Diagnosing Common Tom Tuning Issues | Season Two, Episode 28 

This is without a doubt the most helpful drum channel on the internet. You cover EVERY little what-if's and not only is it highly informative, it's entertaining as shit.

that acro sounds so hot i forgot to focus on the toms. oh well, ill happily watch it all again

Great, This is an amazing demo. I hope you get lots of listeners as you are spot on. Thanks for the wonderful advice. Donnie

Im not surprised this channel is growing so much. Great info, to the point, great drummer, great clarity and your manner is gentle not like Baker or Buddy. We love your shows keep it up and don't change the formula.

great content as always! as a teacher myself, I'd love to see this channel's experiments and insights grow into the marching and also the concert community. maybe with guest hosts or interviews? could be pretty interesting... can't wait to see what you guys have in store for the future!

Bro I want to thank you actual useful information that almost any drummer can use.

I love this video, especially that “A” to “B” comparison with the mics at the end. I would be very interested to hear that same comparison with the toms in their ideal range. Love the channel!

You are an awesome teacher, man. I've been playing for almost 20 years. You taught me things in 12 minutes that I've been struggling to learn for ages. Keep up the great work.

Without a doubt the best drum channel by far! Thanks a million Cody & the boys at Cadence Productions 👍

i starter playing drums about a year ago, and honestly a dont even want to imagine what my drums would sound like without this channel

This is amazing! You're so thorough and knowledgeable in every video.

You nailed again guys.!!! I have friends who try to make that 10" tom sound like a 12".They spend big bucks on quality kits and they just don't sound right.They listen to my 10" tom and say it's tuned to high.There the same people who's snare rattle and they end up sacrificing a great snare sound because of that 10" tom.I will definitely be sharing this video,thanks guys.Keep up the great work.As I've said in the past,your helping a Lot of people in the drumming community.!!!

I freaking LOVE your content! Very helpful and informative, and just plain cool af.

as a player im not as fussy, but getting into engineering for the past 7 years it can give you a headache. great video, love the channel!

Great video. Definitely have been experimenting for the past two years with tuning. I know what heads I like and I dont like super highly tuned Tom's. I've come to a happy medium and it is partly thanks to you guys.

I tried to tune toms in my studio literally for HOURS and you just explain my problem in the first couple of minutes :D

Man this helped me out a lot, I’m a beginner and I just couldn’t get my tuning right but this man here just opened up my mind. Thanks

You’re dead on about how mics pic up toms (and sometimes the whole kit). Fine tuning is great for studio work, but I can’t say I’d do this for live. Guitars and other loud things shut the sustain down pretty quick. Great work here of course. You really give us a new way of thinking.🤘🏻🤘🏻

I think the drum community is yet to discover this channel, you guys are getting the content dead on! thanks for this

Great video! I think the common issue I run into is just not having the patience or enough time to actually mess with toms, diagnose sounds issues, or even just tuning them with a more mindful and precise touch. Eventually I get to a point where I’m tired of tweaking and just kinda roll with what I’ve got even though I know they can sound so much better

great video! really enlightening about what you can do with your kit. thanks a lot

Great video as always, and really like the way you approach to the tuning issues on drums. You also touched a very good point of how the drums sound towards the drummer and how the drum sounds towards the audience, yeah that is a very important issue to consider on live show indeed. Thanks for the insights!

Your content is outstanding. Keep it coming.

Great information! Tuning is not easy. The first two examples sounded good to my ears.

This is a great lesson Cody, thank you!

The best channel for drum tech ever.

nicely demonstrated as usual. see you in a week !!

Ok, 10:12 was really an eye opener for me. Wish I could hear this comparison for more of the erroneous tunings!

Really helpful and informative

Loads of great info here - thanks a lot!

This is great and I’ve dealt with all of these issues at one point or another. One thing I’d like to see is possibly addressing technical issues with snares. For instance, tension rods backing out of lugs when playing for extended amounts to if time, and other things line that. I think it could go along well with a video line this. Just trouble shooting issues in general. Thanks guys.

The more I play the more I see that "bad" or "off" sound itself doesn't exist. I mean: the most important thing is musical context. If it fits to certain musical style, purpose or application - it works! Personally my favourite style of tuning is bebop like: tight & focused but still open.

Wise words. You continue to educate our ears in order to be able to tune to our own preferences. Knowing how to do this is key. Many thanks and long may you continue. You could set something up like 21 Drums ( Dublin, Ireland ) and it would be a great success and, no doubt, over subscribed. Ty.

