Real-Time Snare Batter Tuning | Snare Drum Tuning 101
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2019
- Support Sounds Like a Drum on Patreon: / soundslikeadrum
We often get asked to show the real-time tuning process as quite a few people are (admirably) working on their ear training and would like some tips for what to be listening for. We decided to produce an extra video outside of our Tuesday Tutorial series that walks through the tuning process as we go about clearing a drumhead (getting it in tune with itself) after it’s been completely thrown out of tune.
This is a bonus video and we want to make it clear from the onset that it’s LONG! 20min+ long! If you’re looking for a bunch of drumming samples and crazy cool sounds, go watch some of our other episodes- this one is about taking the time and really using your ears as we guide you through the clearing of this snare batter head. Please consider yourself warned.
Toms: Ludwig 1968 Acrolite 14x5”
Batter: Evans G1 Coated
Reso Head: Evans Snare Side 300
Hosted by: Cody Rahn
Production: Ben O'Brien Smith @ Cadence Independent Media
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And yes, we realize that you could certainly detune the head back to finger tight and start from scratch but sometimes this is faster and we wanted to demonstrate the pitch matching process for so many of you who have requested this video. Cheers!
Without a doubt one of the most useful drum channels out there. Love every video and always learn something! Thanks so much!
That sound before you changed anything was SO. GOOD.
As soon as I heard the first 20 seconds of this I got my headphones and plugged in. I've improved a ton since I first watched you, but to see how quickly you run through the final pass, or two, and bring it all together is truly impressive. It's a big deal for us all that you took the time to do this. Thanks!
@Bruce Taylor I have done the same thing with my snare drum and it worked out well. My snare drum is a 14×5 Pearl Export made of wood. You can get this sound with wooden snare drums too.
I have said it before, but it needs repeating: You guys are the best. No hyperbole, no secrets, no fuss, just wisdom and applied knowledge.
That being said, I would love to see you deal with a truly wrecked head. The kind with an inexplicable off-center crater and such. It could make for a dramatic season finale.
Thanks so much! We really appreciate the kind words. As far as the way to deal with a totally wrecked head...we simply replace it 😁
Cheers!
Ben
That is the good wholesome sexy thing to do!
snugkikker...why?
@@ContentsMayDiffer Carlton Barrett used a Ludwig Supraphonic which is the LM402 model. Sometimes Carlton Barrett would leave the snare wires off.
Carlton Barrett was sadly murdered in 1987 by gun violence at his home in Jamaica. His wife was the one who set him up to be killed. Carlton Barrett got shot twice in the head.
Years ago I knew I was getting somewhere when a colleague asked me after hearing my drums if i tuned them myself. I found the question very odd, but later i realized his unintended compliment!!
Very useful video, it helps a lot the drummers who don´t know what to decide in the middle of the process of tuning.
Wow! I have been playing pro for over 35 years and teaching for 20 and still you taught me so much in this and other videos. Mostly the snare tuning ones but now I am going to watch them all. Thanks for what you are doing and I'll send all my students a link to check it out too.
Informative and works as ASMR as well!
I don't know how many times I had said this, but I'm still gonna say it again: Definitely the BEST channel out here with the most awesome content! Totally love your channel to bits! ❤️
Even before watching the video, I've liked and store this in my favorites as usual. Haha
Your content is always so practical and down to earth. I love it so much! How I wish this was available few years ago when I started out. Came a long way, learnt the hard way, and glad to see that I am doing it right! Thank you! ❤️
Man, I wish this channel had been around 13 years ago when I started playing! I've learned most of what you talked about the hard, slow way, but you tied it together in a way that's super helpful, and will be even more awesome for newer tuners!
I am so glad you guys doing this for us. It already helps me so much more than anything I've tried before. Followed you for months now. Keep up that good work! Thanks!
I like Nollys (drummers review) "hunt for the pitch" -technique where you loosen the tension rod and then bring it up to the desired pitch. That way you can get familiar with the changes that that specific rod makes and it's easier to find the right tension with very good precision. And it avoids the problem of constantly tightening the head.
More and more earning that "Bob Ross of drums" moniker. Great video.
THANks,you folks are helping a lot of people in the drumming community.
GREAT work! This is just what drum enthusiasts need!
Fantastic video, you've excelled yourselves at demystifying tuning. So many drummers will find this eye opening. Thanks.
Great video! I just recently bought me a 1966 Ludwig acrolite very similar to the one your tuning and I love it and now even more when i see you use it in times to teach,I learn so much every time!. I love this channel and Thank you again!😁👍👍🥁🥁🇨🇱🇨🇱🇨🇱
And again, thanks a lot Cody!!! I really love those videos and even after 20 years of drumming it helps a lot!!!! :) THANKS THANKS THANKS!
Nice video with good information. My first (and only) drum teacher would detune my snare intentionally and make me put it back in tune. One of the best lessons for a beginning drummer. I recommend gently muting the bottom head for all drums, even if only with the free hand, to isolate pitches. FYI, Louie Bellson mentioned in an interview 40 or so years ago, that he used the "center finger mute" method, and his drums always sounded great. More drummers should try it.
