Drum Tuning
Please feel free to give your own advice. I will post it and give you credit for the info. Now, I personally don't believe in a true right or wrong way to tune. If you like the sound you get you are right. Sometimes I want a clean perfect pitch sound and other times I like a dirty out of tune sound. It just depends on the setting. To start with I am posting some tuning videos from Bob Gatzen. He really does a good job of explaining how to tune for a classic sound.
Please give some of your insight on drum tuning, heads, and micing. If you like I will post them! Drum Tuning, drum set, and head choice should fit your next gig. In live situations we don't have the luxury of changing drum sets, cymbals, and re-tuning for each song like you do in the studio. So, you have to set up what you have to fit the all around vibe of the music. Working with what you have is a necessity for most of us as well. My first gigging drum set was a Sonar birch kit with a 20" Kick and fusion size toms. It cost $1000. I had to borrow that from my grandparents and pay them back with my gig money. I bought a fusion size kit because I could only afford one kit and I needed it for jazz, big band, and rock gigs in bars. For the jazz gigs I used coated ambassadors all over and tuned everything relatively high. I would then tune to a medium level tone for big band. For the rock gigs I would put on clear emperors, and tuned real low. I only had one snare, the 14"x5" birch that came with the kit, so I tuned it to where the drum sounded good in itself and adjusted the strainers to get a fatter or crisper sound. Sometime you just gotta do what ya gotta do. As I got more gigs, and thus money, the changing of the heads and constant drum tuning became a real pain. So, I kept my sonar kit with clear heads and rock drum tuning and bought a be-bop kit for $1000. 10", 13', and 18" kick with a Gretch snare. It's a good kit but I think I paid to much considering they were used. This set allowed me to get the bop sound I wanted for my jazz gigs and be able to play quiet enough for those gigs where someone is eating dinner two feet away from you. To keep it quiet I used coated ambassadors on the top and bottom. Later, I started getting more and better top 40 and horn band gigs. I needed a better rock kit for not too much money. So, I found a Pacific LX set with a 22"x20" kick, fusion toms, and a 14"x5" snare; all maple. This kit is great because it's the same shells as a maple DW. It's just assembled in Mexico. Cheaper labor = cheaper price. Again, $1000. I use the Aquarian super kick II set up and I go back and forth between coated and clear emperors on the toms. And a coated emperor on the snare. I currently play a DW kit with a 22"x18" kick, 10, 12, 14, and 16" toms. I still use the super kick set-up and I'm using coated pinstripes on the toms. I also switch between three snares. I usually have a Nobles & Cooley piccolo to the left of the high hat. The drum tuning is cranked as high as it will go. I use it for that electronic snare sound that's on many of the songs coming out today. Sometimes I flip it over and play the snare side for a different sound. As my central snare I either use a 14"x6.5" maple DW with medium tuning or a 14"x6" steel DW tuned relatively high. Next, I plan on buying the Steve Jordan signature snare. I share this to hopefully give some of you some ideas for how to use what you have to get through your gigs. There are so many mid-level kits out there that are perfect for the bars and clubs that most people play. You really don't have to spend too much money. We all have our wish lists but you shouldn't spend 10k on a custom kit if you don't have the gig to go with it.
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