Free Snare Tuning Presets | Season Six, Episode 23
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2024
- We’ve got a special sale for you today! In fact, it’s not really a sale, because we’re giving this away for FREE. Today we’re sharing with you our snare tuning presets! This isn’t a trick and you didn’t misread that. We’re including our DrumDial and frequency/pitch tuning snare presets and we’re going to demo them on several drums with a bit of a surprise…
TuneBot users: We recommend dividing the frequencies by two in order to reproduce the fundamental pitch. But really, if this episode teaches you anything...it's that presets aren't reliable. Use your ears!
PATREON:
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PRODUCTION PARTNERS:
GIK Acoustics (sonic treatment): sladl.ink/GIK
AKG Audio (microphones): sladl.ink/AKG
Evans Drumheads: sladl.ink/Evan...
ProMark Drumsticks: sladl.ink/ProM...
Signal chain:
Mics - Focusrite Clarett 8Pre USB- Mac Studio w/Pro Tools 2022.5
Recorded at 48kHz / 24bit
Microphones: Pair of AKG C314 in Recorderman Configuration sladl.ink/C314...
Toms: AKG C518M sladl.ink/C518M
Kick Drum: AKG D12VR sladl.ink/AKGD...
Snare: AKG C518M sladl.ink/C518M
Acoustic Treatment:
GIK 242 Acoustic Panels: sladl.ink/GIK242
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GIK Evolution PolyFusor Combination Sound Diffuser/Absorber: sladl.ink/GIKE...
GIK Tri-Trap Corner Bass Trap: sladl.ink/GIKT...
Drums:
Pearl Masters Maple Custom Extra Snares: 60’s Ludwig Acrolite, Pearl Masters, ddrum Vintone
Cymbals:
22” Jesse Simpson clone of old Zildjian A, 15" Zildjian Kerope Hihats
Drumheads:
Snare: Evans G1, UV1, and G12 coated / Snare Side 300
Snare Wires: PureSound Custom Pro Steel 20-strand
Toms: N/A
Kick Drum: Evans UV EQ4/ EQ3 Coated White Reso
Hosted by: Cody Rahn
Production & Consulting: Ben O'Brien Smith @ Cadence Independent Media
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TuneBot users: We recommend dividing the frequencies by two in order to reproduce the fundamental pitch. But really, if this episode teaches you anything...it's that presets don't produce reliable results. Use your ears and you'll account for all of the variables.
I hated every tunning I did before a tunebot🙌
Here's the reason for the starting point... a lot of drummers really don't know what an "in-tune" drum even sounds like in real life. Anyone who has played drums with a backline kit in a practice studio, or anyone who has gone to a friend's house who just bought their kid their first drum kit, you know this to be true. Just getting to spend time with ANY drum that's actually in-tune, with literally ANY usable tuning, will help them develop their ears. You can't use your ears if you don't know what you're listening for. Thats why the starting point is so helpful. Once they can reliably get a drum in tun with itself, then they can start worrying about the millions of variables that go into getting the precise sound that you want.
I think you are spot on. We've been sold on all of the magic tools that promise to simplify the process when ultimately, our ears are the best tool.
In my opinion, exactly what you said seems to be the thesis statement of this channel and I couldn't agree more. Never had any gadgets the first 22 years of drumming, only used my ears and even now I only use the drum dial to get all lugs even at different settings as a starting point- put the dial away and finish with my ears.
For me the drum dial is useful in loud environments or where I need to tune without being able to make noise. It is also great for speed and repeatability. I can tune by ear, no problem. But in the circumstances mentioned, the numbers are useful. That being said, I normally tune to taste, then note the numbers. Yeah, I might detune a lug or tweak the whole thing here and there, but having a consistent starting point that I can quickly achieve is beneficial to me. As always, thanks for the thought provoking content, I really appreciate what you guys do.
I would say that by using the Tune Bot my ears have definitely gotten much better for tuning the drums. It has taken a lot of the fear of experimentation away since I know I have a way to get back to where I started. Having said that, you made an excellent point in that why do I need a starting point if I can just hear what I need and tune the drums to the sound I am looking for. I think the main take away for me is not to be afraid to experiment and feel free to search for that sound you want. The tools are helpful, but in the end you have to go with your ears.
you’ve had a huge impact on my ears over these few years. thank you!
