Electrical Audio How-To: Steve Albini's Drum Tuning Regimes for Toms
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- Опубліковано 5 кві 2019
- Veteran sound engineer and Electrical Audio owner Steve Albini demonstrates three approaches to tuning toms, and discusses their effects on the sound of a drum.
www.electricalaudio.com
Shot by Ed Bornstein and Adam Luksetich
Edited by Taylor Hales
Music by Ed Bornstein
My new catchphrase: "I'll imitate that with my mouth."
Quack!
Quack!
"I'll play it for you with a stick."
I bet you will
😂 this time I'll imitate the sound with my rectum. Beeeerhp. It's not the easiest way to replicate the sound but it's the most accurate.
For me, this has been the best explanation of tom tuning out of all the videos I've seen for this! AMAZING!!!
I would have to agree
@@ricksalt6860 same.
This video helped me get my head round my Moog DFAM drum synthesizer's oscillator envelopes. I didn't know how acoustic drums worked despite playing with a drummer lots of times.
I use "bow" for too loose, "bing" for too tight, and "boom" for just right in describing drum tuning to my students. Thanks for this video!
Excellent video Steve !! Most clear drum tuning basics on the web ! And I really appreciate that you voice everything you do making it accessible to the visually impaired, very thoughtful and considerate.
I hope you find time and will to make more great videos.
Best wishes !!
I’m not sure why Steve’s channel isn’t getting huge, maybe just needs more time. His advice is always the best and easiest for me to understand. I live not too far from him and would love to meet the guy some day.
Great knowledge on this, Steve...Nicely, and simply put out.
Love that! I'm hoping for the next how to tune drums videos!
from the master itself, keep uploading!
This is gold for a drummer. Thank you Steve!
Thank you very much Steve and Electrical Audio! Love how to-the-point and well done this video is, incredibly helpful as a reference
This is the clearest explanation I have ever seen for tuning drums. Thank you for posting.
Thanks so much for these vids, you guys. It really makes such a huge difference hearing from YOU in this sea of noise about recording. Please keep it up!!!
One of the best explanations of drum pitch I’ve heard
From punk to beat box, this man can do it all. thank you for the videos Mr
Clearly described a complex subject with such ease.
I would say that usually jazz drummers actually tune the bottom head the same or lower pitch than the top because it allows for more stick articulation for faster patterns. Many rock drummers tune the bottom head higher because it shortens the decay but keeps the impact noise lower pitched
THANKS - clearest explanation I've heard.
Beautifully explained! well done! thanks so much you are very articulate. a lot of times in these kind of videos if you’re a blind recording engineer, like myself, you can miss things but, you describe things perfectly!
I LOVE IT!! the falling tuning has always been my favorite i must say, especially on toms. On snare it depends :)
His drum sound on In Utero is the best I’ve ever heard! Incredible engineering!
Drummer wasn’t bad either ha! Great sounding record. Just great
@@bigbaby9189 Not bad! Shame he didn’t stick to the drums and didn’t start that god awful band.
@@SlinkiestTortoise23 well said sir🤟
@@SlinkiestTortoise23 he still drums for other bands as a session musician.
@@murk4552 I know the QOTSA stuff but not much else.
This is easily the most informative drum tuning video I've ever watched. I've been tuning my bottom head higher cause I thought it made even a low tuned drum "more resonant" turns out its just a rising decay, and a falling or consistent decay is just as valid. Love it!! Can't way to try it out on a my toms and see if I can that warm falling decay sound going
I really like the Falling tunning and the consonant tunning. Steve is a genius
Genius,... no, maybe you're just dumb. This is common drum knowledge.
Yeah, the rising one is really weird, it has this weird shimmer-ish effect, like the sound just evaporates into the air halfway into sustaining
Awesome! thanks for posting Steve! One thing is to have a drummer suggest how to tune drums and another is from an engineer who will know what it will sound like on tape.
Great Vid Steve.. your a good teacher aswell all the rest....very informative comments also 👍
A mystery for most of life, explained. Excellent video.
Thanks Mr. Albini!
Great video!
wow... thanks you!! Amazing explanation
FINALLY, a video about drum tuning and not how to tighten the lugs equally :)
Awesome video! When is each one of the mentioned tuning methods more preferable?
thanks for this steve!
