open up" that way.
0:38 "I just cannot make my kit sound good" - Look at the hats bro lol.
"Stay tuned!" I chuckled a bit there:D
This was such a great video. Thanks a lot. I'm surprised you didn't include Bob Gatzen's video - I remember his videos were what the whole of TH-cam swore by a few years ago.
I use Rob's method as a starting point. That gets close, but then I tend to lower the pitch of the batter head bit from there, and make sure the reso is higher than the batter. Lastly, I'll even out the lugs on the batter. That tends to get my toms right in their sweet spot. I have a buddy that's a master of tuning drums. I don't think he's ever shared his method, but he has an absolute gift at it and can make any kit sound amazing.
I've used Rob Brown's method a lot. You need to have decent lighting so you can see the wrinkles and, like he said, don't over think it. I used the butt end of a stick to press in the center, which makes the wrinkles appear, then tighten until the wrinkles near the lug you're turning disappear. One thing I would mention is that skins and snare come into play with this also, where the frequency of the tom causes awful 'feedback' on the snare even though they are both tuned fine individually. In that case, you need to tune up a bit on the tom until the feedback is gone (or get a different snare).
One last thing is tweaking your sound on the fly by tuning one lug up or down as needed, especially the snare. You can leave a drum key on the lug closest to you while you play and make adjustments quickly, just watch your hand so you don't punch into the key accidentally. :)
I love how dust blew out of your Tom when you pressed down on it lol..
thanks for the video, I've been tweaking my Toms for months now trying to get the right tones.
Your analysis was great, as usual!
It's funny, over the last few years, I have stumbled across all 4 of these videos. So it was interesting to see you referenced them.
When changed all of my heads recently, I did stretch all of them before I put the rims back on and then after finger tightening them which then required more finger tightening 🙄🤣
One thing I noticed with my Evans EC2s was that trying to break the glue seal on the batters didn't really do anything. I assume that is no longer necessary, at least with those particular heads, but the stretching did give me that comforting popping sound 🙂 Beyond that, I have the bottoms slightly detuned to the top but haven't been thrilled with the result.
After watching this, I may go back and try John Good's approach of tuning to the shell pitch although my drums are not DW 🤣
Thanks again for yet another piece of great content!
Very nice. I had to laugh when Rick said his batter head was 14 millimeters thick.
To be fair “mil” is usually millimeters.
Nice! Over the years and several teachers, I’ve used a hybrid of all of their approaches!
I used robs method on the kick and floor. I find it wicked for larger diameter heads. Then I use the star pattern. Reso heads an octave higher for gigs and as equal as possible for recording.
I really dig the John good approach to tone testing. Definitely putting that in my truck bag.
Thank you for the awesome video.
Cool idea to explore...I had looked at all of these...but you really brought this together for me.
You are now the top tuning video on youtube.
I was just tuning my toms yesterday and thought about these videos. Awesome.
Great video man, even if just for the sake of comparing different tuning styles but also for looking at how they have similar intentions/outcomes
The Nolly tuning videos are definitely some of the best out there. Bob Gatzen also had a phenomenal series back in the day that has some really helpful tips and explanations.
Love Rob's method, great for fast tuning. That being said I use hydraulics or g2s which are very forgiving
Been rolling with John Good’s method circa 1999. It does take practice but years ago he did a video on wood types and sounds expected from those woods, cross tuning versus circle tuning, head choices and sounds, head tunings (match, Upper Hi - Bottom Lo and vice versa), and pair woods together to make the entire kit ‘sing’. Good was my authority on ‘drum sound’ while in college. Dude knows his stuff.
Another great video. I admire how you dig so deeply and scientifically into drumming problems. The effect of the cranked up single ply resonant head with the Emperor skin on the batter did sound great. This idea (minus the exact minor third pitch I think) is something I have heard in relation to John Bonham (via Bonham's drum tech's video, and I think it reportedly came from the old big band players). As Rick Beato is a bit of an acknowledged authority on the Bonham 'sound' I am not surprised he does something similar. I have just never heard of it as working because of the difference in actual pitch between single ply and double ply heads. I wonder if the old calf skin players from the big band days perhaps had the same kind of difference in thickness between resonant and batter skins.
