How to tune your drumset

November 15, 2007

Mark writes for Drums:

Firstly... Start by preparing the drum shell for re-heading.

• The best thing to do is to wipe all the edges and the inside of the shell, reason being, if there is any sharp objects left behind it will run the chance of ruining your new drum skin.
• Loosely fit the skin onto the shell of the drum. Once the skin is sitting over the top of the shell apply light pressure to the middle of the skin with the palm of your hand, not too much as you don‘t want to ruin your lovely brand new skin. This process helps the skin break in for easier & quicker tuning.
• Replace the hoop around the shell, then start putting the tension bolts in. Hand-tighten the tension rods until they make full contact with the hoop, rather than over tensioning the head, forcing it to break in.
• Regardless of the type of drum you are tuning I suggest using the “Cross-lug Tuning Sequence”. What this entails is working across the drum. Dont tune each tension lug one after the other, in a circle around the drum.

BASS DRUM

• Tighten the head using the cross-lug sequence until all the wrinkles are gone (repeat the same step for front head if replacing)
• Attach your pedal and just by tapping the bass drum tweak each tension rod until you think you‘ve reached your desired tone.

TOMS

• Tighten all the tension rods so they are only “Finger Tight”.
• Whilst hitting the skin with a stick, start applying some pressure to each tension rod (1/4 turn at a time works best) until you create a resonating tone.
• Remember both the top and bottom skins on a tom should be relatively same in pitch!

SNARE

• The Snare drum is one of the main, central drums on a drum kit, and sometimes it can be one of the hardest drums to tune correctly.
• Tighten the head using the cross-lug sequence until all the wrinkles are gone.
• Whilst hitting the skin with a stick, start applying some pressure to each tension rod (1/4 turn at a time works best) until you create a resonating tone.