THANK YOU SO MUCH THIS WAS PHENOMENAL I FINALLY HAVE A GOOD SNARE DRUM SOUND.
Excellent video, as usual.
I'm glad you mentioned muting the opposite head when tuning. That's a must when you're doing a head change under normal circumstances. In a gig situation, if you can reach under and hand-mute the reso head, you'll eliminate a lot of confusing overtones and harmonics.
Another thing to keep in mind with drums that have tube lugs, tension on one head affects the tension on the other head. Maybe you could do a demo about it.
Keep up the great work.
You can place the snare in your lap and let the tops of your thighs muffle the other head. Space can be at a real premium and it's a lot easier to tune with both hands.
@@markdrum2392 I agree 💯 percent. I have a Pearl Export EX snare drum made of wood and I tuned it the same way how this guy tuned his snare in this video and it sounds good. With a wooden snare drum, you can get this same great sound with the right drum heads and tuning techniques.
Hey guys, just wanted to thank you for this fantastic channel. Fantastic videos.
You’re quite welcome! If you’re enjoying what you’re seeing, please be sure to help spread the word by sharing the series with your drummer friends and be on the lookout for a big announcement coming towards the end of next week. -Ben
When I find a rod out of tune I'll put my finger in the middle of the drum like you showed, but I'll always check the opposite rod and raise up the lower of the two.
1:06 Giggity🌽
Great idea guys because I hear so many drummers on YT or in bars etc that tune their snare so tight that you can tell it is choked and they haven't searched or found the tuning where their snare really sings and the 2 heads are working together to get a great sound..it's a shame to me..I am constantly trying to find the perfect tuning on my acro..but it always sounds great anyway lol
Nice tuning, really helpful 👌
Good to see the process you guys use for tuning. I often spend time playing around with the tuning on my snare drums. Even to hear the difference between metal and wood drums.
Really love the sound of the Acrolite. I'm on the lookout for one of the older ones. But may have to buy a new version.
Great video fellas.
Great session! If I were a drum teacher, I think I'd require my students to tune a drum during a performance, under time constraint. Not because you want to put a ton of pressure on someone, but rather just the opposite: to recognize that, while tuning everything perfect feels good, it's not always necessary. You can relax, get things tuned evenly, and make music. Or rather: that you need only be as specific as the type of music requires!
Very helpful. Thank you
thanks for this. i have quite the temper so once i have to even out my pitches i get impatient and just keep it as is
another very well done video.
This is soo good! Thank you very much!
You're so welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. -Ben
Great as always!!!
When dealing with detuned lug it is always a good idea to check out the opposite lug as well. Let's say there's a detuned lug at 3 o'clock. It'll affect the 9 o'clock lugs pitch when hit. It can make you think that the 9 isn't in tune and you can end up raising it's pitch instead of the correct one. (You can kind of tell that it is a wrong lug when messing with it will affect the "wrong pitch" only a little, but anyways)
One good way to check is to physically press the head with your finger instead of hitting with a stick. It'll help to spot if there are screws too loose or f.e. if the head is not evenly balanced. With a tight tunings it's a bit useless of course, but looser tensions and floor toms you can get the whole head into the same ballpark without faster.
Great video guys, but my comment isn't about the tuning. Looks like no one else has mentioned it, so I will. That groovy little riff Cody is playing in the last 25 seconds of the video. He makes it look easy, but honestly, it took me a bit to work it out. So now it's in my tool box and I'm already working on variations, including a weak side version using the hats instead of Floor Tom. I only recently discovered your channel and I really liking what I've seen and heard so far. Thank you gentlemen.
Thanks for the kind words, Tim! Lots of videos for you to check out on the channel. We’re also on Instagram and, if you’re looking to support our efforts AND get access to bonus content and even an exclusive cymbal series, consider joining our Patreon via the link in the description of any of our videos. Cheers!
Good stuff, but it seems harder to me when I'm the one doing it! I've been playing for years and I do the usual things people do with tuning, but sometimes it seems like luck as much as anything - when I happen to have a good combination of drum and heads... and all the drums in the drumset go well together... and I'm in a setting where the things sound good... and if the wind is blowing from the west... and if the moon is in the 7th house....
Really REALLY useful episode! Every drum channel talks about how to tune a drum from scratch, but I've never seen a sabotaged drum tuning being salvaged. This is a situation that I've been in a lot in the studio. Do you base your decisions on how the tension rods feel as well as the note itself when you're tuning them?
THANK YOU!!!
Cool video. I already knew most of this but nevertheless its great to see how you approach it and how much of a difference all this makes. Heres a suggestion for a video i'd very much like to see: a rundown of your experiences and career as a professional drummer right from the start. I'm strictly in it for the fun and have never thought about going pro but I absolutely want to hear your story
There are some podcasts out there where Ben and Cody have related their stories. Pretty interesting stuff. Check it out.
