Saturday, November 9, 2024
GuitarGuitar Tips & HacksTips & Hacks

Is This REALLY How DW Wants You to Tune Their Drum Kits??


Drums only version: https://youtu.be/Hy7-OZ3UzUE
Follow on IG: https://instagram.com/davidraouf/
Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rdavidr

Gear Used in this Video (Affilate Links):

Kit & Snare:
DW Collectors Maple Drum Set:
https://imp.i114863.net/Ry2Z7R
DW Collectors Maple Snare Drum:
https://imp.i114863.net/LP5LAM

TuneBot:
https://imp.i114863.net/LP5LAY

Mics:
-Earthworks DK7 Kit:
https://imp.i114863.net/mP25y
Lewitt DTP 640 REX Bass Drum Mic
https://imp.i114863.net/jW3Odn

Cymbals:
20” K Cluster Crash:
https://imp.i114863.net/LPmN4V
21″ Zildjian K Custom Special Dry Ride:
https://imp.i114863.net/DVWEgy

Sticks:
Vic Firth Freestyle 5b:
https://imp.i114863.net/045EO

Hardware:
Roc n’ Soc Drum Throne:
https://imp.i114863.net/1AXxm
Tama Road Pro/ Iron Cobra Hardware:
https://imp.i114863.net/AoBA4K

Heads:
Remo Emperor Clears:
https://imp.i114863.net/NK0qYv
Remo Ambassador Clears:
https://imp.i114863.net/mgEmkq
Remo CS Coated:
https://imp.i114863.net/Jrj6n7

Music used (background & playalongs):
https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/zcr0yw/

One comment I got a TON of in the video about this DW Collectors video was about the pitches of the shells. Most people said that it’s pointless to even include the pitches and no one ever tunes to the pitches of the shell. Also, the pitch of the shell totally changes once all the hardware is installed, due to all the added mass. So I wanted to see first, if my tuning was anywhere close to the pitch of the shell, then see if tuning to the pitch of the shell sounded any better. This kit is 10″x8″ (C), 12″x9″ (F), 16″x14″ (C#), 22″x18″ (G#), and 14″x6.5″ (A). Which actually make a decent sounding chord (C# maj7 with an added #5). The way I tuned sounded completely different! and surprisingly was just a bunch of octave Ds and a few other notes, making an augmented triad. Does one sound better than the other? Ill let you be the judge! This is not meant to be a “how to tune your drums tutorial.” Just having some fun!

Is This REALLY How DW Wants You to Tune Their Drum Kits??

#Tune #Drum #Kits

Originally posted by UCNQQY5Ro8Lk6gssOQSSDcfw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl-BmMukwbI

47 thoughts on “Is This REALLY How DW Wants You to Tune Their Drum Kits??

  • you bitch about the tension rods, but they're the reason the kit stays in tune. you can deal with screwing them in once, or you can deal with retuning every take…

    Reply
  • DW stole/copied most of their 'innovations' from Sonor. Fact. I visite a drumstore yesterday and it had a tradein DW Jazz kit. Buyer bought a Sonor. Lol.

    Reply
  • Could we hear the raw drums one a time in a addition to your playing which is great btw

    Reply
  • You can make even a Science out of Drum Tuning or in the easy way tune it the way you like it. For me your tuning ist nice and the DW Shell Pitch tuning is also nice but it's not the tuning i would choose for my Drumkit. Listen to your heart!

    Reply
  • Bill Bruford used to tune his snare drum tight on half of the batter head and loose on the other half of the batter head. It gave it a unique sound of its own.
    I hate having everything the same. I like variety in sound and in life.

    Reply
  • You can't hate any professional drum company's drums! Tune them to what sounds good to you and others ears!!!

    Reply
  • A word of advice from a bass player, so take it for what it's worth: be careful what you tune your snare drum to. One band I was in, the drummer had his snare tuned to D, and every time I played a D on bass, it would send his snare into a rattling frenzy. Didn't matter what octave I was playing, all you could hear was massive snare rattle. And no, it wasn't just me playing too loud; C# did nothing, D# did nothing, but D would make all hell break loose. When he finally had to replace the drum heads, he tuned them a little lower than before, resting somewhere between C# & D, and the rattling snare issue disappeared

    Reply
  • The wrap join on that 10" tom should be in line with the lugs ???? that coupled with the loose screws is a little off for a brand that's main selling point is attention to detail.

    Reply
  • Tip to help you with the drill issue. Use a normal drill with a rotation selector, so you cant over screw… From the looks of the video, you are using an impact driver.

    Reply
  • I appreciate your discussion on tuning matters. While I appreciate they have tuning recommendations for the kit, I absolutely love your earlier tuning!

    As for the frequencies or pitch, I noticed that with mid to top-tier models, you can pretty much tune them any way you like and they still sound good! On the other hand, I find it (the method of tuning to the natural pitch of the shells, or close enough especially if the manufacturer didn't mention any specified pitch or frequencies) more applicable to cheap or more affordable kits like the ones I normally see or even use at church. The likes of Global, Fernando, GTX, etc. I find that med or high tuning (whether using mufflers/rings or not) surprisingly works wonders on the shells with less unwanted ringing overtones that we usually find… unsettling and stressful whenever we tried working on lower tuning. Just my personal observation though.

    Reply
  • Hello???? I'm a Portuguese musician and I would like to share one of my videos as a cover singer through my YouTube channel.. Singing (Pop Rock Blues Reggae Jazz MPB…) I am also a drummer, composer, lyricist and DJ.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WFWPOSYxkwE
    Enjoy. Thanks. Peace and love. ????????????????

    Reply
  • You rule man !!!

    I'm always surprised when sound engineers, drummers, or anybody who is trying to show me WHAT THE DRUMS SOUND LIKE actually do things like…play them.
    SO many videos with guys saying "ok, now let's hear the results" (like on a tom mic technique video) and then "Billy the drummer" plays 7 1/2 bars or the standard funky drum beat (not a tom to be seen), then a two beat tom fill of dotted 8th notes… ha ha.

    MUCH better would be two measures of each drum playing soft-soft-LOUD-LOUD as 8th notes all the way around the kit so that we can really hear the effect of…whatever the heck the are talking about. And then sure, give us a little context but play more than ba-dum-pshh !

    You hav==d a nice blend of both, and I appreciate that.

    Keep up the great work, keep pumping out the interesting and informative videos that you do, and whatever you do…don't EVER shave that beard !!
    Steve

    Reply
  • It's basic physics, Every drum will have a resonant frequency just like any physical object. If the heads are in tune with the shell that will give you the most open resonant frequency the drum is capable of producing (noticeably louder than when not in resonance), and it should be the starting point of tuning any drum. I think it's great they provide the pitch of the shells, but you can do that yourself. I just tuned a new Ludwig set for a friend so we removed all the heads and then whacked the shells with a mallet to obtain the shell pitches and then we tuned the heads to match. Once that was done we dialed in an interval between the heads that gave him the sound he was very happy with, which happened to be an Augmented 4th.

    Reply
  • BS as a pro l tune my drums according to the style of music l am performing. And even more: according to the SONG I got to play

    Reply
  • I didn't know people shit on DW is it because of the price? The toms on a DW set always had the most full sound to me and I love a high pitched poppy snare too.

    Reply

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