Drum Tuning, again

[EachHit]

Hey Guys,

I know here are a lot of threads about Drum Tuning and I read a lot of them. But I am still not able to get a good sound Drumkit. My biggest problem is mostly the Tuning.
Seems that I am one of the 99% that Glenn mentioned in the Tuning Video.
I also own a Tama Tension Watch cause I thought that would make the Tuning easier but that doesn't seem to be the Case.
Tuned my Drums with the Watch and I thought the Toms sounded okay when I am playing them. But yesterday somebody else told me how crappy they sound and I instantly heard then when I stepped away from the Kit and heard somebody else playing the Kit.
That was before I saw Glenn's Video where he also uses a Tension Watch.
Now I retuned my Drums as good as I could like Glenn did in the Video but I still don't come anything close to a good Tom Sound.
I uploaded some Tomhits from my Miced Drumkit so maybe someone could help me out how they think they Sound.

It's a Pearl Masters Premium with 8,10,12,14,16 Inch Toms. All are miced up with an E604 except the 14". That was miced with a D4.
Here's a Playlist on Soundcloud with the Tom Samples:
[SOUNDCLOUD]https://soundcloud.com/mixingpractice-1/sets/tom-samples[/SOUNDCLOUD]

Every Tip is appreciated about how to get a better Tuner. I know it's all about Practicing but getting some feedback would be very valuable.

Heavy Greetz

 

[Manicompression]

The clips you uploaded really dont sound bad at all. The tuning seems fine. It doesnt sound like a finished tom sound yet, but they sound like they should before processing. Try pulling out some of the junky low mids in the toms, say anywhere from 200-400 with a fairly wide q value and then compressing them with a vca style comp, slow attack fast release come mix time.

If your unhappy with that tom sound you posted you might be wanting a lower and more typical modern metal sound in which case I would say you should start over, loosen both heads, get both heads finger tight, then tighten the top with your key just past finger tight and then tighten the bottom a little tighter than the top/batter, spend some time listening to the drum and getting it to have the tone you desire. Then get all of the lugs reading fairly even with your tension watch. repeat with each drum.

I would also note that in my experience most toms just like to sit in a specific range and you kind of have to accept that range and make the best of it. There is nothing wrong with toms having some actual pitch about them like yours seem to have.

 

[EachHit]

The clips you uploaded really dont sound bad at all. The tuning seems fine. It doesnt sound like a finished tom sound yet, but they sound like they should before processing. Try pulling out some of the junky low mids in the toms, say anywhere from 200-400 with a fairly wide q value and then compressing them with a vca style comp, slow attack fast release come mix time.

If your unhappy with that tom sound you posted you might be wanting a lower and more typical modern metal sound in which case I would say you should start over, loosen both heads, get both heads finger tight, then tighten the top with your key just past finger tight and then tighten the bottom a little tighter than the top/batter, spend some time listening to the drum and getting it to have the tone you desire. Then get all of the lugs reading fairly even with your tension watch. repeat with each drum.

I would also note that in my experience most toms just like to sit in a specific range and you kind of have to accept that range and make the best of it. There is nothing wrong with toms having some actual pitch about them like yours seem to have.

Thanks for the Reply.

The Toms are of course totally raw. Maybe I had to mention what the Recording Chain was.
The Mic's went into a Yamaha N12 Mixer/Audio Interface straight into ProTools. The Levels were about -16 to -20dbFS. I only put the Maxim Plugin on the Bus to make it a bit louder so you don't have to crank up the volume.

I really like deep sounding Toms. Maybe that's why my Toms always sounded crap cause I wasn't able to even out the tuning on the low tuning.
I wasn't able to get all lugs reading the same. One or two lugs always where higher even if I only made them fingertight.
Perhaps I should retune them again and see what comes up next and I should always record them so I can hear the REAL sound and not what pops right into my Ear.

Maybe I should put up some other Heads. But I am not sure what are best for Metal and Rock and my Kit. My Cousin always recommends Remo but I also like a lot of Sound which use Evans.
Seems that I have to search for some Head which make the Drums sound lower without having loose Lugs all the Time. That's what I had on my Old Drumkit all the Time.

Heavy Greetz

 

[nezvers]

maybe that's your room what makes it sound shitty when you stand before drums?

 

[EachHit]

maybe that's your room what makes it sound shitty when you stand before drums?

There's another Drumkit in the Room (Sonor SQ2 I think) which sounds much much better than mine. It's in another Spot but I think I should also get a good sound.
I was thinking about some treatment in my Corner but I am not sure what to do. Maybe I find some pics of my Drumkit in the Room on my PC if anybody is interested.

Heavy Greetz

 

[ArthurD]

Just buy a tunebot, best investment ever

 

[Alex_M]

I also don't think it sounds bad. Probably it's just not exactly what you would like to get? Remo and Evans heads they both do the job well, so it's just a matter of taste which one to use.
If you want to get deeper sound, try to use thin resonant heads. Try to tune your resonant heads lower or higher than batters, so it's provide a different sound effect, just find which one will be more workable for you.
And of course try to tune your toms lower in general.
BTW don't forget to move your floor toms mics more to the center of drum heads to avoid boomy sound and not lose attack.
Hope it will help.
Cheers

 

[EachHit]

Just buy a tunebot, best investment ever

I was thinking about this one too. But there were some Comments on the Website where I buy most of my Stuff which hold me back cause it's not the Magic Thing.

I also don't think it sounds bad. Probably it's just not exactly what you would like to get? Remo and Evans heads they both do the job well, so it's just a matter of taste which one to use.
If you want to get deeper sound, try to use thin resonant heads. Try to tune your resonant heads lower or higher than batters, so it's provide a different sound effect, just find which one will be more workable for you.
And of course try to tune your toms lower in general.
BTW don't forget to move your floor toms mics more to the center of drum heads to avoid boomy sound and not lose attack.
Hope it will help.
Cheers

My Problem is that I don't really know what I want on sounds. I have to spend more time on recording than reading all this stuff I think.
Sometimes it's hard for me to judge if a sound is good or bad.

Heavy Greetz

 

[cfh11]

Just buy a tunebot, best investment ever

+1

i do not miss messing around with that stupid tension watch

 

[EachHit]

+1

i do not miss messing around with that stupid tension watch

Wouldn't a very closed microphone and a Tuner do the same Trick?
That what it seems to me when I just flew over the Specs

Heavy Greetz

 

[DullElysium]

Has anyone of you compared the iDrum tech app for iPhone to Tune bot? I have the app and while it's better than using ears in my case, i feel like the microphone from iPhone might not be the best for this job. Also, no mount for the phone.