I just got first acoustic set 3 months ago and I've been learning to tune them. It has been a journey, but I didn't stop until they sounded good-and dam it was worth it. Just takes determination and practice and my ears hear things I didn't 3 months ago.
John Goode taught me and another guy in the Sam Ash in Margate, FL how to tune after hours in '96. He had just stopped by and told a great Terry Bozzio story re the new F.A.S.T. toms and showed me how to really tune. Great guy, MASTER salesman.
Great video Nate. I have to cast another vote for Kenny Sharretts. I think you would enjoy his suggestions. As a drum tech he’s thorough, quick, and clear on drum tuning.
Some time ago I got my first fresh new drum kit, and I went with Rob´s approach to get the drums somewhere near the final tuning, then I just modified slightly by ear until where I liked them. But Rob´s method got me 90% of the way there.
Rob’s is my favorite tuning method...2009 Gretsch Catalina Jazz. As he taught us, don’t even listen to them, just get the wrinkles out, and let them sing. His kick drum lesson is the best of all, no dampening needed. Vic Firth pillows are all gone, band members actually noticed the improvement. My bassist said the kick drum sounded like a CD.
I have removed all the bottom sheets, and tightened the top sheets so that I think they sound good. I got rid of that hassle with two sheets 40 years ago. It is nice to see how many problems the two-sheet system causes. Nice video, really funny.
Kenny Sharretts is the tuning wizard. I love his channel. He has by far the best info on drum tuning around. That being said, if you don't want to get super in the weeds, the Rob Brown method is wonderful in its simplicity. I If I'm not recording but just need a quick tom sound that just works I start with Rob's method.
Same with me 😁😁
I learned the technique Rob Brown uses from my junior high school band teacher back in 1968. And he was a clarinetist! It has served me well to this day.
good video, first time I've got through a tuning video without getting bored
I was taught to tune very similar to Rick Beato. I then saw the Rob Brown method and, while it doesn't get you tuned in as much as Beato, it's GREAT for when you're using a house kit.
Started tuning all my drums like Rob Brown does and I'm able to get all my toms tuned within 30-45 minutes...about 5 minutes on each drums. That's de-tuning, finger tightning, using the wrinkle technique on both heads. Where as before I was using the Tune-Bot to pitch tune my drums and it would take me close to half the day to tune all 6 drums. The Rob Brown method has saved me tons of time and my drums sound great! If I want to move the tuning I just go a quarter turn on both heads till I like the pitch of it. Rob Brown's method is the simplest and best method in my opinion! He's even made a video about why tuning toms to specific notes is a SILLY idea and it makes sense.
Don't forget that Rick's method is geared to Remo heads. Remo is the only company that still uses glue. The break in method is specific to that type of head. Both Evans and Aquarian use a different manufacturing technique and both tell you that you >don't< need to perform this step. Try "Sounds Like A Drum" next time. Cody does a very thorough job and showing the viewer great techniques for tuning their drums.
I have a pesky 13" about the size of your drum. Surprisingly difficult to get it tuned and sounding good! The last drum tuning you had was the best, by a long way I thought :)
One method I tried that worked wonderfully came from the channel Drummers Review, where the previous host of the show, Adam Nolly Getgood, showcases a tuning trick in which you can pitch-tune your toms by going a semitone lower than the desired pitch on the batter head and three semitones lower on the reso head. I tried it on a Mapex Mars and it sounded KILLER.
Cool vid. My first drum teacher showed me a kinda cheat method for tuning your toms to notes before I had any ear for tuning. Get even tension on the skins and then hold them up to a keyboard speaker. I had a keyboard at the time. Mute one skin at a time and then play some notes on your keyboard. What ever note makes the skin resonate the loudest is the note the the skin is tuned to. You have to listen carefully. The keyboard will be load and the drum vibration soft. Tune accordingly. For 3 toms I used to like A, E, A for rock drums. Im lazy now so I just do it by ear and maybe better results. When I was starting out it was a great way to get a decent sound when I had no ear for tuning.
Outside of a recording situation I've always thought that a good drummer can make anything sound good. Style dependent of course.
pretty cool!
