Tuning the drums to the bass?

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

I recently heard someone mention, when listening to a jazz combo, that it sounded as if the bass drum was not tuned to the (upright) bass. I'd never heard of doing that. Can someone enlighten me on the subject please?

[This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 02 November 2002 at 06:49 AM.]

John Steele · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

The drummer in my old piano trio use to set his kit up, then he'd ask me for a B... then he'd tune his toms.
I have no idea why he chose B. I used to think it was kinda funny.
-John

Ricky Davis · From: Bertram, Texas USA

WEll the Drums/each drum has a tone to it.
I can tell a difference when the Kick drum is not tuned properly.
Most good Drummers....tune their Kick to a E tone.
Ricky

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

Well. the Forum always has another revelation...I have never, in my 50 years in this business, been asked by a drummer to give him a note to tune with!

Most of them, especially the ones with the electronic drums, spend most of the available "tuning time" playing rolls on their drums.
To me, that has always compared to the guitar player who "practiced his fast licks" while everyone else was trying to tune.
www.genejones.com

Johan Jansen · From: Europe

Ask them if they temper-tune or 440

------------------

my bands CODand TSC

John Steele · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

I spent the day in the studio. Today the drummer (different guy) asked for a C.
So I asked him; "Why C ?"
"It's the people's note" he sez.

-John
I'm glad he and the B guy weren't playing duets.

[This message was edited by John Steele on 02 November 2002 at 04:47 PM.]

Paul Graupp · From: Macon Ga USA

I've always had a standing joke with the drummer: You all tuned up ?? They'd answer something funny but after reading this it doesn't seem funny anymore........

Regards, Paul

Jim Bob Sedgwick · From: Clinton, Missouri USA

I have played over the years with several drummers who tuned their drums. One of these drummers, tuned his Bass drum to E, Snare to G, Tom Toms to Bb and F. This guy was more of a fanatic about tuning his drums than most steel players. Go figure. Anyway, how do you tune out the beats. That's all drummers do is beat em.

Dave Boothroyd · From: Staffordshire Moorlands

The pitch perception of drums is a very complex problem. Drum skins produce a lot of mathematically unrelated harmonics, so it is possible to ignore the fundamental frequency.
None of this applies to tabla players though, the skin of a tabla is loaded to make it produce a more recognisable note by damping out some of the Bessel functin hsrmonics.
Cheers
Dave

Mark Ardito · From: Chicago, IL, USA

This is funny, I used to work as an engineer at a studio in Chicago and one day this session drummer came in and tuned his drums for each song! Yep, he made me take down the mics around it so he could tune the drums to the key of the song. I had never heard of ANYONE else ever doing this before, and I thought it was a total waste of time, but you know what. Those were the best drum sounds I ever got! They fit perfect.

He was crazy...

Mark

------------------
Sho~Bud Pro I, Fender D-8 (C6&E13) http://www.darkmagneto.com

Brian Wetzstein · From: Billings, MT, USA

I enjoy playing the drums sometimes... I believe that every drum will have a note that it is most related to. some high-end drums like drum workshop drums have the note of the drum stamped on the inside. you can of course vary that note by the tension of the drum heads... but the drum would seem to sound best tuned to its "natural note". oh well. most people I play with are not as picky as I am.

David Pennybaker · From: Conroe, TX USA

David Doggett · Posted 6 Nov 2002 10:24 am

Orchestral kettle drums are always tuned carefully to the notes specified in the piece. But for regular drums, I think Brian has the answer. Good drum sets specify the note to tune each drum to in order to get the proper tension on the head. Maybe one could go a tone one way or the other to match the typical keys a group uses (say E or A for a blues band, G or C for a country band)? But it doesn't seem like there is a whole scale available without getting to a point where the tension is not right. Retuning between pieces in a live set seems really impractical, but might be worth it for a recording session, especially for jazz. Hey, anything that makes drums sound better, I'm for it.

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

WHAT? was that, that Dave said? I'm impressed but at a complete loss???

And Gene, we must have been playing on the same band stands.... Virtually EVERY DRUMMER I've ever met, concentrated on drum rolls and heavy rim shots throughout my limited time to tune up which, as you stated, is when the lead guitarist would crank up his treble, presence and volume in order to do his overwhelming, screaming high note runs.
Overall...I've had more difficulty tuning, after the electric bassman, has done five minutes of bass runs and chord strumming...than any other kind of audio crippling.
Oh well............

Brian Wetzstein · From: Billings, MT, USA

It is not uncommon for a drummer or even the producer to change snare drums during one song. For example, one snare for the verse and a different snare for the chorus. I once boasted a collection of 15 snare drums! They all sounded different to me, but mabye not so different to anyone else!

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: