Drum Tuning: Techniques for Optimal Sound

Drum Tuning

Are you ready to take your drumming to the next level? One of the most essential skills every drummer should master is the art of drum tuning. Properly tuned drums not only sound better but also provide a more satisfying playing experience. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the different methods and techniques for tuning drums, helping you achieve the perfect sound for your musical style. If you’re setting up your kit for the first time, check out our guide on how to set up your drums.

Seating Your Drum Heads

Before you tune, you’ll want to make sure your drum heads are properly seated between your shell and hoops. Here’s a good overview of what to pay attention to. If you’re having issues with an existing head, reseating it isn’t a bad idea before tuning again.

Understanding Drum Tuning

Before we dive into specific tuning techniques, let’s first understand the basics of drum tuning. Each drum in your kit consists of a drumhead, tension rods, lugs, and a drum shell. By adjusting the tension of the drumhead using the tension rods, you can alter the pitch and tone of the drum.

Tuning Methods

I’ll preface this section by saying there are almost as many ways to tune drums as there are drummers. The basic tuning described below is the starting point for almost everyone though. Many drummers don’t do much more than that, but plenty do.

Basic Drum Tuning for All Drums

*Note: If you’re using new drum heads, you may want to use a “break in” method like seating it or overtightening it. For more on using a new head, check out this video by Sounds Like a Drum, who has a wealth of excellent videos on tuning drums.

You don’t need to go beyond the basic tuning described below unless you want to. Some drummers call this basic method “tuning the drum to itself.” This is because you’re just getting an even feel and tone from your heads at whatever pitch you’ve tuned. In more advanced methods, you’re manipulating the sound more or tuning to a specific pitch.

If you’re switching heads, you can tighten down the lugs with your fingers until they are all touching the rim. If you’re retuning an existing head, you can loosen them all to this finger tightened point, or start where it is currently if you just want a minor adjustment.

The Star Pattern

The basic technique to tune drums is the star pattern. This means starting with tightening one lug, then the one across from it, then the one next to the original lug, then the one across from that, and so on until you’ve tightened all of the lugs.

Start with your batter (top) head by tapping the drumhead near each tension rod to identify any uneven tension. Use a drum key to tighten each tension rod gradually, working in a star pattern to ensure even tension across the drumhead. Continue tuning and tapping until you achieve the desired pitch and tone. Then, tune the batter head to a similar pitch using the same star method.

For a good walk through on basic tuning of drums, check out this video by ArtOfDrumming.

The Basics of Drum Tuning from ArtofDrumming

There’s a great video that also covers toms, snare, and bass by John Good from DW too. If you want a quick overview and discussion of several methods, here’s a great one by Sounds Like a Drum. There are a bunch of ways to tune your drums. Start with the simple method in the video above and go from there to find what you like.

In-Depth: Drum Tuning for Different Types of Drums

Every type of drum has some specific aspects you can explore if you want to fine tune your sound. Snare drums, toms, and bass drums all have different characteristics and a range of sound they can produce. Knowing more about how to get the most out of each of them can get you closer to finding a sound you love for your drums.

Drum Tuning for Snare Drums

Tuning snares is considered an art form by many drummers. Snare sound is so important to your overall drum sound and needs to fit the music you’re playing. It’s also the most complicated drum on your kit, so knowing how to get different sounds out of this one drum is a great skill to develop.

I’m going to recommend a bunch of videos by Sounds Like a Drum in this section, because to me they cover everything you really need to know to get your snare tuned to your preference. This channel has a ton of great tuning advice, so if you need more, click through some more videos. These two videos are enough to get you tuned up and playing, though.

And here are a few bonus videos for common questions: One on tuning to get different specific snare sounds you might be looking for, and one on getting that big fat snare sound so many people love.

Tuning Snare Drum Batter Heads

You’ll frequently be tuning the batter head to adjust your sound or when working with a kit that’s not yours that you need to retune quickly. Here’s a great overview of what you should pay attention to when working on your snare batter. Hoops, lugs, head, tension, and tuning are all important and can all play a part in achieving the sound you want.

If you’re having trouble with your batter head and can’t figure out what’s wrong, here’s a great troubleshooting video.

Tuning Snare Drum Resonant (Snare Side) Heads and Adjusting Your Snares

Your snare side head make a much bigger difference to your overall snare sound than you might think, not to mention the way you adjust your snares themselves. Watch this for a deep, complete walk through of how to get the bottom of your snare into shape. If you’re having trouble with your snare side head, this video has great troubleshooting tips.