Took me yrs to get drum tuning right,it can get frustrating even today temperature change can throw the tone off at times,oreven make the kit sound amazing . I'm always making sure it sounds badass before mixing.Thats when the fun for me.🗽♥️
2:55 whoa you can really hear the reflections from that tom in his speaking voice
There is much more going on here than Steve is talking about. There is a mathematical relationship between wavelength and drum size. Some drums are not deep enough to accommodate the wavelength of the fundamental frequency of some of the possible tunings in the corresponding head diameter sizes for that particular drum. When this happens, the standing waves of the overtone series produced by one head will either resonate or cancel out with the standing waves of the overtone series of the other head. The depth and the diameter of the drum shell will therefore allow for a set of pitches will resonate better than others with certain differential tuning combinations of the top and bottom head. Many times the overtone series of a particular tuning of one head will not mathematically correspond with the drum size, and the drum will sound dead and fail to yield a definite tone. Head thickness as well as shell & hoop material will also influence how a drumhead will behave in a drum. All of these factors must work with each other in respect to batter and resonant head tunings to get the drum to « sing » with certain tuning combinations.
In actual practice, I have found that if I am given the time to experiment with any given drum, I will find some tunings; both high and low, that will open a drum up and make it sing. Sometimes the bottom head is tighter, sometimes it’s the same as the top, other times it is looser. It depends, and you just have to find out where that particular drum is going to yield the best tone for itself, and for you.
That's pretty heavy shit coming from a drummer...you sure you aren't a keyboard player? :)
Damn, you drum nerds are just as bad as us guitar geeks ;)
There's way more if you want to study it all...... but when you want people to learn something, cover only the essentials, since it's less to forget. I am a drummer, and a recording technician.
@@vancedylan5842 wahahahahaha
Very smart on you to point that out, but most of those variables are very hard to measure and some impossible to control, so the tension of the heads is actually what matters in real life. So back to Steve and the fact he uses a rising pitch when he wants a falling one.
I like the falling pitch best but I'd have a few moon gels on there to take some of the excessive decay out but maintain those pitches
This is good to know. Well explained. I kinda like the falling drum sound. It actually seems to me that the consonant tuning has the least amount of sustain, whereas you'd think it would have the most. Maybe that's just cause it wasn't perfectly in pitch?
Keep in mind the 3rd example(s) (falling) were on different shells and vintage Ludwigs are often preferred for their short/thuddy sound, not maximum sustain.
I wish this was around before I studied sound at McGill
This is such a long shot but it would be absolute excellence to get a sort of... drum machine technique video from you guys. Just a suggestion.
Was wondering the same thing, like how did big black record theirs?
@@michaelhowe9106 big black was recorded a decade before electrical opened
The first example of “consonant” tuning on the rack tom the heads were not tuned to the same pitch , close but not quite
This is the sound i go for myself
I just call it properly tuned
Yea. I heard that too. I prefer the falling tuning myself though when tuning my tom's.
@@hippydippy What, belonging to your Tom, do you tune?
For me one of the big takeaways is at 3:12. If you like to mount your rack tom on a snare stand, don't drop the tom all the way into the snare basket like you would a snare drum. You'll get much more sustain if you let just the bottom hoop of the tom (the flange, I guess) sit in the basket instead. And don't over tighten the basket either.
Yeah, you mufle too much the bottom if you put it like a snare... That said, generally you don't want toms to sustain that much, unless you're into some electronic crazy band lol (I have cottom balls inside my toms for that, though)
It would be excellent if he gives some examples in recorded songs
shell frequency..........mind blown!
The shell frequency is much higher than what you would normally tune your drum. Hence the quite high jazz sounding tuning the first way around. He is doing it wrong.
The way to utilize the shell pitch is to tune your heads in notes that harmonically works with the shell and also with each other (very few drummers would tune the heads to the same note but rather the bottom head 2 or 2-and-a-half notes higher than the batter head depending on the heads type, shell size etc.
I tend to disagree (that’s what makes comments fun), I’m sure that Steve has worked with so ,many artists, and many of the greatest drummers in the world. He is drawing on his experience, while you may draw on your own experience. Nothing wrong there, simply a difference in opinion/technique. I’m sure that an orchestral percussionist would tune his drums differently than Thomas Lang, or Lars Ulrich, or Sly Dunbar, or Elvin Jones. And if it works, it isn’t “wrong” after all...it is simply “different.” Regardless, I value your input, and it’s interesting to hear your opinion. Peace!
@@Leotardoification Jazz drummers do sometimes use consonant tuning, so personally I think his example tuning of it is an accurate or at least "valid option" - nothing wrong with it. There are famous drummers who tune both heads to the same note, at least for some genres. Rising tuning isn't the one stop shop for everyone or everything. I do think it sounds great and use it myself most of the time but there are reasons to use all of them.
God, I miss my old Champaign sparkle Clubdate kit.
Now I know how to get that descending disco tom sound.
Music is great
Wow I never heard Albini talk. He seems much more like Rudy Van Gelder than I would have imagined!
