Tune bot sticky?

[drumminjc]

I just recently picked up the Tune Bot Gig and am curious on other people's settings. Sadly I haven't had a chance to tune my DWs with it but would like to get some reference pitches for drums 8-16 and 22.

[insane65]

I thought DW wrote the pitches for each drum on the inside of the shell. Apparently when those shells are first made they tap them with a toffee hammer to determine pitch and match shells that way.

[JY Kelly]

I thought DW wrote the pitches for each drum on the inside of the shell. Apparently when those shells are first made they tap them with a toffee hammer to determine pitch and match shells that way.

John Good also sprinkles fairy dust personally on each shell.

[Drumming-4-Life]

I thought DW wrote the pitches for each drum on the inside of the shell. Apparently when those shells are first made they tap them with a toffee hammer to determine pitch and match shells that way.

You can try to take the pitch of the shell into account, but if you tune the heads the same, AND match the pitch of the shell... you will have a drum that resonates FOREVER... longer than your cymbals. I'm not looking for that type of sound.

Also, some DW shells are not pitched. My Performance shells are not marked with a note,. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with their HVX shell construction.

[DJ Catchem]

I've gotten some of the best sounds I've put on tape by tuning both top and bottom heads of my 25th Anniversarys to the printed shell pitch, and applying small amounts of muting.

But that's the wonder of studio magic. Live is a totally different story....

-C

[keaton_86]

John Good also sprinkles fairy dust personally on each shell.

I thought DW wrote the pitches for each drum on the inside of the shell. Apparently when those shells are first made they tap them with a toffee hammer to determine pitch and match shells that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl-BmMukwbI

RDavidR just did a video about exactly this. It's worth a watch.

[insane65]

Just watched the video. Thanks Keaton for posting it. DavidR sure is a gem isn’t he? Since he has access to a piano why didn’t he just match the pitch of the drum to the piano???? He mentioned something about having to have perfect pitch. I say why not try to train your ears. I don’t have perfect pitch but I’ve been told by band members that I have very good pitch. I didn’t wake up one fine morning with that ability. I worked on it.

As far as the DW kit itself, screws loose and backing out of the shells and a chunk missing from the inside ring is unsavory for a high end priced kit. Once DavidRRR got the Tunebot to tell him that the heads matched the suggested note per shell the kit did sound good. With his tuning the kit sounded OK as well.

This video is the exact reason why I don’t own a DW kit. For my applications I need drums to sound good tuned high or low. Over the years I’ve learned how to tune by ear to make all tuning situations possible. I also need a kit that doesn’t have fit and finish concerns. When I got my Refs back in 05 they were absolutely perfect out of the box. I checked each drums bearing edges and they were perfect. I checked tension on all screws inside the shells and found every screw to be set properly. JY got it right when he referenced John Good and fairy dust. Good might be able to sell a gallon of gasoline and a book of matches to a man who is on fire ( and the guy thanks him) but the quality of his drums fall far short of the asking price.

[Josh Conover]

Since he has access to a piano why didn’t he just match the pitch of the drum to the piano????

What makes you think the piano was anywhere near the drums?

It’s easier to take a camera to a piano than a drum kit anywhere…

[Tommy_D]

I have tried using the 'artist tunings" on the TuneBot website and they never sound good to my ear. It's my belief that each kit (what it is made of, what the drum depths are, the bearing edge profiles, etc) requires slightly different tuning and ratios between top and bottom. Each head requires slightly different tuning and ratios between top and bottom. Each room requires slightly different tunings to sound good. Because of this, I have not found posting specific Hz measurements on the forum to be a benefit to the group because there are too many factors.

All I can say is to initially tune the heads from fully loose up to the point where they really start to sing at each lug when tapped. Its easy to know when you have hit that spot. That will land you likely in a low-mid tuning range on the drum. Use the Tunebot to get the readings to within 1Hz of eachother at each lug. Do that on both sides and you will have a good starting point of a tuned drum. It likely still wont sound perfect right there. It may take an eighth or quarter turn up or down on each side to get the top to bottom ratio to a point where the heads work best together, but in the end you will end up with a nice sounding drum.

Also, I have found that a 10" tom and a 16" floor tom tune up perfectly at 1 octave apart. That little tip seems to work on all kits I have ever tried it on.