Tuning And Muting

Up to this point we have used the tension bolts to simply attach the head
to the hoop and drum. The careful tightening of these tension bolts is how
the drums are tuned and how a good drum sound is achieved. There are
many different tuning preferences but here is the basic tuning procedure.

When tuning a new head, tighten the lugs in the order shown above. Start
at point one and use the drum key to turn the bolt until you get a slight amount
of resistance (usually 2-4 turns). Move to point two and do the same. It is
important to maintain stress at each tension point -- if you overtighten at one
point, you can improperly stretch the head, so take your time. When you have
completed the cycle, begin again at point one turning each bolt about one-half
to one full turn. The drum will begin at this point to give out a tone or pitch. In
the beginning, we recommend tuning your top and bottom heads to the same
pitch, later on you may develop your own preferences.

After you have played for a while, check the tension bolts to make sure they
haven't loosened up. Retighten as needed. Especially check those tension
bolts beside the snare strainer. You should also check to make sure that the
snappy snares are centered on the snare head.

As you tighten the tension bolts, the drum will get higher in pitch while sustain
will decrease. By decreasing tension you can obtain a lower pitch and a fatter
sound. The pitch of the drum will vary depending on the tension of the bottom
head. If you tighten the bottom higher than the top (batter) head, the pitch will go
up. If the tension is lower than the batter head, the pitch will decrease (see above).

The tama TW100 Tension Watch (above) makes drum tuning incredibly easy by
eliminating tuning guesswork and radically cutting down tuning time. The Tension
Watch is a highly sensitive, easy-to-use gauge designed specifically for the
precision tuning of acoustic drums. By using the TW100 with the tuning system
described above, you will not only be able to hear the pitch change with each turn
of the drum key, you will see a specific number on the Tension Watch that you can
associate with that pitch. In the beginning, simply use the roadproven tuning
examples in the TW100 manual. Later on, you will be able to use the TW100 to
quickly recall your own favorite tunings. A valuable and worthwile drum investment.

Although not as popular for jazz drummers who use smaller drums, many drummers
who use close miking and larger drums will mute or muffle their drums to cut down
drum ring and overtones. For the bass drum, a pillow, towel, or sponge muffler like
the Tama PK10 (above left) is placed at the bottom of the drum. The amount of material
changes the tone. For the snare drum and toms, an external muffler like Tama's 6553
(above right) can be attached or duct tape can be applied to the head.

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