❤❤❤ - the thing for me with 'settings' like this is actually having some sort of ball park understanding of where things should be.
It's always hard when people say 'crank the bottom head' or 'DONT crank the bottom head' but with no indication of what that means.
Being able to have a ballpark gives me way more confidence I'm roughly in the right place and I can keep practicing 🎉
Glad this helps, but when you say "ball park understanding," why not just listen to the sound? We've produced literally hundreds of videos that showcase the process, how to practice, and then how to employ this information. Of course, it requires that you do some work too...but please trust us that it's worth it. Almost all of this stuff is relative (and dependent on context and a multitude of variables), which is why specific numbers like we've shown here may seem helpful at first but don't reproduce reliable results. One thing you can always trust is your ears. Use them, develop them, rely upon them..
@@SoundsLikeADrum oh 100% - and I'm practicing all the time - but it's little things like, when you muted the top head and whacked the bottom head, I was really surprised at how HIGH it was tuned - given its one thing that you guys talk about a lot - being careful not to over tension - it was something I hadn't been able to hear properly in other videos you guys have created - I was worrying my bottom head was too high, now I know I'm in a decent place I can carry on working to try and get the sounds I want. When your frame of reference is simply 'this sounds bad', and there's SO many variables, it's nice to know there's some sort of reference point to go 'ok, atleast I haven't overshot it by a million miles - let's try again'
The value I found in using the iPhone drum tune app (or tune-bot) was getting each lug to the same frequency. As to what that evenly tuned frequency of the head "should" be is something I had to let my "ears" decide. The task of fine-tuning each lug to the same frequency was sometimes challenging, my ears were sometimes confused by the overtones, and I just wasn't getting the head in tune with itself.
I like the tune bot so i can remember how to recreate tunings that i record. I find a sound i like on a particular snare in a particular room. Then i measure the numbers with tune bot and keep it in a journal for reference if i ever want that sound again
i was a teacher's aid one year in college. i thought i knew quite a bit about the subject, but trying to answer students' question really exposed some flaws that i had in my knowledge.
i still feel like a drum dial is a decent tool for honing in on a perfect tuning. clearly, going simply by these settings doesn't work in every situation, but when you get it to where it sounds good, a drum dial will help the drum to sing.
Yup, that's common knowledge among teachers. If you want your students to really understand something, at some point, put them in groups and have them teach each other.
I really appreciate your message over the years. I've learned to use my ears to get as close to the sound I want, then I use my drum dial to even out the lugs (fine tuning)
For someone that plays in many different rooms I’ve found this out too: there is not preset that will just work in any room. What head and snare wire tension sounds good in one room sounds less good in another room. Same as in some rooms, the batter head detuning from rimshots sounds OK in some rooms, and sounds terrible in other rooms and I have to adjust the drum. I even thought of bringing different snare wires for different rooms, as I find they also depend on the room. For a short while I tried a drum dial, but I ran into that “starting point” that wasn’t the finished product anyway, so now I just, in case the snare drum sounds a bit off, loosen heads and wires and start again until it sounds right for the room.
Couldn’t agree more! It’s all about using our ears. Not always a simple cut and dry journey this way, but it’s all worth it in the end! We learn so much more this way at the end of the day
We're living in a technical world and we love control and the idear,that everything is repeatable at any place and any time,so the whish to have numbers of a certain frequency or pressure or whatever is not so far away.I'm thinking in this subject the way you do,to be independent from devices of any kind and have insteat your ears,your knowleage,the idear of which sound you like,and maybe a drum key is way better.It's like a singer who knows his lyrics by heard,and so can't forget his songbook/tablet ,and don't have to look somewhere special to find his way,but can be in the song,in the story and cocentrates on that,concentrates on the performence.
Thanks for your work....like it !
