I just give up on tuning...

[scooterdavis]

Get a tune-bot and set it to 318HZ batter and 400Hz reso; done. These settings make my Masters Studio Birch sound like magic.

[dollaXdrummer]

I'm not one to be talking, but you should never give up on tuning. If you're having that much of a problem with solely your snare drum, you should just sit down one of these days. tune, untune,tune, untune, tune, untune until you get the right sound.

The more you perform anything - the better you'll become at it.

[ma86tt]

I agree definitely don't give up. I had the same problem except with my bass. I mastered tuning my toms and snare to my liking but I couldn't get my bass tuned for the life of me but with trial and error and asking some of my drummer buddies who make their basses sing i've finally started to get it where I like it. point of that being you have to keep trying. I got really good with tuning from marching and ear training in college. I was always obsessed with making my line sound as perfect as possible. now with your snare here are my suggestions:

1. make sure you seat the head properly and as you tune (every turn or couple turns) re-seat the head as this will help eliminate the "new head detuning" after you get it to your desired tuning. when I tune, I do half turns to keep it simple to fix any unevenness in the head, if any, and then either use the standard tuning method of picking a lug, then going straight across the head to the corresponding lug, and then returning back to the original lug and move one over and repeat until all the way around the drum Or sometimes i'll use the "evans" method of tuning. I NEVER just go straight around the drum lug by lug because it's next to impossible to get a head evenly tuned when you start out with more tension on one side than the other. not to mention that it could possibly damage your hoop in the long run.
2. as you're tuning continue to check the evenness in pitch at each lug to make sure the head is even. If it's not even don't keep going, it'll only get worse as you tighten. stop and point out the lugs that are at a higher pitch and the lugs that are at a lower pitch. go around the drum the same way you would tuning it except if the lug you're at is one of the higher pitched ones, tune down half turn and if the lug you are at is one of the lower pitched ones, then tune up half turn. continue that until the head is even and then proceed back to the normal tuning.
3. as far as the top and bottom head goes it's more common to do it one of two ways: the first way is to tune both heads to the same pitch; the second way is to tune the bottom head 1/3 step higher than your top which is the way I do it. now by the sounds of it you're pretty good with getting the heads even because you're having a ringing problem. my advice personally for that is tune higher. It all depends on your personal preferences but even with awesome tuning and everything perfect, you're going to get more ring out of a metal snare if the heads aren't tuned high enough. that's not necessarily a bad thing depending on your style and all that. An easy way to sort of get a good higher pitch, if you're good with you're ears, is to tune to E and if you don't like that play with it until you find what you like. I personally HATE dampening of any kind on any drum other than the bass and my bass only has a piece of shirt taped to the bottom of the reso head. To me, putting dampening materials on the heads only takes away from how the drum was supposed to sound when it was designed and shows a lack of proficiency in being able to tune a drum. If you know how to tune a drum then you don't need anything to dampen it with. you can get the drum to sound how you want without using dampening. that being said, you're going to get a slight ring out of a metal snare no matter how you tune but like others have said it does sound different from 10 ft. away than sitting behind the kit. I hope this helps you out and if you have any questions please feel free to pm me or reply to your thread. Good Luck!!!!

[dudewuttheheck]

Tuning is not easy at first. When I first started playing drums I couldn't tune at all, but now I consider myself rather good at it. It's taken me around 10 years to get to that point, so don't give up.

[drummaman1]

My .02 cents...

It might be that the sound you hear in your mind's ear is not matching what is coming from that drum. It's a lot of trial and error, and it might be that that snare drum just cannot be tuned no matter what you do, it's a possibility.

I think a call to a drummer that you really know, that you know has good sounding drums, can help you. Or better yet, you can show him/her what you're doing, and if something is "out of line" or contributing to that not good sound you're getting from that drum, it can be spotted and remedied.

You just can't give up tuning. To give you an example, with one or two exceptions I've never been able to get the tone I'm hearing from 13" toms as I am the other toms. Nowadays I don't need and don't play 13" toms. Back in the days of 12/13/16 though, I had to deal with it. Frustrating, but I never gave up on tuning or learning to tune really well. I just had to deal with drums that went: doooom dut dooooom back then.

[drummerdude1099]

I had the same problem on a sensitone. Its all in the heads it seems with this drum. Use an Evans EC reverse dot and your troubles will vanish! Trust me on this one, I solve my sensitone problems with that head.

[80's Rocker]

Thanks for all the advice that has been given from everybody! Of course I am not giving up, I have still been trying and using some tips you guys have given me...I just got frustrated.

Right now I have the drum tuned fairly well. I still slightly hear the harmonic but it isn't near as noticable as it use to be and I doubt it will be noticable at all at band practice tommorow. (And I will get to hear it from a distance since I am playing guitar in the band...except on Sharp Dressed Man I get to play drums)

I really do love this snare though, and I am glad I ended up going with the steel shell for sure! I got some moon gels, got all my cymbals to A custom and now I really have a pretty nice sounding little drum set! Drums might even be more addicting than guitar gear though! I am considering selling a guitar and my Exports to get some Masters...I really like the MCX's

[Jookbox]

I had the same problem on a sensitone. Its all in the heads it seems with this drum. Use an Evans EC reverse dot and your troubles will vanish! Trust me on this one, I solve my sensitone problems with that head.

I use a similar head on both of my snares, Coated Ambassador reverse dot, and it's perfect. It's amazing how much changing heads can alter the sound of the drum.

The only other thing I can add is don't underestimate tiny millimeter turns of the key. My snare has 10 lugs and a slight turn all around can fix a bad overtone. On the other hand, you can experiment with tuning one or more lugs tighter. There's no rule that says tension has to be the same all around, unless you're still learning to tune.

If worse comes to worse, it might be moongel time. Personally I like ring, especially with other loud musicians.