Get a tunebot to truly understand the relationship between the two heads, you won't regret it!
You can see on Steve's face that he utterly resents this, for one reason: there's no secret, just good work. The issue is that most people won't spend the time or money learning or doing it. Steve's BIG SECRET is also known as "BEST PRACTICES".
best stuff on utb
3:20 Consonant tuning
4:51 Bottom higher
6:10 BOttom lower
no wonder the drums on all those big black records sound perfect!
On all of his records. It’s incredible
RIP Steve
this is really helpful. to my ear it seems like most rock drummers would use falling, is that correct? that method just sounded much better to me and the most 'typical' of how a tom should sound
Bonham was rising if that gives you an idea. I personally think of 80s when I think of falling (??). Rising = shorter, Falling = longer/dramatic perhaps. Some jazz(y) guys do consonant. It's probably not a strict rule on any of that though.
Is the one of these videos but for snares only?
When a genius describe a complex theme it becomes easy!
Tom/ snare stand sounds better than rack mount gear mounted, there is more movement in the wood more vibration
I always tune the bottom head a bit higher, when the pitch is falling it always sounds to me like the drum is depressed and moping. Like it’s saying “oh well”. I guess it would work for emo drums lol
Came here after learning about Bryan St. Pere's kit.
I once had a drum recording engineer (Randy Delay (RIP) at Triclops recording studio in Atlanta, early 90s) remove the rims and heads to find each of my Gretsch shells' "note", using the Steinway grand in the room. The kit sounded fantastic when he was done (several hours later) but I still wonder how necessary it was to do that. Do you guys do this?
There generally isn't time, so we address tuning issues only when there are clear problems, but on the rate occasion that a band has a well-budgeted session, we do refer clients to drum tuners, and it makes a big difference.
We do try to periodically tune house kits by ear.
Though this concept is interesting, it’s incorrect. When we strike a drum, the first pitch of a head you hear is the resonant as they air is being pushed down to resonate the reso head, THEN it returns back up to vibrate the batter. So, his method was correct only in reverse.
And sorry, but the “shell note” bares no real influence on the pitch of the drum, but rather the tone or timbre of the note (notes). When he knocks on the shell you are hearing the resonant head because he only held the batter from ringing. When I tune, I think it’s best to hold whatever head you are NOT tuning as to more clearly hear the head you are tuning. The only thing about an actual shell that influences the pitch or “tuning” of a drum is actually the drums’ baring edge. That’s why a drums sound is not really effected whether the outer shell is painted or wrapped.
And here's a guy who knows all.
Sounds like you are saying that when you normally hit a drum you first hear the bottom head of that drum, is that what you mean ?
neocollective I think that you hear the attack of the batter head but the actual resonant sound you hear first is the bottom head. This can be proven when you hold the bottom head and strike the batter. You can see the sound that is missing. Hope that makes sense.
Sometimes when I hit my drum I can hear somebody yelling shut The F up
@@ftdrum456 If you think about it in a fractal sense you hear them both at the same time but what he is saying is you get the strike of the batter head and the sympathetic ring of the resonant head. Sound moves at 1,100 feet per second. Even with the longest/deepest drum you'd find on a kit there is no way you are hearing one head before another in any discernible way.
I wonder if we could do this with electronic drum machines, just put a “tom” on two tracks and delay/detune one of them…or if it would just end up a mess.
This is exactly what I was trying to find out for long time and all drum tuning videos ive seen here on YT are just mumbling garbage with no base.
Totally..Just the first explanation of the three ways of tuning makes me wanna laugh at all the videos ive seen before
First thought when I started the video: Steve Albini wearing a beanie.
Do you ever record drums with the bottom head off?
If you have questions for Steve, you can email the studio (link on our site).
We have a set of Ludwig Vistalite concert toms (no bottom heads) that we record some time. They're fun to record mainly because you can tune them to pitch much more quickly and easily and play melodically on them. I (Taylor) recorded a record with the bottom heads off, miking inside the shells. It was interesting, but I wouldn't do it again.
@@ElectricalAudioOfficial cheers
What company were the last drums ….Bluetooth grey…???
Bluey grey!!!!
Jenkins-Martin, and man they are great drums.
Thanks very much …..🤔🤔🤔
The drums also need to be tuned for the room they are in. What sounds great in a rehearsal room will require some adjustment to the tuning when the same drums are setup in studio.
Nothing crazy, usually just an eight of a tuning lugs turn is enough but that could be best to go from a lower pitch and work up. Drumheads have a point where you dont want to go past a high tension as you can overstretch them and theyre pretty much junked then.
Sweet baby cripes; how I did I miss the fact that EA had a YT channel?