It's going going going going going & GONE! HOME RUN OUT OF THE PARK! My natural pitch by ear sucks, but we are working with it. I use the drum dial to set a baseline. Then, I move all tension up or down dependent on what I'm looking for WITHOUT drum dial. I'm so grateful for your numbers today as a loose reference from someone else I could trust. I've only had me. lol A loose outside reference point has been incredible! Thank you for this! I remember struggling not long ago wondering the differences between med, med high, & high tensions & what defines these. Tuning gets just a little clearer everyday. 10 out of 10! Thank you! Keep up the great work! 😎🤓
I know some people who use a DrumDial, or other gizmos, and they get good results. The only gizmo I've ever used is my own ears, and people seem to think my snare and kit sound great. While a DrumDial might be good for zeroing in on getting all the lugs at the same tension a little quicker, I've never seen any necessity to try them. For me, one of the joys of getting new heads is taking a little time and getting everything right where I want it. Maybe it takes a little time, but as I said, that's part of the fun! I grew up tuning by ear, and it's never failed me, and now I'm to the point that I can get the whole shebang whipped into shape in about 15-20 minutes. Drums are made to be heard. Bypassing your own ears in favor of some gizmo or other seems to defeat the purpose.
As always, thanks Cody and Ben! You guys are the best!
Probably once a week during a practice session, snare drums and really all drums should be de-tuned and then re-tuned as part of practice. If you do that you can get a lot of practice tuning, so when you need to achieve a certain sound, you'll know how to get there pretty quickly. Also, a great time to discover how the many head choices work for your application.
One thing I've learn by seeking my own sound was by listening to myself while playing. I have to say that I never wanted to sound like anyone else in the first place so it might had help. I do mess around with the tuning of my drums on a regular bases to see if I can achieve something else or when I'm tired of the actual tuning. Chasing the 'perfect' sound presets we ear on the computer has never been my thing anyway. I love the raw sound that my drums make when I hit them.
Finally some numbers :) I think it's good to give the numbers of different snares you use in each episode or at least tap the bottom and top head for reference. Many people use Acrolites and Supras, so at least they'll benefit from that and the other people can try and experiment with how those settings work for their snares. I have done a few "comparison videos" and noticed the same thing, the shell material, heads etc. always affect the pitch but if the bottom and top heads and in relative tune with each other, meaning fourths, fifths or major/minor thirds, the drum will usually sound fine. Thanks for continuous drum geeking :)
I like using my ears to tune to the room. I then record the lug frequencies for both sides. Every time I go back to that room, I use the tunebot to consistently get that result. I've learned to steer away from presets and only use them as a starting point to get where I need to go.
a few days ago, one of my friends and I unboxed his new kit and set it up. it's the kids sized aquabats pdp kit for anyone interested. I tuned the kit up for him and got it sounding pretty good right out of the gate and he asked how I knew where to tune the heads to. I sorta shrugged and thought to myself how I've been watching this show for five years lol
I’ve always tuned my drums by ear at home knowing that they never will sound the same when I take them to a gig. I use this as a base and try to tweak them when I get to a gig, occasionally I have got someone to sit behind my kit so I can hear it out front but this doesn’t happened often, it’s surprising how other band members aren’t as keen to sit behind your kit when not in the rehearsal room!
When the three snares were tuned to sound alike, I could hear a ringing in the Acrolite that was around a m3 above the Pearl, while the ddrum was close to the same as the Pearl.
Presets are only good for consistently tuning one specific drum to sound the same every time. But one could just listen to the heads and tune the new heads to match. It may take a bit more time, but it's one less thing to spend money on and take up space in the house, no matter how little.
This person gets it! 👏
since im not musical, learning the Tunebot and drum dial systems, helped me to teach my ears.... what a third sounded like , and a fifth... and also get the 'fall' of the tom to tom more in the zone... after a while i would just check settings,,( very useful in stage/studio settings)... but until i used something that gave me measurements, i was just fumbling in the dark tuning drums.......
For me, knowing the correct adjustments to make to "fix" the sound is the hardest part. For instance, playing a different room causes an overtone, bad snare buzz, or a wonky floor tom. Make the wrong adjustments and then you chase gremlins all night. The TuneBot is good for geeking out on the science part of how heads react together, which can also be fun for experimenting and finding your "sound". But reproducing your "sound" somewhere different is up to the ears, and knowing why certain adjustments have certain outcomes.