"Not super on top of the job" - I love it!!! :)

You guys should do a video talking about tuning for different shell constructions, like a maple drum versus a birch drum versus an oak drum, etc. I have a Ludwig keystone kit and I've got it tuned pretty well I think, I feel like you guys would have better know-how as to how to get the best possible sound out of an oak shell. Love the channel guys, keep rockin'!

Really good video. Thanks so much.

I once knew a shady Tom. Turns out he was dealing drugs.

I’m glad you released a video about troubleshooting toms! Your troubleshooting snare video helped me figure out how to better tune my snare. So my unique problem is I have an 18” floor Tom that is so incredibly difficult to tune properly. I’m tuning using the resonance of the drum rather than the attack of the drum. My question is, what tips or workarounds do you have for drums that are particularly finicky or difficult to properly tune?

Nice video. The first messed up tom lesson is what I actually had to do with my snare. I had the reso just too tight and I keep the batter kinda mid, so I wasn’t really getting any sonic pressure to the reso to make the snare wires go, so I just loosened the reso a bit and now it’s got good response and good tones without too much overtone. Also, kinda going back to that Stanley Randolph left kit, I personally have purposely left my reso tom heads a bit loose for two reasons. 1. With the heads further apart in tuning you get more of that like twang sound and 2. it’s a lot more of an airy sound that often sounds more old school, so I especially do that when I play some funky stuff. I’ll even tighten the reso back up when I go back into rock/pop/hip hop drumming to get a more complete sound. The only thing that’s weird that I get, is sometimes my 12” creates this like weird airy sound when I hit it, but like it’s making something vibrate that isn’t supposed to. It doesn’t do it as much once I tighten the reso back up, so it seems like it has to do with the frequency and maybe even just some extra air coming out somewhere. But the way I see it is basically what you said at the end. If the sound works for whatever you’re going for at the time, then go for it. Don’t worry about being proper or correct based upon what the majority does. Just do you.

A godsend as always! Do you guys have any solutions for getting a lower pitched, big fat snare sound temporarily (a song, section of song), when the normal sound on that snare either needs a handkerchief or moon gels? Small venue RnB stuff thanks!!!

Boy,he,s spot on ,on back line kits

You guys have a lovely channel. Thank you for all your hard work. On which video do we get to hear that cymbal we keep seeing up by the wall?

Cody, nice video episode. Most helpful in so many ways. I Love Toms too. I'm only a recreational / Hobbyist drummer , at 70 yo, retired. I play for personal pleasure and "fun". But I keep fooling with my Toms (5 of them !!), 8", 10" 12"[rack Toms & , 14" and a 16" Floor Toms. PDP concept Maple Kit with G2 Coated Batters , G1 Clear Reso heads. I find it so difficult to get that noce Doooo, Doooo sound (As explained by Jared on DRUMEO). Either I get too much Overtone, especially on the Floor Toms, or not enough tone if I tune them too low (batter heads). I then need to add Mufflers : Moon Gel or Gatt Tape to the batter heads. Do most Drummers, use Muffling to some extend? I don't see on any of your Drums... THX for the info and any responses. Happy New Year for 2022.

Thanks for the analysis guys. I noticed through 10+ years of drumming that tom suspensions systems that hold only the batter side, like RIMS, TAMA Mount, DW's, permit more sustain out of the drum than mounts like Pearl's optimount or Sonor' SQ2 mount.... This is mostly due to having a tension free reso head which increases the tuning range. Also floor tom legs that are bent 90 degrees instead of 45 let the floor tom resonate more. However, en extended version of the 45 degree leg like the Pearl LG200/3 will actually let the vibration carry through more, which makes the floor tom a bit more warm and full, especially for the 16"plus sizes.

Haven't watched it yet but I know it's going to be good. I already liked it

One of the frustrating things for me, especially with some of the backline kits I encounter, is that they don' t always have suspension tom mounts but rather a stock tom mounting bracket affixed directly to the toms. Sometimes the tom holder stays on the outside of the drum (like Gretsch, Ludwig or Tama) or goes invasively into the drum (like Rogers, Yamaha or Pearl). What happens in these instances is that I will pull the tom off the tom holder and get it totally in tune and sounding great, only to have all that beautiful resonance and tone disappear after re-mounting the tom. I can get some of it back depending on how far in or far out the mounting rod is going into the drum's tom bracket, but then I run into positioning issues. We all know that those type of tom mounting systems are obviously putting some stress on the shell to the point where it can't possibly resonate freely, regardless of how well you tune the drum. And I'm old enough to remember when R.I.M.S. mounts first came on the market to address this problem (successfully I might add). But do you guys have any tips on how to achieve a better tom sound when a suspension type tom mount isn't in the cards? Thanks. Love your channel.

