Well, a snare one got started so what the heck. I know I'm not the only one who needs a little insight on tuning.

My line uses Yamaha tenors, very old model. We use Remo Emperor Suede Coated heads, that actually sound decent (considering I've never used them before). I have tuned the two sets we have quite a bit, so I'm pretty confident at this point.

I seem to like the pitches Eb, C, A, and F# (1,2,3,4 respectively). I don't tune the spock to a pitch usually...I just crank it until it gets a "poppy" overtone. The best way, for me, to tune the tenors is by using a guitar tuner that plays notes. Turn the tuner on to the pitch, then I turn it off and sing the pitch. Then, I adjust the drum accordingly, while once in a while turning the tuner on again to re-check the pitch. Then I take that set and tune to other set to it. I do not try and tune both seperately, but to each other.

Same rules apply to this thread as they did in the Snare Equipment, but just for a reminder:

Thread Guidelines
Post your tuning methods for the world to see. Tell us what kind of sound you are going for and have achieved. Tell us what heads you are using and even the tools you have on hand to tune the heads. Go into every detail on your tuning method (I don't want to see any one line tuning descriptions). Tell us what has and hasn't worked for you. Like any other thread, if your post is off-topic it will be deleted. If your post is not in a descriptive format it will be deleted. There isn't any need for conversation to go on between members in this thread. Let us make this a pure reference thread for members to easily find different tuning methods without having to read through garbage. This can be an invaluable guide for somebody to find information if it is done right.

I use the same metod you do except we use a marimba to tune ours and we tune to an arpegio on whatever key the show music is in. As for the spok, thats the only problem i see in your method. The number 1 problem most tenor players make is that they overcrank the spock to tight so that its really high pitched. It may sound good at first but after like a week of practice it'll either break or go dead.

Post deleted by Font

What Font is trying to say..is the technique I use to tune the tenors, is somewhat the same as i would with a bassdrum. I tune the drums to 4ths..using the "here comes the bride" technique.


I start on drum 4 and get my desired tone and sustain (rim shot and letting it ring). then i move up to drum 3, where it would be a 4th above. 2nd then drum 1. as for the spocks...the left spock is cranked to a 5th up from drum 1, and the right spock is boned to my liking.

Font you need to do a bit more studying....

the way i learned was From Quad logic by Bill Bachman... you tune 4 till it sounds about what you want... then you tune 3 up a minor 3... and so the same for drum 2... then you tune a MAJOR third for drum one... and Spock... whatever you think sounds nice...

i have never heard of tuning them to instruments... if they were marching Timps(back in the 70's heh...) then yea... but not for Quads...

we just tune to the ear then tune the others to them

With OC this year we had many tuning problems. We had the large Dynasty 6 pack with the Remo Suedes. We also had the Dynasty high-tension keys. (New this year) But, we would normally tune one set, and check the intervals between each drum. (I.E. interval between drum 2-->3.) Then after 1 set sounded "right" we would simply tune the rest to them. Also, one technique we used was to have only 1 person do this tuning. So that each pitched is match to what that one person felt was the same to limit any variables in tuning. But, we found the Dynastys to be very inconsistent as we would tune right before we left our housing sight, put them on the truck, then take the drums off at the show site only to find that the temperature in the truck for a 1 hour ride was enough to throw each drum off from another. This happened all season for us, but we just had to deal.

Another thing that helped was taking the new head and loosening the glue so that as the head is tightened the glue was already prepped so that it would not drop when tightening the drum to another set of tenors. This was achieved by rolling the edge of the head between your fingers all around the head.

One day, we also tried to double rim them but we found out that longer lugs were needed for our drums.

Has anyone found a technique to conquering these inconsistencies with Dynasty?

we tune ours in minor 3rds

We've got Premiers (ugh) they are four years old and i don't know how they survived that long. We use Remo Suede Emperor which do a good job but our tech reefs the you no what out of the drums but they come out especially after he has had a long time with them sounding really good

my tuning techniques depend on the drums i'm using and the heads i'm using. like if i'm using yamaha drums(mahogany and beech, depending on model), and remo's, i'll tune by ear. but if i'm using dynasty(don't remember what type of wood)and evans, i'm most likely to use some kind of tuning device. we like to have a really clean, warm tone to our drums.

