Drum Tuning

**Hevn5** · May 19th, 2005, 01:28 AM

Hi, can anyone pls teach me how to tune my drum...like for eg, how many times should i turn in a nut to get the right sound. Thx

**troutbrooke** · May 19th, 2005, 02:19 AM

Tuning is subjective, but generally, you want the pitch to be consistent all around the head. Therefore, you will usually turn each bolt an equal number of times. You will also usually want both the top and bottom heads to be approximately the same pitch.

Remember to tighten the bolts in a 'star' pattern.

**Riddim** · May 19th, 2005, 04:56 AM

Google for Professor Sound's site.

**Suspiria** · May 19th, 2005, 10:05 AM

Well there's lots of things to consider here. Just some tips from me:
1. Like was mentioned above, it is vital that there is equal tension on your heads to get a consistant, nice sound.
2. You can tune the bottome and top heads! I usually tune the top head to a tension that suits me and then tune the drum itself by altering the tension on the resonant head.
3. Here's something I do when my heads are getting a little old and I want some freshness in my sound before buying new ones:
Losen the heads and rotate them maybe 45 degrees and then retune. I think you will find that the sound will improve slightly.

EDIT: I see you are from Brunei! That's fantastic. The more international members we have here, the better the atmosphere!

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ May 19, 2005 07:06 AM: Message edited by: Suspiria ]</font>

**moosetication** · May 19th, 2005, 06:42 PM

Originally posted by VeR.5:
how many times should i turn in a nut to get the right sound.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, the trick, see, is that the "right sound" is entirely down to your needs. Follow the basic principles in the "tuning bible" referred to above, and use your ears.

I can tell you that I get (at the very most) one and a half turns from "finger tight" on my tension rods, depending on what I'm after.