Nice feature ! It would be great to add an option to choose the RTF we want first, then having the app selecting the right frequencies to set the heads to in order to achieve that RTF without changing the pitch.
This is brilliant. A great lesson as well. I’m learning so much about tuning with your app and it’s training my ear too!!! It just keeps getting deeper the more I explore it!!! Will give this feature a try this weekend 👍😀
Hi Alex - that's really great, and yes we always intended the app to help you learn tuning for yourself rather than do the tuning for you. Please do post us a review in the App Store, which helps us to keep posting free updates, tutorials and improvements into the future!
This is genius. Bought the app today. Great presets too, and the drum preset designer works really well for those with odd drums (like a 20” bass drum)
Thanks so much for posting this! Pls if you get a spare moment, do put a review in the App Store (constructive reviews really help us keep pushing and improving our apps as free updates). And just let us know if you have any other questions! 🙏🥁👍
The principles explained here come as close to a universal theory of drum tuning as we are likely to get. If I have understood it properly, the video explains the musical relationships between the resonant head, the batter head and its two major frequencies that vibrate at the centre and edge of the drum head. In the end what sounds pleasing to any drummer is subjective. But this instruction along with the very useful app can be a key to making the collective frequencies of your drum work together produce rich tone and resonance.
Also, what would be the RTF if both heads were tuned to the same pitch as with your method of tuning ? 1.5 ? Another RTF ? Always the same one regardless of the drum dimensions and drum head type ?
Hi Camille - good question, there are a couple of important concepts here.. firstly, the batter and resonant head ALWAYS have the same fundamental frequency, this is because the most powerful frequency of the drum is in the coupling between the two drumheads, so they vibrate up and down together as a single vibrating 'system' (you can prove this with the iDrumTune app or see our other video on the subject). But the batter and resonant drumheads can have different edge (F1) frequencies, because these are local to the particular head and not the drum as a whole. So you can measure the RTF on the batter head and measure the RTF on the resonant head. Depending on what heads and tension you use will determine what the RTF of each is. If you use exactly the same heads on top and bottom and apply exactly the same tension, then they will have exactly the same RTF - though usually we use a different type of resonant head because it gives us another frequency and an extra subtle richness to the sound. But on the whole, when you hit the drum on the batter head, the most powerful frequencies excited and heard are the F0 and the F1 of the batter head, so we always recommend putting the most attention into the batter's F0 and F1 relationship (RTF) and predominantly using the resonant head to manipulate and control that relationship. This allows you to tune some musical RTFs which can be recalled in the future and the drums sound great with this approach. There are other approaches out there, but none with any scientific evidence to justify the approach - it's evolved over the years into a 'dark art' but now we have an app capable of giving accurate measurements, it's possible to apply a more musical approach that uses the acoustic principles of the drum to get the best sound out of it. Happy tuning to you!
Hi there! I got the 3 pack app few days ago and start to play w it. I found it good. It will be good to have a feature that you ask for a desired RTF and tells you the right lugs hz to apply. Btw possibility of saving your kit it’s ok,but i can’t find the possibility to save top and reso lug pitch. This will make the job faster. I just ask, in the past we supposed to get the max resonance with top and reso at the same lug pitch A0x1.75 both head, than we can assume a0x1.5 top & A0x1.85 reso. This is the Rtf 1.5. What we call high resonance. This works perfect as i have pinstripe on top and reso. Can you advice some “sounding good” Rtf for a medium and low resonance? Btw, can you advice some tips for a specific tuning if we play in a recording studio or in small club, as in an arena? Fine lug tuning is very hard to be achieved, as a very tiny tiny key moving it may vary a lot of hz, how can we reach a perfect 1.5?it can be good obtain a 1.48 to 1.52? Many thx for your job, well done!
Hi Joel - actually it's not possible to be 100% sure that the head is even just by counting turns, measuring the torque on the rods, or by measuring the tension of the drumhead - the only way is to LISTEN to the head at each point, an even torque or tension doesn't always give a perfectly even sound. (Same with a guitar, we don't care about the tension or number of tuns on a guitar tuner machine head - we listen to the result and judge the sound of the string instead). The app can listen for you, so if you have each lug position within 1-2 Hz then you are closer than you can get by any other approach!
Nice feature ! It would be great to add an option to choose the RTF we want first, then having the app selecting the right frequencies to set the heads to in order to achieve that RTF without changing the pitch.
Why write RTF values instead of intervals, if you know that's what you're aiming for? It should read "3rd, 4th, 5th" etcetera.
