Will, I'm a relative beginner at drum Tuning. I'm a 71 YO, retired Guy, who resurrected playing Drums after 50 YEARS [1969]. I play for recreation / hobby about 1 hour a day to My Music. Since recommencing in 2019 after my wife of 44 years at that time (now 48 years) gifted me a cheapo Kit for Xmasa in 2018. I since upgraded that kit to a PDP Concept Maple 6 Drum kit and also Purchased a DW Design series Nickel over Brass 14 X 6.5 Snare (the PDP snare is 14 X 5.5). Back in my old days, I knew nothing of Drum heads and Drum Tuning. I am learning now. This is one of the best Videos, showing step by step adjustments of snare drum tuning. When the drum is lying on the table, it sounds like crap to my ear, improving as you tuned it High (on both heads). When you lift it, it sounds so much better? I'm using HD Dry Batter heads, on both snares. The DW snare was purchased Used and came with the Hd dry batter head. It played fantastically out of the delivery box! The previous owner had it tuned perfectly to my liking. I replaced that batter head and I just can't get there? And here's a weird thing to run past you : When I placed the DW snare on top of my 16 inch Floor tom to get it out of the way in a playing session, I hit it doing a fill. Bingo - it was the perfect Sound - like a Ludwig Supraphonic , like a John Bonham sound. Take it off the Tom and it's Not the Same? Any ideas? One poster on a Drum Forum said jokingly that I may have invented a new Snare Stand! THX so Much for your feedback.
The HD Dry batter comes pre-muffled with a dampening ring on the bottom, and the pinholes help to dry the snare out even more. I'm guessing the head you replaced the HD Dry with was something different. If it's a head without muffling, you'll be dealing with a lot more overtone and ring, and it wont give you the sound you're expecting to hear. I personally like open, ringy drums tuned well as opposed to pre-dampened heads for most situations. I place the drum flat on a surface to isolate the individual drum head so I can hear if it's in tune with itself as I tap around the drum. Get the head sounding good by itself first, then listen to it in context by putting the drum back on a stand or lifting it up briefly.
@@westcoastdrumshop Will, update to my previous post about 6 months ago. I've tried many batter heads : UV1 & UV2, PowerCenter and Remo Powerstroke 77s on my DW Nickel over Brass Snare 14 X 6.5. My "experiment" has shown that the Drum plays better atop of the Floor Tom than in the snare stand?? And if I play it on top of a 16 X 14 Tom vs a 16 X 16 Tom , it is even better. This "hack" eliminates all Rack Tom Snare Buzzes too. So for now I'm gravitating to the HD Dry batter head. I do appreixate your valuable advice and definitely your measures applied in this Video are very helpful. Cranking that Reso head to Table Top Tight helps a lot!
Great turorial. Going around the drum using the rod tension definetly cleaned up the sound, but I think the resonant head work and snare wire tension was the biggest key to getting the right sound overall. Nice work!
Very cool informative video.. just got myself my ever dream snare.. unfortunately tuning isn't my strenght unfortunately but this video will definitely help me a lot. Might take longer but if i follow every step of the way,what bad can happen? Thank you very much.🎉😊
Thank you so much for your helpful tutorial. 😊🙏🏼 I can play drums a bit and I have a kind of hybrid drum set : real snare, hi-hat, crash cymbal and an electric drum pad with bass drum trigger. I had bought those components mentioned above one by one and for the snare drum, I haven't tuned it because I don't know how to do. 🤣 The sound of this snare drum is very too treble and some kind of resonated sound that not pleased for me, I tried to put a snare muffler on the batter head but it doesn't help. I will try to tune this snare drum as your recommendations, this will help me getting the sound I want for sure. 😊👍🏼
Awesome vid and awesome hair man. I watched Rob Brown and now I’m just watching others for their style of tuning, I can say yall are pretty close in technique except that he uses two drum keys to speed up the process. Cheers.
Even tough you tightened the bottom drum head a bit, you didn't tune it (i think). Is that okay, or you should you tune it to match the sound of the top drum head? Thanks
Reso heads don't necessarily need to be perfectly in tune, and they do not need to match the batter. My reso is usually way tighter than my batter, on snare drums. This was a quick and dirty example, however, so feel free to use it as a guide, and tune your reso head to your heart's content.