I'm looking forward to seeing how some of these translate onto my 7x13" Pork Pie that's full of holes. Will definitely be interesting!
man i believe this presets would be good only for beginners, as myself, i'm not a drummer, play my drum in my home studio, never triggered or sampled anything, and i'm learning, and i'm not quite sure the kind of sound i can look for in my 14x5,5' or my 13'x7 snare, you don't have much reference if the wires are too tight or the resos, and so on. Listening back to my old recording i see deadly mistakes. When you don't know what to hear is harder. That's why you're channel is awesome, such as the video with details of artifacts with the wires and roling thing there (forgot the name in english lol). I also just discovered i ruined a reso head lol if i was following some guide lines to start i'd be cool. Awesome videos to train the ear, thanks
When every other instrument on stage is tuning using some devise, for their 4-6 tuning points. The simplest drum set with have at least 50 tuning points, then there’s lugs in relation to each other and in relation to the resonant head. This long-time drummer hates everything about tuning but the Bot makes it tolerable and keeps my drums sound consistent.
Heck yeah they finally listened 🥰
Well...sort of. If you watch this episode, you get a glimpse into why providing numbers is more misleading than helpful. This is why we don't provide this information.
Using the same heads, a drum dial is great for keeping track of your own favorite tunings. But with different heads, drums its a no for me. Go by pitch to find what you like.
Agreed 100%
Exactly. That’s how I use mine.
I use it as a means of getting into the ballpark of what I want. I’m not trying to cut and paste, I just want a general flavor and the tunebot gets me that.
I think all 3 drums sound great... yep sure different rooms will make your drums sound better or worse....but that would or could be an issue regardless of whether you tuned a drum by ear or with a device...I think to be fair drummers who find sounds they like with these gadgets if you will like the consistency and the repeatability and there drums more often than not will sound good,at least to them... one thing I will add,going on my experiences... the ave drummer that gets into a room that might not have great acoustics, a lot of times it’s simply bad luck, most don’t have the time or some venues do not want you making any noise prior to your performance, so sitting there messing with tuning to you find something you think is better, is not always feasible to the average, let’s say bar or club drummer...
You rock man!
Could I tune my drums by ear? Of course, but it’s just so much faster and easier with the tune bot. Plus you can experiment more easily with relationships between top and bottom heads; minor third, major third, 4th, etc.. and know you can dial them in quickly to see which you like. I would say the tune-bot itself has taught me loads about tuning and it’s just something I’ll never part with. It removes all the guesswork and makes life easier
Great to hear these test results!
Thing I'm wondering though, if someone wanted to try using "the numbers" to mimic a sound, wouldn't they do that with the same exact type of drum they/re trying to mimic?
Would to love to hear that done with a combo of two Acrolites with same setup (wires/heads) and also with a Supralite and one other same style/sized snare.
On top of that, in this test you just did, and in future tests, would like to hear how one muffle might "even out" the sounds between each drum, since for my ears, the overtone on each drum was the most different compared to the initial/fundamental sound.
You also left out the room mic sound, was curios on how that differed.
Maybe all this will show up on the Patreon?? : )
Im confused about your reso heads being at 600 plus, how is that even possible without ripping the head out of the collar? 450 on a tune bot is like the max ive ever seen, and even that is an extreme! Am i missing something here?
Crazy, thanks so much for this! The feedback is unfortunate but what can ya do? I think it's a first for this channel in all the years I've been watching. Oh well lol.
Are you Shure about the 650 hz on the reso ? I thougjt table top is like over 450hz ?
The tune bot maxes out on 400-440hz .
We provided sine waves to help identify our reference point for the frequencies when listening to the examples. These are not necessarily the fundamental but rather what is easily discernible using your ears. This way, you don’t need a tuning device if you don’t have one. Remember that you can divide a frequency by two in order to reproduce the same pitch one octave lower.
@@SoundsLikeADrumWhats what i thought Thank you for the Video ❤
Those are head splitting, tension screw stripping TuneBot numbers. TuneBot measurements can't be correct. I don't think they could even correlate to the Drum Dial numbers.
Details in the description 😉
My man!
I guess I would fall into the numbers camp. Why? A multitude of reasons.
