I owe you a big thanks. I just bought a LCM and was trying to get as much info on tuning range. You answered all my questions, and my kit is sounding great. Thanks.
Love all the great tuning videos out there. The method I personally like the most was John Good's. I have my top heads higher than my resonants. That style of tuning will give you the same note with more attack. Downward pitch bend instead of upward. Keep up the good work. Love the green screen!
This was so helpful, thank you so much for this, I may change the way I tune my drums now, I know you are a drum tech, or you were, I appreciate all the Intel, I’m learning from you
Glad you found it helpful. I’m just trying to pass on some info I’ve learned over the years. It may work for you, it may not. The drum has to sound and feel right to you, so hopefully these tips will help you get YOUR sound 🙂
@@ccdrums1290 CC! It was very helpful, I always love videos like this, these are the kind of videos I search for on RU-vid, so thank you, you are the best, have a great night my bud
Great videos mate. I have a similar Ludwig kit but it’s 9x13, 16x16, 14x22. I use coated Emp batter and coated Amb reso on Toms. I tune my snare to a G, rack to an A, and floor to a D (minor third higher reso) instead of say G, G, C. The slightly higher tuning works well for the style of music we play which has a foot in early 60s rock so it has a touch more of a vintage vibe.
@10000horsepower That’s a great tuning for those sizes. My rack tom fundamental is an A too, floor about a D#. Very similar to yours 😁. I agree about the cymbals, and they’re durable too. Glad to hear you’re playing Paiste. Thanks for commenting!!
So the tuning on drums is subjective….what works for me may not work for you, but with that being said, my 16” is at 138 hz. on top, 155 hz. on the bottom. That’s a tad high, but it’s because I have an 18” floor tom too. I would tune the 16” lower if it was by biggest floor, probably to 123 hz. on top, 138 hz. on bottom. Somewhere around there. A 12” tom would be somewhere around 196 hz. On top, 220 hz. on the bottom. These are just estimates but should get you in the ballpark. Hope that helps!
Nice video 😊 you mentioned in the comments that if you were using just a 13 & 16 that you would drop the 16 a little in pitch. Would you also drop the 13 down too, to maintain a perfect 5th between drums? Thanks
Hey man, thanks for your question. I would probably go with what sounded and felt best. Usually the interval between the mounted tom and floor tom sounds good at a 4th or 5th. The 13” may sound too low and feel a little sloppy if I lowered it too much….it depends. If it sounded and felt good and worked for the music, I would go with a 5th interval. That’s about where my fundamental notes are currently on my 13” and 16”. The 13” is about an “A” and the 16” is around a “D”. It’s not precise, the 16” reads a D# but it’s close…augmented 4th I guess haha.
Thanks so much mate @@ccdrums1290 🙏 Can I also ask if you were to use Ambassador Batters over ambassador Resos, what kind of interval relationship would you shoot for between top and bottom ?
@@Michael127gerard if it was me, since the heads are the same thickness (1 ply), I would tune both heads to the same pitch and tune them to a medium low tension so they sing. Then if for some reason there was too much sustain, I would experiment with raising the bottom head to control it. Hope that helps!
That’s an emperor on the batter and if it was an ambassador, I may tune both heads to the same pitch since the bottom is a clear ambassador…..just to see if I could get a bigger, fuller tone.
@@ccdrums1290 Cool, thanks! I've got a Renown kit in these sizes and I've tuned them too low for a long time. Discovered how much better they sound tighter yesterday and I'm gonna use this video for reference when I get home. Much appreciated 👍
Yes. If both heads were single ply, I probably would do that. Simon Phillips is a drummer whose sound I love. His tom heads top and bottom are clear ambassadors tuned to the same pitch. I’ve done that in the past and have gotten a nice full tone that way. But I usually have a 2 ply batter head and a single ply resonant head. The most important reason I tune the bottom head tighter, for me, is sound and feel. The drums project, record and feel better when tuning the bottom head higher. Also, I find that with a 2 ply batter head and a single ply resonant head, the single ply head has a higher pitch when tensioned the same amount as the top 2 ply head. For example, if I turn the tension screws one full turn on both sides, the single ply head ends up having a higher pitch….even though there is the same amount of tension on each head. So in essence, if I matched the pitches on both heads, the resonant head would end up with less tension. To my ear, the sound doesn’t “explode” out of the drum when struck like it does when the bottom head is tuned higher. Also, having the bottom head tighter shortens the sustain a bit, which helps when recording. Anyway, that’s my reasoning. I hope that makes sense.
Well, depending on style of music, head selection and what you’re looking for in sound….it depends. I can only tell you how I tune mine and you can use that as a reference. I don’t have a 12” anymore, but when I did, it was tuned in the same manner. I use a 2 ply head on top, 1 ply bottom, so I always have my bottom head a little tighter. How much tighter? It usually ends up around a full step (2 notes) to a minor third (3 notes). If I had the same type of head top and bottom, like ambassadors, I’d probably tune them to the same pitch to see if I could get a big full sound that way. Anyway, the top head on my 12” was tuned to about a G note (196 hz) and the bottom to an A (220 hz). Those worked well for me. Hope that helps!
Thanks for your quick response! I use coated amassadors top and clear 1 ply bottom. Just curious how you would tune 12". I like how you tuned the 13". So i'm experimenting weather to tune top and bottom equal or how you do it. Your method made my old 13 16 20" kit sound great! Also have a newer pearl session studio select with 12 16 22" ... have them tuned equal now. Nice to hear from you.
@@jeroenvanderlinden7773 Great! Glad you found the info helpful. As you probably already know, experimenting with the tensions just to see how the drum ends up sounding is key. For me and the fact that I use a 2 ply head on top, the bottom head tighter sounds better. It just adds more life to the drum and projects really well.
@@jeroenvanderlinden7773 Cool. My app (Drumtunepro) pretty much does the same thing. But, I don’t rely on it. I tune by ear first to get the drum sounding as good as I can. The only reason I find what frequency the heads are tuned to is for replication purposes.
