AKARSH SHEKHAR
Spruce Up Your Beats With These Cool Drum Tuning Tricks
What tricks are there to properly tune your drums ? Currently thanks to the exact tuning systems such as drum dial or tune bot everything has been simplified so you can make sure that everything is mathematically exact .
What is tuning ?
Tuning is the process by which a musical instrument is tuned by matching the sounds it produces with a previously established sound frequency . Tuning systems seek to build a series of vibratory frequency relationships that give rise to the notes of a scale .
In the specific case of drums , we will focus on the type of sound we want each part to have . This , depending on the type of style , we will mold it in one way or another .
How to tune a kick drum
The kick drum is the largest and lowest tuned instrument .
In order to perform a correct tuning we must do the following :
Step 1 : Loosen the patches through the towers .
Step 2 : Tighten each tower with the force of your hand ( do not use the wrench ) until you can ’ t tighten any more . In this way we make sure that we equalize the tensions of all the towers enough .
Step 3 : Now , with the tuning key , we will give each tower a half turn , always following the order of the previous graph .
Step 4 : From this point we can test quarter of a turn in each tower and assess the sound that is produced .
How to tune the toms on a drum set
To perform the tuning of the toms we will have to follow exactly the same steps that we have used for the kick drum , always maintaining and respecting the comfort zone of the tones of each of them .
How to tune the snare drum or snare drum
The method of tuning a snare drum is a bit more complex than the kick and tom .
Step 1 : Loosen the upper and lower patch and lower the bordona
Step 2 : Lower or resonant patch . Tighten each tower with the force of your hand ( do not use the wrench ) until you can ’ t tighten any more . In this way we make sure that we equalize the tensions of all the towers enough .
Step 3 : At this point we will have to tighten 2.5 turns with the tuning key for drums in each of the towers , always following the same order as for the kick drum and tom .
Step 4 : Top patch . Tighten each tower with the force of your hand ( do not use the wrench ) until you can ’ t tighten any more . In this way we make sure that we equalize the tensions of all the towers enough .
Step 5 : At this point we will have to tighten half turns with the tuning key for drums in each of the towers , always following the same order as it is for bass drum and tom . Check that the resonant is quite tight .
Step 6 : In order to guarantee that the drums are in tune , we will have to hit about 2.5-3.5 cm from each tower with the stick and listen if each and every one of them sounds the same . We have low tuning at this point . In this case , the feeling will be of a lower note
• If we want medium tuning : We make half a turn more in each tower of the upper head . In this case the note will be higher than the low pitch
• If we want high tuning : We make half a turn more in each tower of the upper head . In this case the note will be higher than the average pitch .
Step 7 : We raise the bordona and finish .
The Score Magazine
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