We have 2001-2002 era Championship quints (6, 10, 12, 13, 14) and Evans MS Clear Tenor Heads. Our tenors are tuned to Jingle Bells. I'm not sure of the exact pitch/key it is in because our caved-in shells cause our tenors to go in and out of tune, so we constantly retune to each other.

2: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jin-
1: -gle
4: All-
3: -the way

Our spock is just tuned to a piercing high pitched note.

well i dont know how our tech tunes the tenors. ive tried using the arpeggio and it kind of sounded good. but i just realized he tunes them differently for marching season and for indoor. at our last competition, they were tuned real high. our 1st drum is 8" and it was tuned like a 8" spock, or at least the kind ive heard. and the drum four was about the tuning of a normal drum 3. it was really weird to me, but it sounded alot better in the gym than other tenors lines who had the outdoor tuning. too much overtones for the gym.

If you go to Bill Bachman's website, and watch his Beatlicious video, his Dynasty quints sound awful. He must of tuned them really low that day.

I make the 4th drum a pitch that sounds good. For example, if it is "C", the third and second drum would be "E" and "G". Basically starting from the 4th drum and going up I do the 1, 3, 5, and flat 7 of a scale. Then the spock i just tune it high, but low enough so you can get a tone out of it. That is how I have always done it.

Hey guys I'm new to the site and this is my first post but I figured I'd shed any insight I have on this. I'm the tenor captian for WHS in Ohio and I've been the one tuning the tenors, snares, and bases for the last 3 years (Freshmen, Sophmore, and Junior year...Which I'm in now). I use a keyboard to tune both the basses and tenors. As for the tenors I don't quite use the "Jingle Bells" technique like slrchs07 does, but I do use some similiar, the "Pop Goes The Weasel" sounds always fit me best. After having someone play it on the piano I play it on tenors and tune them accordingly. 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3...4, 4, 3, 3, 2(buzz roll), 1. That bring out the sounds of "All around the Meaberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel". It helps me tune it a lot, and as for the shot drum I tune it a 4th higher then drum 1. Just thought I'd share my methods hope it works for some of you.

Im the drum captain on my high school line and Im the one tuning the drums. i learned how to from my older brother who was captain my freshman year. the way that i tune the tenors is that i know the tenor sound so well that i have what it should be memorized. Also i know the feel of my drum key and how tight the head should be so i combine the two and nearly everytime it comes out just right. about the spock i normally just tighten it until i like the sound of it. If anyone has any suggestions id greatly appreciate it.

i always clear the head first, a big thing that has been missed on this forum. If a head is not tuned to it self than you can't tune it to anyhting else. Tenors are the worst about this. If you think you heads are dead they might jsut be miss tuned. I have had a lot of heads that my students think are dead (after they tuned them for the first time) and i jsut remind them about clearing the head (making sure that every part of the rim with a lug is tune perfectly to its counter parts).

For the tunning to a pitch, well i dont. i look for the best sound out of the tenors. i have tried the pitch thing before but after a few weeks it starts to get a little hairy. i like the relative pitch thing better. singing your favorite tune. Mine is Mighty Mouse, "here i come to save the day!" 1,2,3,4,3,2,1

I'm a tenor tech, and I go for relative tuning rather than absolute. I feel like the drums are going to be ok as long as the line is together, rather than at a certain pitch. To that end, I usually start at drum one, even out the lugs, get it a pitch that sounds nice and has adequate rebound, and move on down. Then I move to the next set and tune it to whatever the first set was. Sometimes I'll go back and forth a bit, if the second set sounds better to my ear.

Now that I think of it, I'm horribly unscientific.
Time to buy a pitch pipe....

question: once you tune your drums is there any way to stop it from untuning? i have to completely retune my drums every week because they get so AWFUL i mean ugly sounding. maybe its just that they're older heads but if anyone knows anything bout it that would be great

The short answer is no.

Maybe try to tweak at each rehearsal, but if the drums are old and the heads are shot, you're pretty much screwed.

Yeah, our drums are getting up there in age. At this point, we've just found it easier not to fight with them. Tune them up to wear they feel good, because they're really not going to sound great in any situation, haha. Especially the lug where I hit rim shots on my first drum... I always get a nice pucker, because that particular lug likes to detune.