No that method is not advisable. Sorry. 🤷🏻♂️
I used a combination of rob and Rick's methods, worked really great. It made fine tuning super easy.
I feel the purpose of Rob’s tuning is to give you a good general area of tune. It’s for you to get it exactly where you want to after. Basically a good defined starting point
Another great one, man, THANKS!! 💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥💨💨💨🍺🍺🍺🤟🤟🤟
I got sick of the games years ago and now I just start with 1/2-turn on reso and a Full-turn on the batter and tune from there.... usually I don't have to 😁
Also interesting..... on my DW Acrylic kit, I use CS Blackdots on batter, and i took the stock DW/Remo Emperor batters and use them as resos. I get a fuller, boomier sound. BOOM! And I got a set of DW/Remo Ambassadors as spares 💥💥💥
Rob's is my favorite method, when I was starting out his method was the best for me
Hey great video thanks for putting this together! I’d love to see lots of techniques put together of Snare tunings, I’ve been dealing with a vintage Ludwig snare that I just can’t seemingly get to sound good.
They all work. I use them all. Never tried the Reso lower. Never tried listening to the shell. I've found Dave Weckl's method effective ... heads minor 3rd apart ( lullaby ) works well on the Rack toms. With the floors sometimes it won't land on a minor 3rd apart, I just find a nice low tone where the bottom is always higher. Sometimes there is a compromise or your floors will sound too muddy. I also always go for intervals between the toms. It pays to know pitches by ear using a phone pitch tone generator app. Tuning close to notes and intervals really works. You don't have to choose just one method. You can combine them all. Experiment and see what works for you. They also work on old heads. Observations. Jarod's sounded best pitched in the middle...hey he did it in the Drumeo Studio. Rob's drums always sound kinda low and dead to me but that's his sound and room . Rick's demo sounded kinda high and tight. He likes the Bonham sound. i think he's into same pitched heads or close. John tunes DW's REALLY high. On the virge of choking but the DW's seem unchokable. His drum sound was the clearest. I use Rob's to get in the ball park. Then raise the pitch, fine tune the lugs. Get em a minor 3rd apart. And go for a call to Post interval between the toms. I wish i could say .... just tune everything by ear and the notes don't matter. But to me doing so only took a longer time tuning drums. Very frustrating. When I started tuning to notes and intervals it all began to make musical sense and my drums sounded a lot better. Dave rules! It worked on a PDP EZ series, a Sonor Force 2001 and a Yamaha PHX I have set up at home. Drum tuning can be as simple as you want or as complex as Voodoo. I prefer to learn some of that black magic. It's more rewarding to hear the drum sound good tuned, knowing you can can always do it again. Just do it the way you want. The best method is the one that works for you. Cheers
Weckl said when tuning toms. He turned them all the way up high to stretch the head top and bottom. Then detune both the top and bottom heads to the same pitch, and adjust as needed. Its worked for me, for almost any kit I've played on live or personal
I've been doing that for decades. I think it was my teacher when I was in grade school that mentioned that. It's really one of the best ways to seat a new head. I will usually let them sit that way for a while, sometimes overnight but at least for about an hour minimum. But this is only after having finger tightened, tuning in a star pattern and making sure the head is in tune with itself the whole time as I continue to raise the pitch. And I only raise each tension rod a half turn each time. I found that using full turns really throws the even tensioning off. When backing the pitch back down after it's seated I take a cue from guitarists. I first go just a bit lower than where I want it and tune up to the pitch and I've heard guys like Weckl say the same thing. I don't know the physics behind it but the head has less chance of slipping down in pitch after you tune up to where you intend. I've tried other approaches even removing all of the hardware on my old Gretsch kit to find the note of the shell as John Good described in an old Modern Drummer interview. That was ok but I didn't care for the actual pitch distribution. On a 2 up 2 down configuration I ended up having to pitch the higher toms somewhat higher. But I found with that method that staying within about a minor third of the shell pitch was about the optimum. Beyond that the resonance tended to be reduced.
@@garydonnelly100 I'm not so sure on the note of the shell, I wish I was that good. However, when I'm tuning I sometimes do not know the exact sound I am looking for, because of how the sound hits a room. When I would get that right tone though it just feels and sounds right.
