Drum Dial tuners ?

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:48 am

I have never used one but recently bought one. It came with a list of settings for various sized shells. Pretty trippy how this thing works. The heads I am using are Remo ebony pinstripe, does any body has any pearls of wisdom as to the settings, and how much less tension should the resonant be. I know it depends on what sound you desire, I play mainly rock. Also how tight should the snare be on the dial. Thanks

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:50 am

I forgot to ask, I have a 13 piece double bass kit, what would be the best way to mic them with only 8 mics, actually 6 due to the two overheads?

Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:30 pm

ensumbledeux wrote:

I have never used one but recently bought one. It came with a list of settings for various sized shells. Pretty trippy how this thing works. The heads I am using are Remo ebony pinstripe, does any body has any pearls of wisdom as to the settings, and how much less tension should the resonant be. I know it depends on what sound you desire, I play mainly rock. Also how tight should the snare be on the dial. Thanks

I have been using the Drum Dial for years... but note, it is to assist, not completely tune the drum for you.

Here is a link to the tuning chart: http://www.drumdial.com/drummer.htm

I typically tune my snare around 86 on top and 85 bottom. A good rule of thumb for tension tuning is to tune the resonant head 1 number lower. When tuning by ear, the resonant should sound 1/2 step lower than the batter head... some people prefer 1/4 step lower.

All of that said, it will vary for different drum sizes and heads. If you have old heads on the drum, it will be a lot harder to tune!

Hope that helps.

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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:13 pm

thanks for your help

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:08 am

One other question, do I still dial in the resonant side 1 # lower even if my batter heads are the ebony pinstripes, pretty thick, and the bottoms are clear and much less quality. thanks, what do you normally dial in the toms at, I have, in inches, 6-8-10-12-13-14-15-16-18. thanks again

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:42 am

I think the biggest advantage of the drum dial is that you can experiment very quickly and reproduce your experiments. All drum tuning is dependent on heads, edges, and drum size. Any of the readings someone gives you should be considered a starting point if they are not using the same drums and heads.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:03 pm

Ok heres a question for ya....I know the drum dial is used to measure the tension on the head itself, but why couldnt you use a torque wrench, and apply equal tension to all the screws? Im sure the drum isnt perfect, but applying equal tension to all lugs would sould like it would get you very close,and then you could go straight to ear tuning from there, and the results would be quickly replicated this manner too. Just me guessing I have never tried it though.

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:04 pm

The difference in the drum dial and torque wrench... The drum dial references the tympanic pressure of the head and not the amount of torque on the lug itself. Personally, I don't like either, and I sure as hell don't like ebony pinstripe heads. I tune my drums by ear everytime as a musician and as a tech. I've never had a drummer complain about the sound of them, in fact, they all end up asking me to teach them how I do it. I also run my resonant heads higher pitched than my batter head in most scenarios as I like my heads loose to add some extra punch.

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:44 pm

You have to be careful with torque wrench tuning because sometimes the tension rods can get dusty, rusted, gooey from lube, etc., which causes misleading tension. So, if all the rods and lugs were perfect and likely greased, it would most likely work to an extent... but in most cases there are one or two that are a little off. I reiterate: you should learn to tune by ear before relying on tools. Even with the drum dial, you need to fine tune by ear.

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:53 pm

djrr3k wrote:

The difference in the drum dial and torque wrench... The drum dial references the tympanic pressure of the head and not the amount of torque on the lug itself. Personally, I don't like either, and I sure as hell don't like ebony pinstripe heads. I tune my drums by ear everytime as a musician and as a tech. I've never had a drummer complain about the sound of them, in fact, they all end up asking me to teach them how I do it. I also run my resonant heads higher pitched than my batter head in most scenarios as I like my heads loose to add some extra punch.

Thanks for your comment, when tuning by ear, do you just try and get the same pitch or tone from the head area near the lug, and I think it is mostly personal preference, in any event if you could please describe how you go about tuning by ear it would be appriciated, thanks

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:30 am

I tuned different for different situations, with the last band I toured with (as a tech) their drummer only played two floor toms (16 and 18), one on each side of him (Carbon Fiber Rocketshell drums too). I would tune the kit to give me the lowest possible notes about of each drum... really loose heads, but they sounded like cannons everytime he would hit them. The band I'm on the road with now doesn't have as low pitched sound as the last, so the tunings come up. Also the drummer prefers tighter heads. I do it all by feel, I don't run laps around my heads. I can pretty much hit drum a couple times and know what needs to change to put it in tune.

Video of The Bangkok Five (my tech work) on G4's Attack of the Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntPhXdcP_S0

The new band I'm with (Eve To Adam) I don't have any video yet, come see the show. we're on the road as support for Daughtry.

Cheers,
-Ryan-

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