Spend an hour tuning your drum - anyway it detunes after a couple of plays. My method is just to crank it up evenly more or less and go for an easy-to-tune drumhead without obertones
I’m curious to see your guys opinion on drum bots, dials, etc. would love to see an episode on these
You may notice that they're not present in any of our videos to date...simply cause we do't use them. We've got access to a TuneBot that we may do some experiments with but both of us have spent years and years working on developing our ears and the ability to tune based on what the drum sounds like so it feels like a bit of a step backwards to go to something that translates that sound into a quantitative measurement. We will address this in a future video though. Cheers!
Thank you for this video. It's so easy to find examples of good-sounding drums. It's much harder to find demonstrations of bad-sounding drums and explanations of what makes them sound bad, and then bringing them back to sound good---all in realtime.
I struggle with tuning so much. I'm not tone deaf. I have a keen sense of pitch. I often find that the lug with the highest tone is the loosest lug. It doesn't make any sense. I also have trouble when I like the tone at one lug, and every time I try to bring other lugs up to it, it just pushes the original lug to a higher tone, so I'm always chasing it and it keeps moving away. Does anyone else have these problems?
would it not be easier to just back everything off all the way and restart with all the lugs at finger tight from the start anyway?
That's certainly an option as well- this was a bit of an extreme in terms of the drum being out of tune with itself but we wanted to use it as an example so people could walk through the pitch matching process with us and hear what we're hearing. These tweaks can take as little as a minute and end up being much faster than completely detuning the head and starting from scratch. -Ben
Not to nitpick, but I beg to differ that having a bad ear doesn't exist. My ex Jenny was utterly tone deaf. Her idea of singing was yelling. "I wanna hold your haaaaaaaaaaaand! I wanna hold your haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanddddddd!!!!!!" When I played the guitar it gave her a headache. When I played the piano it gave her a headache. Everything gave her a headache except her own "singing."
2:29 good
5:05 bad
6:14 diagnosing
8:05 highs/lows
10:28 surgery
17:06 result
Can you do a similar video but focusing on the snare-side head? And the snare wires as well?
Absolutely! We'll get that in the cue. Cheers! -Ben
@@SoundsLikeADrum Also, if I may suggest, can you show what not to do, and focus on establishing a reference point? Everyone always says "tabletop tight", but I've never felt a drum head that felt as tight as a tabletop. I know it's hyperbole, and I think it would be very helpful if you could find some way to communicate the tightness better. Too many relative adjectives are used with this stuff, and frankly it's confusing for newer drummers. Thanks dudes!
#2 sounds just like my snare lol
Great video! Can you do or did you do a video about tuning a snare but with die cast? Because i find that unless one has a very very good perfectly round and flat die cast hoop, it's hard to tune it as well as a triple flanged.
Thanks! We talked about tuning w/die cast a bit in this comparison video: ua-cam.com/video/MV3oOUCBNWM/v-deo.html
@@SoundsLikeADrum thank you very much!
Have you been able to possibly go to NAMM this most recent time or in another way, possibly get your hands on a DialTune Snare yet? If yes, what was your experience with it like? If no, thanks anyway.
I’m just very curious about how this tuning system will hold up over time when you can’t fiddle with a singular lug at a time or possibly do the tricks with the snare side head you made a video not long ago about that I recently commented on. And having both heads at the same tension at all times seems kinda weird to me and just really changes the dynamics of how the heads are going to interact with one another and potentially your other drums as well
Hey there! I didn't make it this year to NAMM but have read about these drums. In my personal opinion I think it's a a fascinating design but at the same time I've just never felt like I needed a different system for tuning a drum than the standard one we're all familiar with. I'm always curious about innovations like this and wouldn't discount something I haven't personally experienced so hopefully I'll see one in the future and be able to form more of an opinion :) -Cody
This is maybe a dumb question but would you tune a wooden snare drum differently than a metal one?
Not a dumb question at all! In terms of method/approach- nope, same process. That being said, depending on the sound we’re looking to achieve, we may tweak the ratio of tension between the heads and wires in order to create a final desired sound but the approach is still very much the same. -Ben
I find it helpfull to tune all opposing ligs to a balanced pitch before really tuning, and than raising them (more or less) together.
Yep- this process of “clearing the head” makes it so much easier to them achieve the desired overall tuning.
Great video. But i’m still not convinced to use that method it seems very complicated and time consuming for a result close to a standard one.
Once you do it a few times it takes no time at all and is actually quite simple. We just went though it slowly so that it could be properly explained and illustrated on camera. The benefits seem to be unmatched as well. Worth trying a few times on some different snares before you decide that it’s not for you.
5:58 looped please
Already made... 😂
Tuning my snare drums, especially changing the snare wires, is NOT something I look forward to! I’ve tried both snare straps AND snare cord. I, invariably, wind up with a choked up sounding snare drum. I can’t seem to get a decent snare drum sound and it almost always has a “pwong” sound to it. I need professional snare drum tuning help!
We’ve got a sea of videos to help you. If you’d like a one-on-one, DM us on Instagram.
One thumbs down already... seriously: Get bent.
Some people... 🤷🏼♂️
What kind of person can dislike a new videos from ''Sounds Like A Drum'' ! That's a shame!
I hope you make yourself unhappy.
@@SoundsLikeADrum I tuned my 2 wooden snare drums very high and they sound really good. I do plan on getting a Ludwig Supraphonic in the future though.