Tuning Drums to Specific Notes?

[Denny]

How would you go about doing it?
Is there an actual "drum tuner", with notes?
I was just wondering because somebody tryed to tell me you "cant tune drums to specific notes".

[the_pure_drummer]

Terry Bozzio does it.....

I'm unsure how but id thought id let you know :)

[super_kick08]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9QjGgc1UkkU

you can. its real tedious though.

timpani and roto toms would be easy though.

[maniac0796]

Of course you can tune it to real notes.

Every pitch you hear will be a note.

However, personally, I think it's a waste of time. Might as well buy a drum dial.

[DrummerJonny]

tuning a single head to a note is easy...

its getting both thats hard...

[White]

Bozzio does it, so yea, it's very doable, just hard lol

[ant_182]

IMO YOU should tune drums to how YOU like them. I dont intend to have a little "machine" to tell me how they should sound. Having said that, it is only an opinion :)

[Retarded Chipple]

I was once thinking of tuning my toms to where they fall on the staff....

So...on the treble clef, the high tom would be an E, mid tom a D and floor tom an A (I'm doing this off the top of my head here so I could be wrong!)
Problem is, that wouldn't give an even separation between the notes.


I never tried it though. I tune my toms so I'm able to play Louie Louie on them. Works perfectly.

[ofDooM]

Bozzio's drums are really shallow, so he has an easier time of doing it.

Its a real challenge since you have 2 different heads.

[TheBandlehars]

I tune my toms to specific pitches. For all the batter my floor tom (16") is a D, 13" tom is an F#, 12" tom is an A, and the 10" is another D, so I have a major chord. Then I have all the bottom heads a whole step above the batter heads, so its an E major chord on bottom. When you hit the drum it doesn't sound just like one specific pitch, bot a big tom fill sounds really nice, and you can tell they have specific intervals.

[Damo]

Tuning to a singular note is not possible on a two-headed drum, but it can be tuned so that one note comes through stronger and is therefore noticed more prominently than others.

Keep in mind that a drum starts to de-tune from the time its hit. Add to that the fact that drum tones dont need to be "in-key" to create a great piece of music and you soon realise that its probably not much point trying to tune to pitches.

Tuning to the "sweet spot" on each drum is a far better way to go!

[Panopticon]

Bozzio has single headed drums. Which can be tuned to a specific pitch.

[diabolical_rosin]

A while back I had an idea to tune my drums to specific keys using a guitar tuner, but I decided "**** it". I just had a thought. I wonder if it is possible to tune a drum to a drop chord?

[crazyguy832]

WTF is a drop chord? You mean a power chord?

Yes, probably.

[MisurCanavi]

I have sold two kits with single headed toms specifically for the purpose tuning to a certain pitch. Both these kits were sold to mainly orchestra players and both said they tuned them to "I of B-flat major" for you non-music theory folks that means lowest tom tuned to B-flat, mid tom D, highest tom F.

I will gladdy transfer questions to them if you want to ask them.

[diabolical_rosin]

WTF is a drop chord? You mean a power chord?

Yes, probably.

Drop chord as in something like drop D or whatever. I don't play guitar so I'm not quite sure what the legitimate technical term would be.

[_Austin_]

Drop 'd' is slang for a type of tuning used for guitars that want to be able to play lower than the open low E string.

No such thing as a drop chord technically speaking.

To play a power chord you would need three sticks, or even better, three hands!

[MisurCanavi]

Drop 'd' is slang for a type of tuning used for guitars that want to be able to play lower than the open low E string.

No such thing as a drop chord technically speaking.

To play a power chord you would need three sticks, or even better, three hands!

Or you could just play the two notes from the chord and leave out one note (preferably the third or fifth) and you will still come out with an Chord'esque sound.

Play a major chord on the piano

Now play the tonic and the third
Then Tonic and the fifth

Sounds decent when compared to the original chord, correct?


BUT, if you want my personal opinion on the matter, I believe certain shells just sound better, cut through better, more musically pleasing when they are not tuned to a specific "note" but more to the "Sweetspot" of the shell. If you have spent more than 10 hours tuning you own kit you will know what I am talking about.

[crazyguy832]

A standard power chord is the first and fifth of the scale.

In drop D (or any drop tuning, really) power chords become much easier when compared to standard (you can do them with one finger rather than two). Instead of having to place your second finger two frets higher when in standard tuning, when in drop D you can just bar the first two strings with one finger and get a power chord.

[Mr Pink]

good god people...CONCERT TOMS !! 8 drums to cover an octive in a full set.

[crazyguy832]

Mr. Pink, while I generally respect you and your posts (indeed, you're much wiser than I am), I have to say this:

liek wut!?

Single headed toms (i.e. concert toms) have been mentioned.

[Mr Pink]

Mr. Pink, while I generally respect you and your posts (indeed, you're much wiser than I am), I have to say this:

liek wut!?

Single headed toms (i.e. concert toms) have been mentioned.

I was commenting on the fact that the question was even posted.....are concert toms SO rare that their original application does not even come to mind?
Don't mean to sound like an old woman.....need coffee and had surgery on my shoulder yesterday and it freaking hurts.
Have a nice day and sorry:)

[MisurCanavi]

good god people...CONCERT TOMS !! 8 drums to cover an octive in a full set.

What happens when you have to change key sigs mid song?

Worlds fastest retuning...

[crazyguy832]

Fair enough,. Mr Pink.

:chug:

And, yeah, a lot of people really don't know about concert toms.

[Mr Pink]

What happens when you have to change key sigs mid song?

Worlds fastest retuning...

I have seen orchestra parts that call fro 16 different notes via the concert toms...I think it was the sound track for Dances With Wolves.

[MisurCanavi]

I have seen orchestra parts that call fro 16 different notes via the concert toms...I think it was the sound track for Dances With Wolves.


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