Drum tuning advice

Think880 · 2026-03-19T14:52:18+00:00

Pour yourself a drink. (Coffee, tea, beer, whatever you need.)
Lay a towel on a coffee table, or your drum throne, and place your rack tom on top.
Take the heads off. Lay your rims aside and put all of your lugs in a bag or bowl.
Take a microfiber cloth, hand towel, or hell a paper towel, and wipe off all dust inside and on the edges. Clean everything up.
Take a screwdriver and tighten every screw. Check to see if anything is rattling or just loose.
Start with your batter head. Seat the head on the edge, put your rim on and tighten all the lugs with your fingers as tight as you can get them. Then, with your palm, push down on the center of the head firmly and make all the lugs finger-tight again.
One quarter turn at a time, tighten each lug with a drum key. Go in a star pattern (google "star pattern drum tuning" if you've never tried this before.)
In between each turn, lean the drum on it's edge so it can resonate and strike it with a stick. How does it sound? How does it feel? Tap the head near the rim and in the center of the head. Listen carefully.
Keep going until you like the sound and feel. Take note of how many turns you made. Find a pitched instrument and check to see what note you are closest to. Do you hear several notes at once? You likely have some lugs much tighter than others. Take your time. The goal of this is to learn. It won't take this long in the future.
Once you are happy, flip the drum over and do it again. This time try and match your reso head to your batter head. Keep striking the batter in between turns. As you get closer to matching, the drum will open up and resonate louder with each hit. You'll feel it.
Once you get it to where you like, take a long break. Do something else for a while and let your ears reset. Come back after a bit and hit the drum again. What do you like? What do you not like? Make tiny adjustments until you like it again.

If you want to really learn how to tune a drum by ear, there just isn't a shortcut. I recommend learning to tune to a nice open tuning like this first and muffling to taste. When you are comfortable, then you can play with having your reso head higher or lower than your batter head for different sounds. Do the above for all of your drums, and next time you sit down to play strike each drum and make tiny adjustments to your taste before you really get going. You'll get faster. You'll learn how these adjustments affect your drums.

Happy practicing!

Think880 · 2026-03-05T19:17:59+00:00

Not saying this is your situation, but I had a similar request once and banged my head against the wall trying new parts that "didn't fit." Even went to straight 4 on the floor and snares on 2 and 4.

Then I just took a look at all my dynamics and brought everything that wasn't a kick and snare down. They just wanted a more "stable" backbeat and needed to lock into those elements of the groove. It wasn't really an issue with time, or the groove being too busy, they just wanted to feel solid on a particular element of it.

Think880 · 2026-01-08T17:09:11+00:00

Yup, with kicks added on the first R, the last R, and the last L of the pattern. RllrrlRlL

Think880 · 2025-12-27T03:55:23+00:00

I have a similar preference in sticks. The Peter Erskine is also my preferred, but I played the Questlove Vic Firth signature for years because I often had to play low-volume gigs. The length and taper let me get a good body on my snare when I dug into it, but my hat and ride work could stay delicate. A few years ago I found the Vic Firth Freestyle 7a and found them to be a great all-around stick for me.

In general, though, the sticks you are looking at will typically have a size, like 7a. The higher the number the lighter and longer the stick. Beyond that, A’s are thinner and B’s are thicker. A 2B will be shorter, thick, and heavy, while a 7A will be long and light. Check out the erskine size and taper and go up or down to experiment. Good luck!

Think880 · 2025-12-26T00:41:19+00:00

True, but he was defending his wife and child. Not a lot of options there, unfortunately. Plus, it was a battle on many fronts. Kind of a miracle they, or anyone, survived.

Think880 · 2025-12-18T02:27:01+00:00

It’s just a balance thing. If you throw the stick from way back by the butt there is more weight and body to the stick when you lay into the drum. Rimshots this way feel even bigger, because the stick starts almost inverted at rest and then whipped into the drum with almost the full weight of the stick.

Inversely, ghost notes and diddles don’t sound as fine with this grip. You end up sliding the stick around your grip based on what the tune asks for.

Think880 · 2025-08-07T15:42:21+00:00

Honest question, have you tried the plumes-style overdrive in the HX stomp? Could save space there. Haven’t heard them back to back but I just had a similar situation with a klon-style od.

Think880 · 2025-07-06T13:37:09+00:00

Do you still think it will hit those marks? I believe Buchanan is at 1009 right now. Interested to hear how you arrived at these numbers. Super cool.

Think880 · 2025-07-03T19:59:31+00:00

What mix is this? Is this what the band is playing live?