Hello :-D What a place for my first post to be, some helpful information (Hopefully)
Anyways, I've found the best way to tune my tenors with the perfect fourth (With the "Here comes the bride" from drum to drum all the way up)
First I tune the 1 drum to whatever I feel it needs to be at, which could depend on the show we are playing, or just my personal feelings at the time.
Then I will tune a perfect fourth down for each drum down to 4.
For my spock, shot, whatever you would like to call it drum, I just tune it to a nice high pitch above the one drum (Usually a fifth or so)
I'm going to have to check on what type of heads we use, because they are brand new and look amazing, white heads on our white tenors :-D
I found that our old tenor heads fell out of tune rather quickly and the new ones hole the tone for a much longer time.

I've found (through LOTS and LOTS of trial and error) that tuning and keeping tenor heads tuned is something that takes constant effort. There really is no perfect or best way to tune them. One of the main things to consider is what kind of show you're doing, i.e. a big band or swing show would call for slightly lower pitched drums, while a latin show would call for a more timbale-esque timbre. I'm a big fan of the cavaliers tenor line, i try to emulate the sound of their drums. once you've decided how you want them to sound tune one set of drums starting with the #1 drum. this is the drum that is usually tuned to high or to low, so get it sounding right. The method I use for intervals is 1-2 maj 2nd, 2-3 minor 3rd, 3-4 maj 2nd........but that's just what sounds good to my ears. make sure that you always cross-tension tune the drums so that each head is intune with itself. (listen to the overtone). once a set of drums is tuned, simply tune the other sets head by head to the 1st one. also, the drums will need to be tuned almost daily due to the constant climate changed. don't crank them, just make sure each lug is still in tune. i try to think of tuning tenors like tuning a wind instrument. evertime it is taken out and put away, the intonation changes, therefore they need to constantly be kept in tune. bass drums are pretty much the same way.

MHS tenors -01
ICC tenor line - 02-03
Delta State tenor line/percussion section leader -04-05

"...Our tenors are tuned to Jingle Bells.

2: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jin-
1: -gle
4: All-
3: -the way

Our spock is just tuned to a piercing high pitched note."

Hmmm, I didnt know that "the way" in Jingle Bells is the same pitch... I had always thought that "way" was the same pitch as "Jingle". hehe

I just tune them by ear. I tune them to play "Charge!". Our school has never had two tenor players, but if we did, I'd suppose one of us would tune this way and the other would simply copy afterwards.

My tech usually just goes by ear, but bill bachmans technique works really well. on the right spock we use evans whites, which work really well under high tension, and you get a nice crisp "pop" out of it. Our tech usually tunes the left spock to the snare's bottom head, so it doesnt sound shlocky.

DRUM DIAL? some one told me about that and i still havent figured it out. i suppose once i do itll be great cuz all the respective drums would be tuned to the exact same tension therefore with the exact same pitch, but it seems a little time consuming. anyhow we use 4 notes from the marimba. usually C major scale or somthing like that. it works great and sounds better.

I wouldn't trust a drum dial for tuning tenors. Some lugs may be harder to turn, but the head might have a lower pitch in that spot. To be certain you're getting a good sound, use your ears.

I tune by ear starting with drum 1. I typically like the tenors to be relatively high in pitch depending on the skill level of the players. If the players are just beginning to play tenors, I tune them lower than I normally do. The lower they are the less they stand out from the band and the less likely they are to poke out.

yah i realized that today when i tried it on my tenors. so Im just sticking with my old method of useing a chromatic tuner and doing it in the bill bachman method.

i tune my tenors like this....jk we tune one drum to the key of the song and then tune the rest off of it

...and if the song changes key? Or if you play multiple songs in different keys? Do you retune in the middle of the show?

They way I tune my tenors at my school, is that when we are practicing together(Band and Drumline) I tune them to stand out from the band. The same with the snares and basses. I'm the drum tech at my school so I get to do all that fun tuning stuff. And Fixing stuff. SO then when we are on the field, the tenors can be isolated and heard, and the snares the same right along with the basses. Since we have a pretty decent Drumline it works in out benefit. The Judgescan more accurately judge us and so our scre goes up.

The "On the Waterfront" method works well too.

