(This is my beautiful new custom drum kit being built by C&C in the US, hopefully I’ll have an idea of tuning before this badboy turns up)
Day 3.
Again morning session, not producing much progress, but definitely starting to hear the different pitches better. Began work on the bass drum, replaced head, (from a pinstripe to a power stroke 4, as the pinstripe is completely the wrong head for the job, far too open sounded, and doesn’t retain the low end from the 24″ kick).
Another problem is lugs feeling tight and the tension being loose and vice a versa, however the guys from GAK put me onto Prof. Sound’s Drum Tuning Bible, which is literally the BIBLE on tuning drums, so therefore I will be mostly studying from that from now on, check it out here as a downloadable PDF:
http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/PSound_DTB_V2.pdf
Its pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty…. pretty in depth, see you on the other side, lots to learn, and gotta dash off to a gig now!!
Another good read mate
Hope you enjoy the tuning book. But don’t take it as 100% as tunning is so different based on the indevidual drummer. But I’m sure u will get some good tips.
Regarding base drum it’s all about internal muffling to achieve the tone u like. A good pillow achieves this.
A great way to improve your ears is to grab a tuner. Take the top note on the drum been tuned and match it with the note on the tuner. Then sing that note and try to repeat it round the drum then check with the tuner. Unfortunutly as drummers we have to work extra hard with learning notes and how they fit together (ie 5ths). Unlike guitar players that pick it up as a matter of course. Looking forward to seeing your ideas. Any chance you can upload some audio clips of your progress.
Thanks dude for reading, and trying not to take the bible as gospel, but good place to start. Gigged my kit tonight, sounded a bit ropey which is disheartening, but suppose I got to expect that after only a few days work. Will try upload some sounds but not sure if I’m ready yet!