Tuning :(

[pandadrummertech]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1BzWnuq5y4

How on earth can I tune the snares at the school I tech at like these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhKRLtUD-mY
or tune like these?

What are the exact pitches? I just don't understand.

The basses and Tenors sound Godly but the snares sound tight and dry. I love a very wet sound like Bluecoats or Pulse!

[billc36]

What kind of drums are you using?

[joe356]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1BzWnuq5y4

How on earth can I tune the snares at the school I tech at like these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhKRLtUD-mY
or tune like these?

What are the exact pitches? I just don't understand.

The basses and Tenors sound Godly but the snares sound tight and dry. I love a very wet sound like Bluecoats or Pulse!

The most important thing is to make sure the lugs are evenly tensioned. To get the sound you want, you'll want the top heads medium to low in terms of overall tension, and the bottom heads fairly high. Exact pitches depend on the drum and heads you're using. My process looks like this:

1) take all heads and strainers off the drums

2) clean bearing edges, hardware etc

3) put on bottom head and tune to ensure evenness from lug to lug (the absence of the top head makes this process much easier)

4) once one bottom head is on and in tune, repeat step three for ALL other drums

5) put on top head and tune lug to lug

6) bring top head up slowly until the metallic sound disappears when playing in the center

7) if needed, bring bottom head up gradually until it is higher than the top head in pitch by a significant interval (M2 or m3). If done properly, you should get a nice ping sound when playing anywhere on the drum that will disappear from a few feet away

8 ) repeat 5 - 7 on other drums. To ensure the bottom heads are all the same, as well as the top heads, tap top heads while muffling the bottom heads with your hand and vice versa

9) reinstall strainers

10) tun guts (possibly the most important thing you can do to get your snare drums sounding great)

11) check overall gut pitches against each other

12) if needed, apply tape the guts (you may get some pretty serious snare ring if you've done this process right)

[pandadrummertech]

What kind of drums are you using?

The same yamaha's they are using in the video.
Remo black max top
Falams 2 bottom

I like a wet sound, maybe pulse is a little to wet for marching band. Idk yet, still debating. Thanks for your reply !

[pandadrummertech]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1BzWnuq5y4

How on earth can I tune the snares at the school I tech at like these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhKRLtUD-mY
or tune like these?

What are the exact pitches? I just don't understand.

The basses and Tenors sound Godly but the snares sound tight and dry. I love a very wet sound like Bluecoats or Pulse!

The most important thing is to make sure the lugs are evenly tensioned. To get the sound you want, you'll want the top heads medium to low in terms of overall tension, and the bottom heads fairly high. Exact pitches depend on the drum and heads you're using. My process looks like this:

Hey thanks for the advice got it.

What pitches would you recommend to get the sound?
I am using remo black max on top and falams 2 on the bottom.
Also, would yo suggest pulse or BC for band ? still debating that one. Is the tuning scheme the same for both pulse and BC?
Thanks

[joe356]

What pitches would you recommend to get the sound?
I am using remo black max on top and falams 2 on the bottom.
Also, would yo suggest pulse or BC for band ? still debating that one. Is the tuning scheme the same for both pulse and BC?
Thanks

Again, the pitches will depend on the drums, the players, the show, and the horn line. Only you can decide what exact pitches work for your program. Even if you have the exact drums Coats were using (are you sure you have the maple shells), keep in mind, they have 8 snares, and its unlikely you do. That changes what will cut through and what won't.

Both Pulse and Coats approach tuning in a similar way. However, Pulse is tuning for indoor, with no horn line. Coats are tuning for outdoor with one of the best horn lines (and snare lines) on the planet, and as such, the tuning choices will be different. What matters is that each lug is matched to its partners, and that the bottom head is above the top head. That will give you the sound you want. The overall pitch of the sound will have to be a choice you make by stepping back and listening to the big picture. That's a step far too many people forget. It makes NO difference what the drums sound like from right in front of them. It matters how they sound in the whole sound scheme, with the horn line, and the front ensemble and the rest of the battery.

[gnarwall]

Shoot for D5 on the bottoms and leave the tops pretty loose. Basically just get them a bit past the mylar sound. You might want to go lower than a D for a highschool group though. Maybe C# or C.

[pandadrummertech]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I really appreciate it. The snares sound great now!

[Isaiah.Lamb]

While this thread is still here, I have to ask: do any of you notice a sound difference between a Falams II and a Falams XT snare side head? I'm guessing the mylar ring in the XT is to protect the head from the bearing edge and make it last longer, but do you sacrifice resonance or sound for that? I haven't noticed anything different in sound for the line I tech. XT's seem like the perfect, most durable head, yet people like Paul Rennick are still using the Falams II (at least he was before the prototypes this year...). It just seems a bit odd to me. Thoughts?

[joe356]

While this thread is still here, I have to ask: do any of you notice a sound difference between a Falams II and a Falams XT snare side head? I'm guessing the mylar ring in the XT is to protect the head from the bearing edge and make it last longer, but do you sacrifice resonance or sound for that? I haven't noticed anything different in sound for the line I tech. XT's seem like the perfect, most durable head, yet people like Paul Rennick are still using the Falams II (at least he was before the prototypes this year...). It just seems a bit odd to me. Thoughts?

It focuses the sound a little more (a little toward the Evans MX-5 kind of sound). Its not a huge change, but if what you want is maximum resonance, the Fallams II is the better choice.

Personally, I prefer the Evans MX-5 over either of them, but that's a different conversation.

[gnarwall]

The XT's definitely sound a little less vibrant. The group I teched this summer used Falam II's and they were very bright heads. The University line I'm on uses XT's, which are definitely more muffled sounding. I haven't had durability issues with either. I think a lot of that comes from people trying to get even pitches all the way across the heads, which won't work with the way bottom head bearing edges are. The snare bed pitches should be lower, otherwise you'll over stress the head trying to get the entire thing up to pitch. It's much better to base the whole thing on seating the head evenly, and then relying on the overall pitch, as opposed to lug to lug pitch matching.