The snare side head, you *HAVE* to tune it up really high, table top tight, to coin the phrase. If your snare side head isn’t cranked up tight, you’re not gonna have a good snare sound. I know they say that there’s no rules when it comes to tuning drums, but I’d say this is a really important rule: crank the bottom head of your snare drum up tight, and do so *WITHOUT* breaking one or two of your tension rods. It happened to me once.
Indeed! We have a multi paragraph description for this video where it states "We did not go over how to set up snares in this video, as it would have become long-winded. We may decide to cover that in future videos if requested."
what snare drum do you own? I've found that when you go too tight, you start to get very high pitched overtones happening. My rule of thumb is go tighter than you think you need to
Bit of a weird one.. im trying to tune my snare.. its a mapex BP razor. When i soundcheck it, the snare rings out in a sort of "wiry" way.. do you have any hits or tips for me what to do? Thanks
I find that I have to max out the snare wire tension to minimize snare buzz from my toms and bass player. Any suggestions to maintain the "sizzle" of my snare and reduce or eliminate the sympathetic snare buzz from my toms? Thanks in advance.
I wish my snare sounds like this one at the beginning xD I want to get that flat sound (we hear actually in our fav songs) but my is sounding like from deep well no matter how I will tune it :/
I've used my method for 34 years. The second time I met Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden I asked him how he tuned his snare but I already knew he would agree with my method. "Tighten it until you can't, mate!". Tighten the batter head all the way tight. Resonate head almost the same, maybe a quarter turn less. For dampening I've used Remo Muffls for 30 years. I use one on my bass drum as well (nothing inside it). For floor toms I recommend cotton balls. It really works. One warning about this method: If you have a PoS snare it's going to be too high and sound too metallic. I also tighten my snare as tight as I can and then back off a quarter turn. I'd put my sound up against anyone.
Yeah I don't get what as tight as it goes means.. like what head are you using and what drum and size?. Better drums can tune higher than cheap ones that the hardware will break at this unknown tension.
@@westcoastdrumshop I’ve been playing since I was 13. I’m 40 now. I still struggle with snare tuning. You make your snares sound incredible in all your demos.
@@AmericanBarber82 I'm the guy in the video. just turned 40 myself! Hope this video helps. You can always give us a call if you have questions or drop by if you're in the area. 425-502-7029 -Will
this is def the best tutorial for snare tuning out there
Thank you!
Will, I'm a relative beginner at drum Tuning. I'm a 71 YO, retired Guy, who resurrected playing Drums after 50 YEARS [1969]. I play for recreation / hobby about 1 hour a day to My Music. Since recommencing in 2019 after my wife of 44 years at that time (now 48 years) gifted me a cheapo Kit for Xmasa in 2018. I since upgraded that kit to a PDP Concept Maple 6 Drum kit and also Purchased a DW Design series Nickel over Brass 14 X 6.5 Snare (the PDP snare is 14 X 5.5). Back in my old days, I knew nothing of Drum heads and Drum Tuning. I am learning now. This is one of the best Videos, showing step by step adjustments of snare drum tuning. When the drum is lying on the table, it sounds like crap to my ear, improving as you tuned it High (on both heads). When you lift it, it sounds so much better? I'm using HD Dry Batter heads, on both snares. The DW snare was purchased Used and came with the Hd dry batter head. It played fantastically out of the delivery box! The previous owner had it tuned perfectly to my liking. I replaced that batter head and I just can't get there? And here's a weird thing to run past you : When I placed the DW snare on top of my 16 inch Floor tom to get it out of the way in a playing session, I hit it doing a fill. Bingo - it was the perfect Sound - like a Ludwig Supraphonic , like a John Bonham sound. Take it off the Tom and it's Not the Same? Any ideas? One poster on a Drum Forum said jokingly that I may have invented a new Snare Stand! THX so Much for your feedback.
The HD Dry batter comes pre-muffled with a dampening ring on the bottom, and the pinholes help to dry the snare out even more. I'm guessing the head you replaced the HD Dry with was something different. If it's a head without muffling, you'll be dealing with a lot more overtone and ring, and it wont give you the sound you're expecting to hear. I personally like open, ringy drums tuned well as opposed to pre-dampened heads for most situations.
