I have to point out that none of your drums will be in octaves if you tune your drums with a perfect fourth between each drum.

If Bass 5 is C, then 4 would be F, 3 would be Bb, 2 would be Eb, and 1 would be Ab. No octaves.

To get the octaves that you are mentioning you would have to tune alternating perfect 5th's and 4th's between drums.

Bass 5 is C (up P5) Bass 4 is G (up P4) Bass 3 is C (up P5) Bass 2 is G (up P4) Bass 1 is C

I have had experience with many different styles of tuning and muffling, and I have also discussed and debated them with the likes of big-name percussion people that have marched in some of the best corps with the best basslines and people that have been teaching for decades. I have experienced everything from stock heads with no muffling to outside muffling to inside muffling to powermax to evans to pillows to kick drum EQ pads to plastic shopping bags. Everything matters when it comes to getting a good sound. Also, the term "good sound" ultimately comes down to the best sound YOU want from your drums with respect to the drums you have, the setting you are playing in, and the players you are working with.

The bass tech at Crown taught me the most about tuning and muffling heads. There we used (of course) the green heads. They were Remo Emperors (2-ply; one ply plain smooth white and the other a clear laminate of the wood lacquer) that we had the great opportunity of being able to change them once every few weeks. Even so, the normal white Emperors are a good long-lasting head, but you need chops to get a good sound out of them. I personally like to use Ambassadors for high school lines if you have the means to replace them after every season. I try to avoid Evans bass heads just because their pre-existing muffling systems that every band director seems to find so convenient just aren't worth the hassle.

The first step is to "crinkle" the head right out of the box. Take your thumbs and just press along the crown of the head producing an obnoxious crackling sound. This will get any odd dents out of the edge of the head. Clean the bearing edge of the drum with a cloth and then place the head on the drum. Always, ALWAYS apply lithium grease to each and every tension rod between each head change. Finger tighten the tension rods evenly and then give them a quarter turn or so with a drum key. This is where you sit on the head, putting all your weight on it (a fun concept to pull out when changing heads with high-schoolers, getting that "are you serious?!" look before not even hesitating to sit on one of their drums) .This is ok to do, as a cranked drum puts way more pressure on a drum head than sitting on it does. After you "seat" the head, loosen the tension rods enough so that you can move the head around. Then have the player pick up the drum so you can adjust the logo on the drum (for aesthetic's sake). After you do this, tighten the lugs again so that the adjustment to the head stays.

Put the drum on a stand (or have the player wear it if stands are not available) and clear the head. This is easiest by clearing at the lowest clear pitch the head gives (just past the "crinkle point"). I usually start by putting a finger on the center of the head (to cut overtones) and testing each lug for equality. The check method for clearing is to hit in the center of the drum and listen for a clear tone. If the tone is wavy (like two horns out of tune with each other), it means you are not done. After you have cleared the head, apply the muffling.

I like to muffle on the outside of the drum because it provides a clear, dry attack with just enough resonance. (the foam on the outside creates more attack sound, foam on the inside creates more tone) At crown we had the yamaha sound impact strips (and a lot of it to spare) and that worked great. For my high school line, I have been using 1 1/4" by 1 1/4" air conditioner foam from Lowe's and applying it with all-weather caulk. The only downside about these are they come in packaging 47" long (not enough for the circumference of a 20" drum) and when you take them out of the packing, there are bends and creases in it that sometimes work themselves out. However, I will definitely try Toe's online source for foam, it seems like a great resource.
I generally put a full ring of foam on all of the drums except for the top drum (usually an 18 for me), just so the top voice can still be heard with some tone for those tasty rolls.

From here, I tune (on stands or carried) by quarter turns at a time, making sure that the head stays true throughout. Normally I crank the drums and let them sit overnight to let the heads sit and the caulk set, then start fine tuning the next day.

I have been experimenting with different tunings. At Crown we did a perfect fourth between 5 and 4, then minor thirds all the way up. At West Chester, we have 6 drums, so I tune to the overtone series; perfect fifth, perfect fourth, major third, minor third, minor third (so, in C: C2, G2, C3, E3, G3, Bb3). That one is big on preference. In general, too little of an interval (smaller than a m3) makes it hard to hear the different pitches, and too large of an interval between drums (4ths, 5ths, or larger) inhibits understanding all the drums as a coherent part. This one really requires some experimentation. I used to go with a tuner, but I find that it is more important to hear what pitch your drums sound best at, rather than defining a pitch to go with the music you are playing.

Tuning the bass ensemble is an art, and each ensemble has it's own needs and the tuner (or "artist") must find a method of tuning that best fits his/her ensemble. Experimentation is key and there is no end-all be-all tuning method that "works" everyone has different drums, different heads, different players, and different budgets. You have to make the best of what you have, and remember that the term "best" is determined by YOU.

I hope this helped anyone who was still wondering.

Here's a link to my recommended muffling method: Bass Drum Muffling Method

This has worked great for lots of basslines: Cavaliers, Illini drumline, Prospect HS, Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls, Crystal Lake Strikers, etc.


Dale

Although if you want that evenness he described a tritone between each drum is an option. I can't help but wonder what that would sound like, though...

I use a similar system to Toe. First I put the foam in the drum, but instead of going all the way across the shell I put 2 strips that are about 3-4" from either barring edge all the way around the drum. I think that if you have too much muffling on the inside of the drum it will not resonate like it should. What's the point of having several plies of expensive wood like maple if all you are going to do is choke out the resonance?

Everything else, aside form the intervals Toe said, I agree with.


I think Mike Mac and the boys at bluecoats (at least that's where they were when they made this article) said this the best-

We tune our drums to a major chord. Between basses 1 and 2: minor 3rd, 2 and 3: Major 3rd, 3 and 4: Perfect 4th, 4 and 5: Perfect 5th. This gives the bass line a nice intervallic relationship between all the drums. For an indoor percussion setting, we recommend trying to spread the intervals in the top 3 basses further to perfect 4ths since the pitches more easily run together in a “boomy” indoor venue.

I think something that has been overlooked to is basedrum mallets. I know this is a tuning tread but I believe that mallet selection has just as much to do with articulation as foam or other muffling. I would recommend at the very least to make sure you have mallet sizes relevant to the size drum. For instance the Vic Firth mallets are numbered as they represent the number of drum. The 1 drum gets the #1 mallet and so on. Having mallets that are more than 2 drums apart (using 3's on 5) will not get you the articulation and sound production you want. Also, playing with felt that is soft,out-of-round, or other such problems with severely hurt your bassdrum sound. As techs make sure you fight to replace your bassdrum mallets every season or at least once a year!