Cody. I particularly liked the near/far comparison to show the throw of the tone. I've played kits that drummers think sound ringy but when they step away to let me play they think they sound great. It's nothing to do with my drumming that's for sure.

Rakish snare angle there, slick.

I kind of liked the "too low" toms. They sound dirty in a good way. You get more head smack too

Thanks Very helpfull

I was wondering how I can make my toms sound similar to timpani? I know they are two very different instruments and they will not sound exactly the same way, but I was wondering what tuning and drumheads I should use to make them sound similar to the timbre of timpani. I am not necessarily looking to tune them to definite notes, though. I have a Tama Superstar Classic maple kit.

Could you do an episode on how to survive with a practice room/gig kit everyone uses with beaten up shells and heads ? ^^

Amateur drum tech here. On my personal kit I tend to keep them at a medium low tuning cause thays where my drums sound best to my ear in relation to the snare with my 2 tom set up(kinda a muffled true medium to a barely muffled medium low. I love my internal muffler, and it can really affect the pitch if i go for it). I put a single drum dot on my 13 inch tom and have 2 currebtly on my 16 inch floor tom (for fun really. It doesnt need 2 but hey the extra attack is fun sometimes) However, when i tune other peoples kits for them,especially the toms, I always go through a formula. First I Check the heads to make sure i know if im working with heada that are warped or worn out (juat in case). Then i tune the heads, top and bottom until they are making the lowest clean tone I can get, then adjuat as needed to make the heads work together for a clean sound. Then, depending on how the drummer/band/sound tech wants it I can set it roughly to intervals, muffle, and tune them up in that order. My church's kit is odd, in that the leader (who plays drums on occasion) wants the drums to be low, have moderate tone, resonate a touch, and have moderate attack. Since im dealing with remo pinstripes, I tuned them to a nice low resonant tone, tuned them up a half turn, added rings and a strip of tape accross the bottom quarter of the mounted tom batter head (sucker really had to much attack). Ended up adding an eigth-of-a-turn to the mounted tom for interval reason (said he wanted thirds, but then changed his mind). Ended up with a nice sound through the mics, kinda a tuned up bluesy feel. I should mention the venue is small with horrible acoustics so loud and proud drums is not feasible even behind a cage, so I was tuning with bundle-sticks in mind. Anyways, if you know you're gona be muffling, highly recommend muffling the drums before you tune them up in tone, saves many a headache.

I would really love to know what cymbals you're playing. I'm in the market for a thin ride, and that one sounds fantastic.

My drums sound great until I mount them on the hardware. They choke out when mounted but reso for days when I hold by the rim. I know this was the basis for the RIMS mounting system. I am gigging out with a Yamaha kit that uses the YESS system. It was just the 12 at first then I got away from them for a spell. Came back to them tuned them up sounded great and then the 10 started choking out! Definitely not expected. Super frustrating! Any suggestions?

So, do you tune the bottom head with the top head off? I can never hear the difference pitches when both heads are on!

What kit yall use its really nice

Hey there, huge fan of yours. I have a 1983 sonor signature beech kit. If you know these drums you know how different and, in my opinion, cool sounding they are. That being said, They weigh a TON, and it would be nice to have a kit with thinner shells to do some different stuff on. I generally tune my reso heads just barely maybe half a turn higher than “contact” level, and the batter heads slightly higher but still very low. I use a tama (my second favorite brand possibly) starphonic walnut snare, with aquarian studio x batter side and aquarian classic clear reso side. The kick is 20x16 and I have super kick I batter and the stock sonor head reso. I can’t seem to get the volume of the bass drum up to where I would like. This may be simply because I tend to hit hard and play a lot of rim shots even on the toms. Any ideas for BD heads? I would like to go back to using all remo heads but don’t want to spend the money at this point, and everything sounds good with the aquarian heads so i’m just focusing on the bd now. I don’t like to use muffling on my BD unless i’m recording or the type of stuff i’m playing absolutely demands it. I was thinking of just using power stroke 3 batter and reso on the bass drum but wanted to hear what you had to say on this topic.

I always have this problem when tuning toms: there're two lugs (opposite lugs) that always sound so weird and so hi pitch, but without tone or something like that, even if all the lugs have the same amount of turns, it seems that those two lugs will never sound the same as the others. This is happening to me with an Absolute Hybrid Maple and a Stage Custom. Does anybody know why?

Love you channel. I often have problems with 14" toms resonating too long. It sound great but have too much sustain for close micking. Any idea?