I did Rob brown’s advice. I like how simple it is and get my toms tuned nicely.
How?
My preference for what seems like ever has been the 'finger tight, remove the wrinkles technique' - good video thanks
Such a cool exploration. Thanks for the video.
I liked the more muted sound that the Rob's method produced. Since was the easier of the bunch looks like we have a winner here. Also, great video Nate,very fun to watch and instructive.
I am using the same kit. I put new evans G2 coated on top and clear ambasador bottom and sounds great. I am tuning with Evans drum key :-)
I like the Rob Brown method and tweak from there. I use 3 rack Toms and 2 floor Toms. Med. low tuning open. The notes sing high to low beautifully. Also, Gretsch all the way. 😎
I set my head's on the drum, push down until I hear that wonderful snap, and then use the star method for tuning the lugs. My reso is always a minor third above the batter head.
Dude that Scanners head explode edit!! I will smash that like button till my fingers bleed 😂😂😂
Stock Drum just make sure you smash it an odd number of times 🤣
Rob Brown's method is great in situations where it's hard to hear and you don't have a lot of time. Like tuning a house kit during sound/line check
I like Rob's method for quickly getting a decent sound when replacing heads. But I recently saw a video(I think from Inde Drums) that brings up a great point about using 2 keys. So, I put a 5lb weight in the center of the head and then use Rob's wrinkle theory using 2 keys across from each other. Worked like a charm on a buddy's 1985 Swingstar kit with clear G2's. I'm going to see how it works on my Pearl SSC's when I change from UV-1's to UV-2's
so, How’d it Work Out?
Are you still using this method?
@@BeesWaxMinder It works well to get a decent starting point. Depending on the drum, it may be all you need. I currently have one drum that appears to be slightly out of round. Every head I tried(4 Evans, 3 Remos) wants to kink a little at the same spot and it seems like the lugs at that point are more resistant to turning. I may resort to bearing edge trimming.
@@zacdrake Thanks for replying!
I shall certainly give it a go
(for what it’s worth- IF that drum sounds good, then I would live with it’s wrinkle if I were you…)
Best tuning videos I found yet are these: th-cam.com/play/PLzlYHVbobYqUwOoHMGuBl75oIDAa1QNr7.html
I have a 13x9 classic maple tom and have no problem tuning it because of its “odd size”. After many years of playing and tuning, I pretty much know where a drum’s sweet spot falls and I’ve quantified it through the use of a pitch pipe. For a good rock tuning that is open and powerful, a 13” tom emperor batter head sounds great around an F. I too tune the clear ambassador resonant head higher, about a whole step to a minor third. The drum sounds best there to my ears, not necessarily because it’s a minor third. That just happens to work out well most of the time. You can certainly tune it any way you want, but for me, getting the heads in tune with themselves to reduce weird overtones, and then having a complimentary relationship between top and bottom heads seems to be the ticket.
TAMA Tension Watch is quick and sure. Instruction provides decent guide to relate top and bottom, tightens each lug based upon precise indication of surface tension. Works.
The method that works best seems connected to the drum itself. I have two kits, on my Starclassic B/B with super shallow toms (10x6.5/12x7) and a clear 2 ply batter/1 ply reso they seem to prefer being pretty darn close in pitch. On my Ludwig club date the 12x8 works great with the 3rd interval. Floor toms do seem to universally tend towards being at the bottom of their possible range tho
Bob Gatzen's cross-tuning method is helpful for ironing out weird disparities between lugs. The biggest takeaway I had from his guide was that each tension rod is paired with the rod directly across the drum. Keeping the same amount of tension on opposite rods throughout the process makes it a lot less of a headache.
I always found that Bob gatzen video the bible of drum tuning ... And this compilation, a great resumed version
Rob Brown. Quick ,simple, realistic If your at a gig and change a head or just want to retune. Get the wrinkles out , done . His snare and bass drum tuning videos are different then toms .
Last I heard he's got a whole tuning playlist on his channel. I've used his methods on all my drums. Toms, bass, & snare and they work amazingly!!