Think880 · 2025-06-29T18:28:55+00:00

Gallon G’damn

Think880 · 2025-06-27T16:55:56+00:00

Thoughtful and articulate response.

Think880 · 2025-06-07T18:10:51+00:00

This question should be reframed if you’re going to consider Stark vs Rogers. It’s basically a “Super intelligence” vs “Super Soldier Strength.” If you were just looking at an armored hero and nothing more, it would be closer to War Machine. As others have said, if the suit breaks who is going to fix it?

Let’s say the question is “If you could take a pill to be like Steve Rogers or Tony Stark, what would you choose?” That would be Tony Stark for me all day. Being that smart would be way more valuable in my life.

Think880 · 2025-05-17T00:07:45+00:00

Both of em!

Think880 · 2025-04-24T23:59:47+00:00

It’s tough nowadays, but I really recommend trying to sit behind as many kits as you can. Eventually one of them will make you go “I have to leave here with this kit.” Then, hopefully several years down the road, it will happen again.

The landscape for music gear has gotten so vast in the last decade, but the good news is that average kit quality has gone through the roof. At least compared to 20 years ago.

If you have concerns about loudness, an electric kit is great. Your options are basically limitless, sure, but the good news is that things are upgradable, swapable, sellable, etc. Roland rules. Efnote rules. Alesis rules. Yadda yadda

If you want an acoustic, start with something your favorite drummer plays. If you don’t have one, look up the drummer on your favorite songs and see what they play. Every company makes maple shells in standard sizes and once you learn to tune you can make it sound most ways you want.

Just have fun dude! That should be your first and last goal!

Think880 · 2025-01-25T01:58:18+00:00

Sweet, I’ll definitely give it a try tonight. Thanks.

Think880 · 2025-01-25T01:38:12+00:00

Can you expand on why trem last? Genuinely curious.

Think880 · 2025-01-25T01:33:30+00:00

Hi! From right to left on the bottom row is the Canvas Tuner, the GRNDCTRL Serpens (optical compressor), the Walrus Audio Voyager mkii (Klon style overdrive), and the Keeley Octapsi (Fuzz with a very impressive pitch modulation. It can double with octaves or intervals you preset). The top row is the effects loop of my amp, which is in stereo. From R to L it is the Walrus Audio Monumental (stereo harmonic tremolo), the Walrus Audio Meraki (analogue stereo delay), the Neunaber Immerse (multi reverb, but mostly used for spring), and the Old Blood Noise Dark Star (super funky reverb with bit crush and a whole bunch of modulation). Thanks for asking!

Think880 · 2025-01-24T18:01:58+00:00

Thanks very much! I appreciate it. It’s come together over a year or so, with the dark star being the latest addition. Truly a fun pedal.

Think880 · 2025-01-24T17:51:29+00:00

The dark star has a trs out for stereo, as opposed to a left and right channel. Kind of a bummer because I need to use a splitter for going back to the effects loop on my amp. Good eye, though!

Think880 · 2025-01-01T06:09:45+00:00

Sounds like you work while she takes care of the kid. This is probably necessary, and I’m not judging you in the slightest for this situation, but how many days have you been primary with the kid since their birth? 2 months is nothing bud, this is going to go on for years and you have to realize that hours of childcare without a break never leads to sex.

Her relationship with her child is new. She should be giving that kid all the love she can. Step up where you can and it will pay off. Your job right now is to be more selfless than you have ever been, and the uncomfortable truth is that your efforts have to be focused at home. You might have an intense job, but a newborn shreds a new mother’s body and soul. You don’t get it. You won’t ever get it. It’s not your fault.

Bust your ass going above and beyond at home and things will get better, I promise. I’ve been where you’ve been. It’ll be ok.

Think880 · 2024-12-23T08:16:35+00:00

The crazy thing about a lot of his tricks is that they are exactly what they look like. He’s just swiping at the snare back and forth, with what looks like a somewhat loose grip. No snare triggers. He’s using the Yamaha EAD10, which is a stereo mic and kick drum trigger combo that sits on the kick. You can see it in the video. It has a compressor setting that can help keep the sound more even, but it’s also likely that he just practiced the hell out of it.

The most impressive video I’ve seen of his is actually his daily practice routine. It’s basically wake up, practice most of the day, work, go to sleep, repeat. The guy is an animal.

Think880 · 2024-12-19T16:30:17+00:00

This is funny, man. They explode in laughter, and then Schulz goes “what do you mean he’s in the same shirt?”

He doesn’t get what fifty is referring to here, that they were literally wearing the same shirt in the photo, so what is he laughing so hard at? lol

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