Sunday 29 December 2013

Tips on Tuning your Drum Kit


As with any musical instrument, getting the best sound that you can possibly achieve is one of the key attributes in defining your own style. Whilst the distinctive tone and pitch of your instrument can be attributed to the way you play it, which is especially evident with drum playing, making sure that you tune your kit will also allow further control of the sound, and more so help to eliminate annoying buzzing, ringing and unwanted resonance.
Preparation is important to ensuring good tuning of your drum kit, and by putting aside enough time before you attempt to tune your kit will come in handy, especially if you have an upcoming gig or recording. Whilst it may seem daunting to undertake, tuning your kit can be a relatively simple process that once you’ve tuned one drum, you can perform the same technique to the remainder of your kit. As most drum tuning occurs when replacing the drum heads, your drum key tool is required to unscrew the tension screws to remove the head.



Clean and Prepare the Shells


It is important before you seat the new drum heads on their respective shells, make sure to wipe down and clean the drum rim and the head of debris and dust. Place the drum head into position and place the rim over the top of the fresh drum head. Once this is done you can start to tighten the tension rods by hand to ensure they are hand tight and even for now. Screwing the rods in with the drum key tool at this point is not necessary, as hand tightening is all that is required to ensure the heads are neatly positioned.
Tightening of the drum head comes next, and whilst you may want to tighten the head by tightening in a circular motion around the drum, you should ensure that you gradually tighten opposing tension rods to achieve an even balance across the drum head. Tighten the tension rods a few turns at a time with your drum key tool and repeat the process until the tension appears balanced, secure and a tight fit. Once you have achieved a secure and tight fit of the drum head, strike the drum with your drum stick to hear the progress.




Fine Tuning Your Drum Kit


By striking the drum head near the tension rods, you can make sure that the sound of the drum is balanced across the surface of the head. If you hear any inconsistencies in the pitch of the sound, tighten and loosen the tension rods accordingly to raise and lower the pitch around the tension rod until the drum makes a balanced sound. Repeat the process with the remaining drums in your kit to achieve tuning.

The sound of a drum kit is a personal preference, but when tuning your kit you should ensure that each drum creates a clear resonant tone and that the pitch of the toms deliver a series of sounds that complement the kit overall. An important aspect fine tuning is the relationship between the top and bottom drum heads. The top drum head controls the ring and attack of the sound, whilst the bottom drum head relays the timbre, the overtones, resonance and sustain of the overall sound.

Once you have achieved a pleasant sounding kit, you will be able to fine tune further to complement the style of music you play and accompany. This fine tuning will help promote your particular style of drumming and help you further to understand the subtle nature of drum tuning. With regular cleaning and fine tuning, you can get the best sound out of your kit and breed new life into an older kit that you may have neglected.