I've used all the videos in the past and the methods they employ. All get you to a usable sound. The problem is that if you have too many toms like i do (3 rack, 2 floor), its the relationship the toms have to each other that gets maddening! The Rob Brown method is totally fine if all you have is a rack and a floor but I find it gets too all over the place for my kit. The John Good method may get you a good sound too, individually, but you'd have to have shells that naturally fall into a pleasing set of intervals. The Jared method doesn't ever get me a good sound but others have said it works for them. The Rick Beato method is very time consuming but I've had the best luck with it.
Not to say that all of these guys don't know their craft but THE man on drum tuning on TH-cam is Kenny Sharretts, All drummers who feel they suck at tuning (i AM one of them) should study his videos and his methods. The guy does this thing for a living btw, he is Lil' John Roberts tech, among many others!
Great video!
Rob Brown's down and dirty method has never let me down for it's simplicity and utility.
You can use it in tight situations where you don't know the drums - say at a backyard jam, club or neighbor's garage - and whip them into listenable shape fast and in less than ideal conditions--like with a lot of background music/noise.
Anything after that is sonic icing on the tuning cake...
I understand wanting to just use your own sensibilities to tune a drum, but man...I swear by the Tunebot. Its created tom sounds that I've spent MONTHS trying to figure out. Its a great tool for any drum.
Rob Brown's video is what I always point people to. I also recommend strongly that they buy a Drum Dial. While you should always attempt to tune by ear first, it's great to have a tool which can measure tympanic pressure at each lug. Of course, that's presuming your drum is in round and the bearing edges are level...not by any means a given. If the drum isn't true, then all bets are off.
I too use Rob's tuning method and after I tune both heads I go back over them with a Tune-Bot to make sure both heads are at the same pitch, rather than just very close. This method works well, but if you are in a noisy envirement then I'd definitely try Rob's method with a DrumDial(I also have one of those too)
Rob Browns method is the bomb. Use this all the time, ideal for quick head changes if you don't have hours to fiddle with tuning.
If tried Jarred's and John's methods and I got ok to decent results. As much as I practiced tuning there was still something off about the drums tuning. Then I found Rob's video and it changed the game. Easy and fast and now my cheap ass drums sound way better. The other advantage of Rob's method is you don't need to hear the drum. You can tune in a loud environment or out side before a gig (If or when will be able to gig again) With the safety net of knowing your drums will sound good. If you want a higher tuning just turn each tension rod the same amount top and bottom. I use Rob's method all the time and it never fails. They are all great tuning videos and it what ever method that works for you. Its more about knowing your drums and applying the right method to make them sing.
My tecnique is a mixture of Rick Beato and John Good, for me I like to know the basic note of the drum shell without a head on and work toward getting close to that with the heads. They then sing!
I've used all of these techniques at one point or another, and for the "best" sound, I have to go with Rick Beato's method, which is also the way Todd Sucherman teaches how to tune.
I use a method similar to Rob Brown's - after I saw how Simon Phillips tuned his bass drums on an older VHS tape I applied the same method on my toms as well, without jumping on the heads though like he does with his bass heads.
I do Rob Browns method. I SUCK at tuning drums. I've always found the process tedious and frustrating. Using his method put an end to that and my drums now sound awesome.
Same!! I use the same tuning method after seeing Rob's video and it has saved me time and headaches & my drums sound great!!
My method is similar to Rick Beato's. I usually start with the reso head, but it doesn't really matter that much, as both heads get adjusted later on. I press down on the hoop, but I do not rely on finger-tightening as a starting point, as that only works if you know the amount of friction in each lug is about the same. Instead, I turn each tension rod just until it makes contact with the hoop (always star pattern, BTW). However, there's also no guarantee that I'm pressing with a consistent amount of force, so after I do all the tension rods, I give each a quarter to a half turn, then tap-check and adjust to get them the same all around. I repeat for the other head, going for an interval of about a half step. Then I gradually raise the pitches of both heads by very small increments to see how the sound changes, and I can know for certain where it sounds best, and then reset it to that tuning. I'll sometimes experiment with different intervals as well - larger toms sometimes favor wider intervals. I do a final check and fine-tuning of the interval after I mount the tom - even with RIMS-type isolation mounts (I've used old and new RIMS), toms can sound a little different after mounting.