This is brilliant. A great lesson as well. I’m learning so much about tuning with your app and it’s training my ear too!!! It just keeps getting deeper the more I explore it!!! Will give this feature a try this weekend 👍😀
Hi Alex - that's really great, and yes we always intended the app to help you learn tuning for yourself rather than do the tuning for you. Please do post us a review in the App Store, which helps us to keep posting free updates, tutorials and improvements into the future!
This is genius. Bought the app today. Great presets too, and the drum preset designer works really well for those with odd drums (like a 20” bass drum)
Thanks so much for posting this! Pls if you get a spare moment, do put a review in the App Store (constructive reviews really help us keep pushing and improving our apps as free updates). And just let us know if you have any other questions! 🙏🥁👍
The principles explained here come as close to a universal theory of drum tuning as we are likely to get. If I have understood it properly, the video explains the musical relationships between the resonant head, the batter head and its two major frequencies that vibrate at the centre and edge of the drum head. In the end what sounds pleasing to any drummer is subjective. But this instruction along with the very useful app can be a key to making the collective frequencies of your drum work together produce rich tone and resonance.
I tried but it was not possible to tune a floor tom for jazz (c3 note) and keeping the RTF around 1.5 without having the resonant extremely tight
Also, what would be the RTF if both heads were tuned to the same pitch as with your method of tuning ? 1.5 ? Another RTF ? Always the same one regardless of the drum dimensions and drum head type ?
Hi Camille - good question, there are a couple of important concepts here.. firstly, the batter and resonant head ALWAYS have the same fundamental frequency, this is because the most powerful frequency of the drum is in the coupling between the two drumheads, so they vibrate up and down together as a single vibrating 'system' (you can prove this with the iDrumTune app or see our other video on the subject). But the batter and resonant drumheads can have different edge (F1) frequencies, because these are local to the particular head and not the drum as a whole. So you can measure the RTF on the batter head and measure the RTF on the resonant head. Depending on what heads and tension you use will determine what the RTF of each is. If you use exactly the same heads on top and bottom and apply exactly the same tension, then they will have exactly the same RTF - though usually we use a different type of resonant head because it gives us another frequency and an extra subtle richness to the sound. But on the whole, when you hit the drum on the batter head, the most powerful frequencies excited and heard are the F0 and the F1 of the batter head, so we always recommend putting the most attention into the batter's F0 and F1 relationship (RTF) and predominantly using the resonant head to manipulate and control that relationship. This allows you to tune some musical RTFs which can be recalled in the future and the drums sound great with this approach. There are other approaches out there, but none with any scientific evidence to justify the approach - it's evolved over the years into a 'dark art' but now we have an app capable of giving accurate measurements, it's possible to apply a more musical approach that uses the acoustic principles of the drum to get the best sound out of it. Happy tuning to you!
Hi there! I got the 3 pack app few days ago and start to play w it. I found it good. It will be good to have a feature that you ask for a desired RTF and tells you the right lugs hz to apply. Btw possibility of saving your kit it’s ok,but i can’t find the possibility to save top and reso lug pitch. This will make the job faster. I just ask, in the past we supposed to get the max resonance with top and reso at the same lug pitch A0x1.75 both head, than we can assume a0x1.5 top & A0x1.85 reso. This is the Rtf 1.5. What we call high resonance. This works perfect as i have pinstripe on top and reso. Can you advice some “sounding good” Rtf for a medium and low resonance? Btw, can you advice some tips for a specific tuning if we play in a recording studio or in small club, as in an arena?
Fine lug tuning is very hard to be achieved, as a very tiny tiny key moving it may vary a lot of hz, how can we reach a perfect 1.5?it can be good obtain a 1.48 to 1.52? Many thx for your job, well done!
Hi I mailed you regarding some doubt
No tienen tutoriales en español!??????
how usefull is the RTF for handdrums with only a single head?
Can you please help me on that
I just want to confirm, all beater lugs and resonator lugs should be the same torque (same number of turns) when the drum is finished tuning? Thanks!
Hi Joel - actually it's not possible to be 100% sure that the head is even just by counting turns, measuring the torque on the rods, or by measuring the tension of the drumhead - the only way is to LISTEN to the head at each point, an even torque or tension doesn't always give a perfectly even sound. (Same with a guitar, we don't care about the tension or number of tuns on a guitar tuner machine head - we listen to the result and judge the sound of the string instead). The app can listen for you, so if you have each lug position within 1-2 Hz then you are closer than you can get by any other approach!