Tuning the Snare Drum

When tuning your snare drum, use the same procedures as when tuning the toms. The crucial difference here is that, once you get the wrinkles out of the head, you're looking to get the drum tight, tight, tight. The reason for this is that it takes a high pitched snare drum to get that signature crack that is so desirable in a great drum recording.

Once again, don't rely on EQ to fix your tone. Take a few minutes and get the sound right from the drum itself.

1) After you get the wrinkles out of the head, go around the drum in the star pattern and apply equal tension to each tension rod. This will take several passes because you want the drum to be tight. Don't worry if the head rings, we will take care of that in a minute.

2) When the head is tight, hit it like you would when you play. It should be very high in pitch and it should also be ringing.

3) Now tap on the drum lightly. You should still hear the snares, your drum should still sound like a snare, even at low volume. If it doesn't, tighten you bottom head using the star pattern technique. This makes the snare strainer more sensitive.

4) Once you have completed the above steps, you need to eliminate ringing. With the toms, that ringing was eliminated by matching the pitch of the top and bottom heads. This doesn't hold with the snare drum. To reduce ringing, you can purchase studio rings to fit your snare or use some kind of soft ball of material taped to the top head close to the outer rim. I recommend going to your local music store and getting a studio ring. They cost between 5 and 10 dollars and last a lifetime if you don't loose it.