Obviously I wouldn't get this meticulous about it if it's a rush job, but if I'm at home and I have the time, this is how I do it.
I use a mix of the John Good and Rob Brown method.
Most reliable and repeatable way of getting at a good general-purpose drum sound in my opinion.
Nate always brings it back to the real world.
I have had success using the Drum-Bot. It takes some practice but it works for me.
I start with Rob Brown's method & then tweak the lugs to make sure the heads are in tune with themselves. But I inevitably end up having to tweak all of the toms to get the middle size to sound right with the high rack & floor toms. I guess I fall into the Sounds Like a Drum camp of "it depends." Not only are the drums resonating with each other, they are also affected by their placement in the room. What I hear is different from what a listener in front of the drums hears. Rob's method still makes the most sense to me, since it quickly gets me to a decent starting point. If I needed to quickly change a head in a noisy environment, that's the way to go.
You answered my questions about how to tune a drum.
Excellent video as always from this channel.
One thing that’s confusing: tapping the shell gives a sound that includes the heads at their present tuning, so I don’t know how that could show you the pitch/tone of the shell alone.
i find that rob's method allong with a half or hole turn on the reso brings good results and maby a fine tuning lug by lug after that. alternatively i will hit the drum constantly and tune with my ears
I use the "Goode Method", but I have a DW Collectors kit and each drum shell is tuned to it's counterpart at the factory so you get a family of drums, and therefore each shell has a note value stamped on the inside. His method works really great for me. This said, when I try using the same method on my lower-end Pearl kit it doesn't work out so well.
To be honest I've always had no problem tuning my toms ,until I went to a vintage set I'll leave unnamed. Struggled for years trying head combo's, drum dials and increments between the top and bottom head. Not until I watched that DW guy tap the shell and matched my reso with the shell tone. It worked for me. ...Peace and love "RINGO"...
Is that a ludwig?😂
It’s also a really good idea to make sure all screws inside the shell are tight. You can chase over tones all day long with skin tuning and never get them if even one screw is even slightly loose
the Rob Brown method ALWAYS works and gets you to a great sounding tone that you can tweak from there. Jared isn't someone I would take tuning advice from since none of the house kits on that channel sound the way i think they should.
Hey.A tip.Tune the bottom head tight.Tune the top head between low and medium to get the wrist strokes workin aswell.Worked out for me but im using evans hydraulics.
+1 here for Rob's method. It made my life easier.
I like Rick's method on pressing down on the rim while getting the lugs finger tightened. Think it gives the best starting off point.
I did this method recently with my bass drum and it worked really well. I have tried just about all these methods as well as following the drum tuning bible I am sure everyone is seeing. Robs is great for quick and dirty and I found on my yamaha tcm (new) that it worked really good. But, on my gretsch renown, not so much maybe due to the fact the tom's have less lugs than the Yamy. I use more of Beato's method on my gretsch kit and that seemed to be the trick.
From what I can tell over the years with all the various kits I've had, you just need to figure out which method works the best. Also as we all know, each room is different and many times a drum that sounds great in one room can sound like shit in another so its all subjective. If I am 30 minutes before a gig and the sound check is crap, I go with Rob's method as its quick and gets it close enough. If I am prepping for a gig where I already know the room, I like to take my time and start with Rick's method.
LOVE YOUR DEMO....Thanks
7:08 sounds to me like yours isn't lower, but actually about a 5th higher. (insert drummer joke here?)
Thank you holy shit I thought I was going insane
@@aspenshadow7920 me too
The video is correct, you have to listen for the right overtone. When he hits the top head you can hear the "fundamental" of the drum very clearly, which is lower, but the "head pitch" we use when tuning is actually the next overtone up, the one left ringing longer, which is higher. It's the overtone you hear when you place the drum on the ground and completely dampen the "boom" of the drum.
I like Rob's method for floor tom and bass drum, especially bass drum. He likes to tune a bass drum where it doesn't need a bunch of stuff inside of it. I like Jared's method for high toms if you're in a hurry and Rick's method for high toms if you want a specific tuning.