Dude, I know. The world needed this.
but how do you tuna fish?
i donìt hear the pitch of the shell ahah. Am I crazy?
Using vint Ludwigs to demonstrate...nice.
Why didnt someone tell me this 30 years ago?
Csn u tune my toms steve? Pls
That Clubdate...
bet he's so easy to buy gifts for. just get him a boiler suit.
Yeah yeah but what about nirvana?
This reeeaaallly simplified drum tuning for me after watching 10’s of videos on the matter and being utterly confused by folks’ black magic ways and thinking.
Is it just me or do the 2nd and 3rd tunings both sound falling? And with the 3rd tuning the tom certainly sounded like it's reso head was a higher pitch in the demo
am i the only one hearing massive distortion at around 3:56?
Um, the word you're looking for in this video's title is regimens, not regimes.
Tell that to Stalin!
bah-MMM
I think Steve did this on purpose.
Consonant 3:11 Rising 4:41 Falling 6:02
Drum tuning has this reputation of being this dark art. It’s not, as Steve clearly showed you. It all revolves around the pitch of the shell. One method I use to get the tone even cleaner is to place cotton inside the lugs to dampen the springs inside them. It will kill unwanted harmonics from the tension rods and isolate the natural tone of the shell better. It’s labor intensive but worth it if you’re a tone freak.
The demo of rack tom where the bottom head is supposed to be higher and it rises...ha ha ha...lol..WTF! THE BOTTOM HEAD IS LOWER! It's so obvious or am I going crazy?
Wouldn't the word be "regimen" rather than "regime"? Steve would care about this bifurcation. Trust me.
Steve titled the video!
*Going around the scene asking drummers how to tune a drum only to have nuanced/overly-complex and/or vague responses with an empty wallet from purchasing drum tuners.*
This video:
While I have the utmost respect for him and his work, he clearly can't tune drums.
Whenever he claims the top head it higher than the bottom it's the other way around and vice versa.
And all those tunings are pitchy as hell with all kinds of overtones.
I should clarify that there are no "wrong" way to tune drums and that some tunings work well with microphones while they sound absolutely garbage acoustically. But given there are mics on these drums this doesn't seem to be the case here.
And what is up with all the scratchy mic noise?
i also thought this actually but just assumed i was/am wrong
when you "lock" the tom like that using a snare stand, you kill the tom sound.
Go on...
@@ElectricalAudioOfficial if you take a look at expensive tom hardware, it will seem kinda wiggly and loose. That will allow the entire drum to shake up and down in the air, wich gives a slightly longer sustain. You can get special rims for floortoms that allow them to wiggle as well
The rubber part of the snare stand touching the drum will dampen the sustain by transferring vibration down the stand into the floor.
However, this doesent really matter for most drum sounds, as the sustain is far more impacted by the tuning
4:30 Sometimes I think drummers are tone deaf : ) No Steve the reso head is lower pitched than the top head. But it can be easy to be fooled by the overtones.
Appreciate this series though.
Unless you have an overpowering desire to be kicked in the nuts, I would advise any young, recording, engineer, or drum tech, watching this video to refrain from striking a drummer’s shells with a mallet, or any other hard object.
whats w the bricks, either do standup or serve pizza
Room sound for drums.
haha, the massive white noise reverb on the incidental music! yikes
Regimens vs regimes 😂😂😂
1:42 my head exploded from this nonsense. 🤯 I can tell you how I tune my drums in 2 seconds. Tune them so they sound amazing. What was so difficult about that? Take something simple and complicate it with baloney.
Because not everyone is aware of how much versatility you can get with other tuning options as drummers. Most drummers I'd imagine don't experiment with drum tunings to preserve timelieness.
+David George yeah but your explanation says absolutely nothing and is literally useless to anyone beside yourself (if its even useful to you). At least this video has some value
yeah i'm a huge fan of steve but this could've been a 1 minute video lol
tune the reso head the same as the batter for sustain, higher for decay, or lower for falling. there ya go.
There are more than "three ways" to tune a tom
falling tuning on floor toms always sound like garbage
Fun fact, all the toms in this vid are out of tune ^^.
This dude was so gay he died.
I'm gonna leave this one. Thank you for being so utterly perfect.
@@ElectricalAudioOfficial Steve would have called you gay for posting that.
@@christopherknowles SO GOOD, KEEP GOIN MAN
@@ElectricalAudioOfficialLars is bald.
This video is nothin but contradiction. I love Steve but this is incorrect.
As a professional drummer for 35+ years, I agree with Albini on this one. He’s boiling it down to it’s basically essence…and he is right.
Although, that last floor tom was out of whack.
RIP Steve
legit!
rip!