Experienced drummers may not necessarily find any new tips from this article, but for new drummers, and drummers who have difficulty understanding how other people tune drums, they may find some useful tips. Meaningful stuff. Premise: Many questions are relatively common sense. There are also many issues that drummers may disagree or argue about. In fact, everyone's taste and preference are very important. No two drummers will play with exactly the same tone.

Single-sided or double-sided, what kind of drum head, type of music

Target: This article is mainly for junior drummers to adjust the drum heads by themselves. Mature, professional drummers generally have experience in rapid and detailed drum tuning, and generally have their own series of tricks. Drummers generally pay more attention to exchanging experiences with each other. The drum tuning method in the recording studio will greatly depend on the sound engineer and recording equipment, etc., which will greatly affect the drummer. The sound engineer generally has his own set of methods and personality. Since recording technical issues are also a difficult technical field, in This cannot be explained. But first, drummers should have the confidence to tune their drums to the natural sound they want. I would like to remind beginner drummers that they should not be too demanding that their drums can produce the tone in the CD without adding any electrical equipment under normal circumstances.

Selection of drum skin

Pinstripe, transparent, double-layered, with a thick black line on the edge, is mostly used in ttom drums, and some people call it oil skin. Some people also call it the studio head. Remo himself describes it this way: It is composed of two layers of remo transparent membranes, which are internally silenced to control overtones and echoes. Produces a focused, lower-pitched tone with mid-pitch impact and response. Suitable for heavier and fatter sounds. There are commonly used transparent ones, and there are also white-coated ones.

Coated, single-layer ones are the most commonly used snare drum skins, coated, white ones,

FiberSkyn The remo film and synthetic fibers are combined using advanced laminating methods to create an antique look, sound, and feel. It has a timbre similar to that of cowhide: darker, warmer and mellower. The manufacturer recommends it for traditional jazz, old rock, rhythm and blues, and symphony snare drums, bass drums, and tom drums. It is also excellent for use on bongos

Choose the right drum head, just like you choose Some suitable drums, or some suitable underwear, make yourself comfortable.

Whether it is suitable depends on what kind of drum it is used on. For example, you have to consider:

1. What kind of drum it is used on;

2. It’s not about using a microphone to amplify;

3. What kind of music is played;

4. The environment in which the performance is performed (such as a bar, a stadium, etc., indoors or outdoors), etc. .

Maybe many friends don’t have the conditions to consider so much. Anyway, when choosing a drum head, you can’t simply rely on what a certain “drum king” uses, and just use what you want. You have to learn why he uses that kind of drum head, and also what kind of drum head he uses. You have to figure it out for yourself and slowly accumulate experience.

For beginners, of course it is more important to be cheap, but at the same time it is best to pay attention to these points:

1. The surface of the drum skin should be smooth;

2. There should be an appropriate curvature between the drum head and the metal drum head ring, so that the drum head can lie on the drum cavity perfectly;

3. The intersection of the drum head and the metal drum head ring should be as close as possible. There are no wrinkles;

4. Determine whether the drum head is level as a whole;

5. The above points have a great influence on drum tuning, and are even decisive. Choose carefully, imported drum heads will be better, but because they are relatively expensive and transportation is inevitably squeezed, you should also choose. Many professional players abroad are demanding when ordering larger-sized drum heads such as timpani and bass drums. , often send a special air box for drum skins to the manufacturer for delivery. This shows the importance of drum skins and the safety of transportation is very important.

6. The thickness of the drum skin is easy to feel, and the tone is very different. Thicker is not better or thinner is better.

Types of music

If you play heavy metal music, it is best to get a double-layer drum head, or a single-layer drum head with a thick round pad in the center. If you play jazz and often use brushes, coated (white coated, single layer. The most common snare drum head), medium, or thin ones are more suitable.

Should you use a microphone?

A microphone not only amplifies the sound of the drum, but also changes the timbre and length of the drum. If your snare drum and tom drum do not use a microphone, and you like to compare For a wider sound, it is best to use a single-layer drum head with less noise dampening. This type of drum head will make your drum brighter and more transparent. If you are going to use a microphone, a 'double head' will be more comfortable. A single-layer drum head will produce larger overtones in the sound system and feedback back to the microphone. Of course, if you have a good tuner, you can make good use of and solve these problems.

I think that in addition to being durable, the bass drum does not have very high requirements for the drum head. The audience is unlikely to notice how much the drum head you use costs. Different drum heads have different timbres on the bass drum. Relatively limited. But bass drum heads wear out much faster than other drum heads.

Tom drums and snare drums are very picky about their heads.

Snare drums may like a silver dot (silver center pad) but at the same time ttom drums may not be suitable. On average, a drummer may hit the snare drum 30 times more than the ttom drum. On average, he hits the snare drum 30 times before hitting the ttom drum once. If you find that after playing for a night, your snare drum is full of holes. There are some pits, but the ttom drum is still relatively smooth, then you should replace the small drum head.

I’m really not sure. Listen to the drum heads used by other drummers, listen to actual performances, and the overall sound. Then refer to what leather they use.

One side or two sides

Some drummers like tomtom drums and bass drums with one side. But most drummers use double-sided leather. The main thing to consider is what kind of sound you like.

The sound of single-sided ttom drums tends to be thinner, thinner, and crisper than double-sided drums. For comparison, you can listen to Neil Peart using double-sided drums on a 6'8'10' drum. After listening to __Presto__'s previous album, the double-sided ttom drum seems sweeter.

Double-sided ttom drums are not much more difficult to adjust than single-sided ones, but they just take more time.

Some drummers think that the bottom skin and the top skin should be adjusted differently. This will weaken the volume of some drums and at the same time broaden the timbre of the drums.

When the drum skin is struck, the dough skin vibrates, pushing the air downward, and then vibrating the bottom skin below. Both sides of the skin vibrate at the same time. If the vibration of the dough causes the air to move downward, and the base causes the air to move upward, technically speaking, there will be a certain offset to the sound. If you find that the ttom drum is "squealing", you can adjust the relationship between the bottom surfaces.

The timbre of the bass drum will also be greatly different due to single and double skins. The sound of the bass drum with single skin is faster, but the timbre is often not low and deep enough. In addition, it is recommended to use a microphone as much as possible for the bass drum. For live performances, 75% of people dance to the rhythm of the bass drum. If the sound of your bass drum is not sufficient, the audience will be very uncomfortable and unable to move.