I place the drum flat on a surface to isolate the individual drum head so I can hear if it's in tune with itself as I tap around the drum. Get the head sounding good by itself first, then listen to it in context by putting the drum back on a stand or lifting it up briefly.
@@westcoastdrumshop Will, update to my previous post about 6 months ago. I've tried many batter heads : UV1 & UV2, PowerCenter and Remo Powerstroke 77s on my DW Nickel over Brass Snare 14 X 6.5. My "experiment" has shown that the Drum plays better atop of the Floor Tom than in the snare stand?? And if I play it on top of a 16 X 14 Tom vs a 16 X 16 Tom , it is even better. This "hack" eliminates all Rack Tom Snare Buzzes too. So for now I'm gravitating to the HD Dry batter head. I do appreixate your valuable advice and definitely your measures applied in this Video are very helpful. Cranking that Reso head to Table Top Tight helps a lot!
Great turorial. Going around the drum using the rod tension definetly cleaned up the sound, but I think the resonant head work and snare wire tension was the biggest key to getting the right sound overall. Nice work!
Excellent video! Totally explained the "strategy" behind snare drum tuning
Excellent tutorial on snare drum tuning, thanks for putting out these videos! Just subscribed to your channel.
What a great 👍 no nonsense practical tuning video. Well explained and properly struck to extract the sound ‘out’ of the drum.
Good stuff 😎
Thank you 🙏🙏🙏
Well done. No pretentious bullski, just right to the meat and potatoes. Helped me out, I'mma retune my snare... Thanks dude!
Glad it helped!!
You helped me save 2 snare drums!!!! Thanks so much for clarifying what needs to be done!
Woohoo! Thanks for the feedback!
Skill unlocked! Thanks for the lesson!
Great video, thanks 👍🏽
Very cool informative video.. just got myself my ever dream snare.. unfortunately tuning isn't my strenght unfortunately but this video will definitely help me a lot. Might take longer but if i follow every step of the way,what bad can happen? Thank you very much.🎉😊
Thanks for posting. Great job Will.
Just from listening to you I would bet anything that you are an awesome drummer in your own right. Anyway thank you very much sir.
Nice work. I'll look forward to the next videos.
What would you like to see next?
@@westcoastdrumshop Your approach to tuning the bass drum. Thanks
@@jamescox8402 Sounds fun!
@@westcoastdrumshop Cool
Thank you so much for your helpful tutorial. 😊🙏🏼
I can play drums a bit and I have a kind of hybrid drum set : real snare, hi-hat, crash cymbal and an electric drum pad with bass drum trigger.
I had bought those components mentioned above one by one and for the snare drum, I haven't tuned it because I don't know how to do. 🤣
The sound of this snare drum is very too treble and some kind of resonated sound that not pleased for me, I tried to put a snare muffler on the batter head but it doesn't help.
I will try to tune this snare drum as your recommendations, this will help me getting the sound I want for sure. 😊👍🏼
Always learning, I like the picking up a little snare wire sensitivity on the edge that builds in the middle, thank you.
Finally a good tuning video. Awesome.
Thank you!
Thanks man. It was helpful.
Glad you found it helpful!
This was awesome. Thanks.
Nice video! Got my snare sounding good again!
Glad to hear it!!
Dude, that's awesome, sounds great!
Thank You
Awesome vid and awesome hair man. I watched Rob Brown and now I’m just watching others for their style of tuning, I can say yall are pretty close in technique except that he uses two drum keys to speed up the process. Cheers.
Nice explanation! Good job! 👌
Hope it helped!
Cool video, tnx!!
TY :)
Even tough you tightened the bottom drum head a bit, you didn't tune it (i think). Is that okay, or you should you tune it to match the sound of the top drum head? Thanks
Reso heads don't necessarily need to be perfectly in tune, and they do not need to match the batter. My reso is usually way tighter than my batter, on snare drums. This was a quick and dirty example, however, so feel free to use it as a guide, and tune your reso head to your heart's content.
