Tuning Drums

Part I - Tuning Drums

The first step to any great drum track is to tune the drums. As with any recorded instrument, no amount of EQ, plugins, or engineering magic can fix your drum tracks if they don't sound their best going in.

Remember, a recording is something that is going to be forever. It represents you as a drummer and recording artist. Lots of times, it is the only reference a person has as to what kind of player you are. More importantly, the drums are the foundation to EVERY song that contains them (no matter what your singer says).

If the drummer isn't on time and the drums themselves aren't sounding better than they ever have, it can make the whole song sound off. But don't worry, getting your drums in tune isn't the great mystery that everyone tries to make it out to be.

It really only involves a little knowledge, a little time, and a little patience. Let's get started.

The first step in tuning involves the heads. What type of head varies as widely as what type of stick you use. Therefore I'm not going to name any specifics here. What I will get involved with is the condition of the heads themselves.

Ideally, you should use new heads before every session. Not every song (unless you really want to), every session. Most drummers, even the hardest hitters like myself, can record a 12 song record on one set of new heads unless the snare head blows.