7:36 kinda has that abbey road ringo starr sound 😲

Uh oh......I now see why I’m a bass player. Lol. They still sounded good to me even when they were “ messed up”. 😂

My 10'' tom is making my snares buzz and sing in a way that should not be happening.. Puresound wires, evans heads.. Struggling a bit with the hd dry.. Bit papery... (?)

I’ve had my pinstripes clear for years and trying on some coated ambassadors one ply I’ve collected different drum heads in my box all different sizes

Great video , just bought a pearl midtown and when I played a 10 inch Tom , I note a poor resonance , I changed the batter and reso drumhead because the factory drumheads are bad quality (very thinner) .I put a remo ambassador smooth white on batter and put a evans reso 10 mil ply on reso. How would do you recommend me tunning the tom for a better resonance ? Its a poplar wood.. Greetings from Mexico...

Pounding away and enjoying yourself. Slow down Cody, you're gonna get thrown out of places. 10:36

Well another issue I think that should be addressed is mounted Toms . After tuning the Tom off the mount and striking it while just holding it by the rim, the Tom sings nicely. Then when attaching it to the mount, all of a sudden the tone gets choked, the resonance is gone. I’ve run into this many times. Especially with mounts that are attached directly to the shell, as soon as the mount gets tightened the shell gets effected and the open tone is severely diminished. Even some drums that have a suspension system experience this. It’s kind of a drag when you tune the drum to a desired sound, the sweet spot if you will , then attach the drum to the mount and it doesn’t sound at all as it did before mounting it. Any experience you’ve had with this?

Problem #3 is like “oh no, my Tom sounds too good!”

I have this problem!!!! The drum sounds good in front of me but sounds so low n out of tune away from the drum(audience)

A possible idea for an episode - How to tune the bass drum for a double pedal, to get it sounding even but still punchy.

I have a PDP concept maple classic kit with 13 and 16" toms and i'm trying to find a good drumhead combination that will allow me to tune my drums pretty low but still resonate. Any suggestions?

Awesome👏👏👏👏🥁🥁🥁🇨🇦🇨🇦

love your channel and content but gotta tell you that in a musical situation any sound can work even the "wrong" sounding toms in your video are great for disco 70's sounding record dry without any sustain ... yes you can tune them the right way and throw some towel on it to damp the sustain ... but good video ... just remember that in art everything can work if you do it right :D

I took one Tom off my kit because I can’t make it sound good, they all look like they’ve had some major heat damage from sitting in someone’s shed or garage for years before I had them. The plastic on outside is very wavy lol my set sounds way better as a 3 piece now, wish I could tune that 14” though lol

My toms are pretty ringy.How would I fix that.

This was great, as always, however I wish you'd hit the batter and reso heads in each instance, so we'd hear the issues.

I actually kind of liked the first three bad examples more than the opening good example. Am I crazy? EDIT: The a/b at the end helped explain a very objective problem

thanks for making me realise that i dont know anything about tuning drums after more than 10 years 🤦🏻 can you come in canada to tune my drum 😂

Was the bell sound from a dry ride with a small bell?

I think "problem 3" sounds amazing except for the lack of resonance and, I assume, less projection. Great punch and attack and seemingly zero wild overtones.

Just a friendly reminder that the room/venue your playing in dramatically changes your tunning

I actually liked the sound of problem 2 lol

This diagnos can apply on snare ??

What city are you guys based out of?

I saw a band playing live in Columbus Ohio once and the drummer clearly had no idea how to get good sound out of his drum set. He had shoved a bunch of laundry into his Toms until they all sounded completely dead. He actually did not sound like a bad drummer, but his drum set sounded like s***. This will always stick out in my mind as the biggest drum tuning fail I ever witnessed.

#2. laser toms. KILL IT WITH FIRE. "let's hear that rack tom" BREEEE-EWWWRRRRT gunshot

Ah crap. Is there an optimal tuning for projection? Like a just a general technique?

I always screw my Tom #2... for some reason mine always sound like a bucket even with new heads 🥴

Get your headphones!

Grow channel Grow. If you build it, it will grow.

I use 5 toms

Good stuff guys...only one annoyance for me, when you're hitting toms or any drum for the sound or for a comparison between tunings, you hit sooooo slow between things i forget what i hear by the time you get to a comparison. but cool channel!

thats a really expensive lamp stand

Ok, I'm going to admit this: I miss the little drum strike graphics in these videos. I have no idea why, necessarily. Just do.

Rack Tom = D Floor Tom = G#

i like my toms dead