The snare side head, you *HAVE* to tune it up really high, table top tight, to coin the phrase. If your snare side head isn’t cranked up tight, you’re not gonna have a good snare sound. I know they say that there’s no rules when it comes to tuning drums, but I’d say this is a really important rule: crank the bottom head of your snare drum up tight, and do so *WITHOUT* breaking one or two of your tension rods. It happened to me once.
Snare wires tension, comes into the equation as well..
Indeed! We have a multi paragraph description for this video where it states "We did not go over how to set up snares in this video, as it would have become long-winded. We may decide to cover that in future videos if requested."
Exactly. They need to be tightened for my ear
I'm not new to drumming but new to tuning when you use the phrase tune up or down that just means tight or loose correct?
Yes! Think "tension" or "pitch" up or down.
Hey Mate I have new drum set can u tell me how to tuned this up
How do I know if my resonance head is too tight? Will that choke out the sound?
what snare drum do you own? I've found that when you go too tight, you start to get very high pitched overtones happening. My rule of thumb is go tighter than you think you need to
@@westcoastdrumshop Pearl Chad Smith sig.
Thanknyou
Bit of a weird one.. im trying to tune my snare.. its a mapex BP razor. When i soundcheck it, the snare rings out in a sort of "wiry" way.. do you have any hits or tips for me what to do? Thanks
What is your resonant side head on your BP? Are your wires fresh, or are they frayed when you flip the throwoff switch?
It has the original resonant on it. Its a newly bought BP. Unfortubately i cant remember it from top of my head..ill have to double check.
I find that I have to max out the snare wire tension to minimize snare buzz from my toms and bass player. Any suggestions to maintain the "sizzle" of my snare and reduce or eliminate the sympathetic snare buzz from my toms? Thanks in advance.
Great video!
So I forgot what there called but instead of 8 things where you tune them, I have only 4, does that change sound or anything?
send a pic of the drum to will@wcdrumshop.com so we can take a look
I wish my snare sounds like this one at the beginning xD I want to get that flat sound (we hear actually in our fav songs) but my is sounding like from deep well no matter how I will tune it :/
Please tune a Steel snare to a reggae sound
I’m going to do this upstairs at 3am
I've used my method for 34 years. The second time I met Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden I asked him how he tuned his snare but I already knew he would agree with my method. "Tighten it until you can't, mate!". Tighten the batter head all the way tight. Resonate head almost the same, maybe a quarter turn less. For dampening I've used Remo Muffls for 30 years. I use one on my bass drum as well (nothing inside it). For floor toms I recommend cotton balls. It really works. One warning about this method: If you have a PoS snare it's going to be too high and sound too metallic. I also tighten my snare as tight as I can and then back off a quarter turn. I'd put my sound up against anyone.
Do you not just break your drum heads and create a dead sound?
@@Caravani-MyHauntedProject I've been playing heavy metal since 1983 and I've never ever broken a drum head. Ever.
Yeah I don't get what as tight as it goes means.. like what head are you using and what drum and size?. Better drums can tune higher than cheap ones that the hardware will break at this unknown tension.
What kind of a snare is this? Sounds incredible
I would disengage the wires!
I must be tone deaf I thought the drum sounded great at the start of the video ???
Like he says as well there might be people out there who might like the sound hence why he doesnt talk smack bout it.. 🙃
Mine sounds like that
DrumDial
Man...come on...
Im tired of metal bands that have snare drums that sound like the first part
😄
It's a good snare drum with die cast hoops... is the drum warped... or is the counter uneven? Will is very good.... excellent.
Greats stuff. The only thing I wish you had shown was the snare side squish after it was tensioned up all the way.
Good point! I can assure you that it was, in fast, less squishy 😁
@@westcoastdrumshop but not table top tight right?
@@westcoastdrumshop I’ve been playing since I was 13. I’m 40 now. I still struggle with snare tuning. You make your snares sound incredible in all your demos.
@@AmericanBarber82 right, close to, but not that tight
@@AmericanBarber82 I'm the guy in the video. just turned 40 myself! Hope this video helps. You can always give us a call if you have questions or drop by if you're in the area. 425-502-7029 -Will
thank you