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My friend is a drummer and I just finished work on a small studio I built. His drums are in the room now and the toms (floor and 12" rack) sound like crap. He has coated Remo heads on top and clear on the bottom. They are very timpany sounding rather than rock sounding. I like a good thud in my toms and just a bit of ring.

So how do you all tune your drums? I don't know much more than going around the rI'm with a stick held in the center to make sure the tone is consistent. Thanks for any advice. BTW: It's a Pearl Session series with the floating toms.

Comments

anonymous Sun, 10/07/2001 - 06:24

I think this depends upon how much of a "thud" you want? So much of this is in the tuning technic (see the link below) for very specific instructions.

First, I'd recommend (in order of least thud to most) either an Aquarian Studio X Coated, Evans G2 Coated (very popular), REMO PinStripe Clear (getting controlled now), or an Aquarian Performance II Clear batter head. Second change the resonant head to a typical Single ply coated, like an Evans G1, REMO Ambassador, or Aquarian Satin Texture. The coating takes out the higher pitched ring sound often associated with poor tom tuning. If your batter heads are not worn, they maybe able to be used on the resonant side.

A common and often used technic is to tune the drums a little higher in pitch than you desire, but tuned well, and then take one lug on the batter side and detune it very slowly while striking the head. There will be a place along the way where the drum will dry up to your liking.