Now let’s talk about what make a snare drum and snare drum – the snares. Here are three videos on the snares themselves:

Troubleshooting Your Snare Sound

If you’re finding that your snare is losing its tuning quickly or you’re seeing tension rods get loose not long after tuning, check out this exploration of how your snare may be tuning itself, especially if you’re using a lot of tension on your heads.

And here’s a great one from Stephen Clark to address a common question: Why Does My Snare Sound Cheap?

Dampening Techniques for Snares

Sometimes, drums may produce unwanted overtones, ring for too long, or boom more than you want them to. There are way too many methods for dampening drums to list here, but here’s a great video from ArtofDrumming that covers a ton of the common ones so you can hear what they sound like. Michael Oloyede also has a great demo of some common muffling techniques. For a deep dive, here’s one more from Sounds Like a Drum.

Here are some links to some of the things demonstrated in the videos:

Drum Tuning for Toms

Toms might be the drums you spend the most time tuning, both because you likely have more than one, and to try to get different sounds from your kit. Many people just use the basic star pattern and tension rod matching method mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Another popular method is to place pressure in the center of the head, and then tighten the rods until all of the wrinkles are gone. Rob Brown has a great video on that method, and it’s also simple and effective. If you want to go really in depth on changing tom heads and tuning, check out this video from Sounds Like a Drum

Tuning Tom Resonant Heads

As you’ve seen in the previous videos, tuning your resonant (reso) heads is important to the sound of your toms. Here are a few more resources if you want to experiment some more. Here’s a deep exploration of using different intervals between your batter and resos. Thomann’s Drum Bash also explored higher, lower, and matched tunings for resonant heads. You’ll learn a lot from watching these two videos, even if you just go back to using a simple method.

Troubleshooting Your Tom Sound

If you’re having issues with your tom sound, you might have your resonant heads tuned too high or too low, among other common issues like not enough resonance, or a dead sound. Rob Brown has some great troubleshooting tips for common tom problems too.

If you get stuck – start over. Take your heads off, inspect your shell and hardware, then reseat or change your heads and use the tips above to get a fresh tune. Sometimes that’s easier than trying to identify a particular issue.

Dampening Techniques for Toms

Just like snare drums, sometimes some dampening or muffling will help you achieve the tom sound you want. Jerrod “J-rod” Sullivan has a great intro to this topic. Cody from Sounds like a drum tries putting rings inside of the drum in this video, and explores some more techniques for that “punchy” sound so many drummer love.

Drum Tuning for Bass Drums

Tuning Bass Drum Batter Heads

There’s more to tuning a bass drum than you might think, and a number of sounds you can get from one. For a few basic methods, check out Rob Brown’s bass drum tuning tutorial. For more, check out S

Tuning Bass Drum Resonant Heads

Many people kind of forget about the resonant (reso) bass drum head. There’s plenty you can do there to impact the overall sound of your kick drum though, like changing sustain or pitch by tuning the reso. DrumDog has nice video of the ways you can impact your bass sound via the resonant head, and so does Sounds Like a Drum.

Troubleshooting Your Bass Drum Sound

Sometimes you’ll find yourself struggling with your bass drum sound or looking for something different. Many people struggle to get that big punchy sound, illustrated here by Cody Rahn, who also discusses how extra large bass drums can be a little tricky. If you want some more general troubleshooting tips, watch this.

Dampening Techniques for Bass Drums

Most drummers use some type of dampening for their bass drum. This can vary quite a bit depending on your use case and the sound you’re looking for. Rob Brown covers some different techniques, including some of the ones listed below.

Tuning to a Note or To the Shell

Most drum sets aren’t tuned to a specific note, but some are in some cases. If you’d like to try this, check out this video by Sounds Like a Drum. I only mention this here because you should know it’s an option. In most cases, it’s not necessary, but there are drummers who do it, particularly for studio recordings. You can also check out Rob Brown’s video on why he thinks it’s a bad idea for most drummers.

Another thing you’ll see mentioned in drum tuning discussions is tuning to the shell. This means understanding the pitch of the shell itself and tuning your heads to match. Again, Sounds Like a Drum has a great breakdown of this approach, and a follow up.

Tools and for Tuning Your Drums

Tools for Tuning Drums

    Conclusion

    Mastering the art of drum tuning is a journey that requires patience, practice, and an ear for detail. By familiarizing yourself with different tuning methods and techniques, you’ll be able to unlock the full potential of your drums and achieve the perfect sound for any musical situation.

    So grab your drum key, start with the simple method at the beginning of this article, experiment with different tunings mentioned in the individual sections, and let your creativity run wild. Happy tuning!