Drum tuning
process of adjusting the frequency or pitch of a drum
Drum tuning is the process of adjusting the frequency or pitch of a drum. Although most drums are unpitched instruments, they still have a fundamental pitch and overtones. Drums require tuning for a variety of reasons: to sound good together as a kit, to sound pleasing as an individual drum, to achieve the desired amount of ringing and resonance, and to produce the sound that fits the music. Some drums such as timpani and rototoms are tuned to a definite pitch. Drums are tuned by tightening or loosening the tension rods or ropes, which control the tension on the drumhead. Additional techniques such as muffling may also be used to affect resonance.
Styles
Snare drum
The thin, sensitive bottom (resonant) head is generally tuned higher than the batter head, to deaden the tendency for lengthy, ringing resonance.
The resonant head on a 14-inch snare drum is tuned to a range of 330–391 Hz (E4 to G4), depending on the overall tuning of the drum kit. Overtightening risks damaging the head; the recommended maximum is 400 Hz.
The top, batter head of a 14-inch snare drum is tuned to a range of 220–349 Hz (A3 to F4), generally a specific interval lower than the resonant head.
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This entry incorporates text from “Drum tuning” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.