1) I need repeatable results, especially if doing sessions over multiple days. I have to make sure a snare drum will sound exactly the same between takes. Hearing even a slight pitch change in a performance could be distracting.
2) Snare buzz is going to be worse if the snare side head is at the same relative note as one of the toms. For instance, if your 13" tom has it's reso head at an A and the batter at an e (4th interval) AND your snare side is cranked to an A, which is pretty common for hi tuned snares, the snare wires are going to buzz very bad when that tom is hit. Changing the snare tuning to intervals not on the tom will reduce the buzz.
3) From watching countless numbers of your videos (all great), I DO see a pattern to your tunings. In general, the best sounding tunings are going for specific tuning (note) intervals. Typically, the reso is a 4th or 5th above the batter side. So... on a tom for instance, where the reso is tuned to an A (as in the example before) and the batter is tuned to an E below that, you have an interval of a 4th. The note that rings when hitting the drum is an A, an octave below the reso head tuning. It sounds tuned and good. In a song, the various drums can be tuned to the key of the song. I've noticed the same on your snare tunings. A nice higher tuning was when you tune thatter to a D and the reso at a G above it.
You guys make the drums sound great. My only point is that there is a formula and science behind everything, even if that isn't the goal. Thanks for the videos.
D over G is one of my favorite snare tunings. I follow the same formula as well. I typically start a snare at C# over F# and then go up or down over there.
What hats are those??? Looks like Kerope or maybe Istanbul 30th? Constantinople?
Thank you for a really interesting demo. But I'm not totally convinced by the concluding wrap-up. You were unable to replicate the sound of the Acrolite on either of the other two drums. Then you put it down to using numbers for tension or frequency. But what if the difference in sound is due to factors beyond our control, such as the material (aluminum vs. wood) or the hoops? In that case, even relying on our ears may not lead us to the exact right spot if we are trying to exaclty replicate a specific drum sound (You never showed us that you could get the right sound only using you ears in the video). But you did get the Pearl and Ddrum to sound pretty much the same despite their size difference. So, maby the conclusion should be that sometimes numbers can guide us right, but other times, we might be out of luck. Just my two cents!
Are the ProMark burnt Sticks worth it?
I bought them because they were on sale. They instantly became my favorites and I’ll be buying more. 5As for me!
Take one Snare drum,tune it to a fine sound,and then let 5 or more different players play it for a while....the same tuning,muffling,the same room,the same day ect.,....could be a nice experience....case i get the feeling,that the player himself,his message,his style,his age,his.....,makes a bigger difference than we would expect......
Hey guys! Thank you for this informative video. I'm a new drummer. Would you say the "happy acrolite tuning" is medium, medium-high, etc? Please let me know thanks!
it's a starting point. So I would say yeah it's a medium tuning.. so you could go a little bit up or a little bit down, depending on your drum and your ear, I'm new so don't quote me on this but I've got an old Ludwig superphonic, so I'm going to start with the acralite tuning cuz I think it sounds the best...
What fundamental note is snare sounding? Means G3 or A3
Surprised to see the reso head was at a higher pitch than the batter head, but the drum dial reading was lower on the reso (88 on batter vs. 75 on reso). Can anyone explain how that happens? Is it just because the reso is thinner?
Yes, because it’s such a thin head.
❤🥁❤️🥁❤️🥁
Everyone finding out they like deeper snares with this episode
and that acrolites.......................
To me, deeper sounds great when I'm hearing a recorded sound, or at least from a distance, but the live acoustic sound up close is usually a little too tubby and dark. A smaller diameter helps, but for a 14", I doubt I'll ever buy another one that's past 5.5".
Biggest thing I got from this is I want an acrolite 😂
How much of it do you think is the drum?
@@SoundsLikeADrumwell I could have just been you? But I thought the Ludwig sounded the best too..
@@samward9641 That's kind of the point though- we tuned the Acrolite using our ears. The other drums were tuned based on presets made from the tuning we settled on for the Acrolite. These numbers don't really account for the variables involved. The question we raised regarding how much of this was dependent on the drum was related to the fact that it's the only drum that we tuned 100% the way we would normally approach tuning a drum. The make/model of the drum was secondary (at best) to this.