Pshhhh....Tuning thats totally 2002 I mean come on guys!!!!.....ok so just kidding, pull out your paper bags and take long, deep breaths, you wouldn't want to raise your blood pressure would you? But anyways, usually our 20 year old POS stuff doesnt work very well, busted heads, busted lugs, busted (insert part here), so tuning the 2 tenors that completely work is somewhat tough, especially since we can go 4-6 weeks without touching them...but when i do tune them, its usually realative and what gives a good bounce.

i just crank em till they sound good, wich i know probly isnt the best way, but oh well

All I can say is with the Tuning... it's a pain when you do it in bad weather, changing a head right before a show, or when your instructor who plays snare says "Um yea... I can do it. It's cool"

Here's the method I prefer:
1. Take off the old heads and throw them away.
2. Wipe down the shells and bearing edge.
3. Put a little bit of candle wax on the bearing edge.
4. Put the heads on and hand tighten the lugs.
5. Make sure the distance between the shell and rim is the same all around.
6. Tighten going around crosswise, 90 degrees each lug. After each lug has been tightened 180 degrees (twice around), make sure the heads are cleared. Repeat.
8. Bring each head up to a major 3rd below the goal pitch. Wait a day with the drums in a warm room.
9. Make sure the heads are cleared, then bring it up to the pitches listed below:

Drum 4 - Eb
Drum 3 - G
Drum 2 - Bb
Drum 1 - D
Low Spock - Gb
High Spock - Bb

I have found this method to work particularly well. The heads stay cleared and ring well.

Right now, our tenors are tuned pretty much to "Jump On It". I don't think it was intentional, but I played it one day and noticed it was tuned almost perfectly for it.

Main melody:

4 - 1 - 4 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 3

Spock is just tuned to a fairly high, but not quite piercing pitch.

I think this is how we do it, I'm not sure though.

We get 4th to a decent pitch, then we tune third to a minoe second, then second to a major third above that, then first to a minor third above that. Shots just go wherever we want them.

How does one know what note a drum is tuned too? I'm confused.

One very useful technique for tuning tenors has not been metioned yet (that I could see anyway): pinning.

This is really only handy when using remo clear pinstripes, but it's a pretty commonly used head. Often times remo pinstripes will have a lot of air in between the two plies of the head, which ruins the sound of the head. If the (brand new) head is trued (cleared) and the drum still won't ring, it just has a very dead sound to it, chances are there's air inside. One way to check is to rub your finger hard against the head. You should see a rainbow effect caused by the oil between the plies. If you've determined there's air in the head, it's time to poke it with a pin. There are two ways to do this:

method 1: this is the "in a hurry method." Just poke the pin all the way through the head. You should do this close to the inside of the pinstripe, the opposite side of the head from the playing zone. So for drums 1 and 2, at the front of the head, and for drums 3 and 4, in the back. After you push the pin through, push on the head. Depending on how much air there is, you may hear it wooshing out. Run your hands over the head, starting opposite the pinhole, to push the air out. Hopefully after you push all the air out, when you hit the drum you'll be rewarded with a nice ringing tone.

There are two disadvantages to this method. Firstly, if the player plays on the pinhole, the top ply will start to break at the site of the hole, and eventually this break will spread to the entire head, leaving you with only the bottom ply, and then eventually the whole head will break. Second, now that there is a hole in the head, if you use the drums in the rain water will get inside the head and ruin it forever.

Method 2: This method is preferred but is a little tricky. Pin the heads in the same location, except flip them over, and very carefully push the pin only through the bottom ply. This is easier to do if you push the pin in at an angle. With the hole only in the bottom, water won't get in, and the top ply has no hole in it to cause a break

Both of these methods will reduce the lifespan of the head, so consider your head budget before you start poking holes in things. BUT, it will make a head that sounds dull and thuddy sound like it's supposed to.

correction: the rainbow isn't caused by oil, there is no oil. It's caused by the two layers of plastic being right next to each other

my line usually just tunes them to the sound we want and our desired pitch for the over all notes in the show

Pinning isn't really a tuning technique. It's more of a "making a head sound the way you want it to" technique.

As for my school's tuning method... First we make sure that the heads are cleared. We usually use Remo Emperor Crimps. Although this year we used evans MXT's because we were pressed for time and they were the only kind that Steve Weiss could ship us in time for the next competition. I use the standard pearl high tension key on the Yamaha field corps small quints. Then we put the tenors on stands next to the vibraphone. We usually use the vibes or glock because they're a bit brighter than the rest of the band with A=442, which makes the tenor voice stand out a bit more. We usually tune drum 4 to a D, then go with the wholly diminished 7th chord method (D, F, Ab, Cb) Then we crank the spock.

Im needing some help on tunings schemes, I don't know which ones to try out. I have a set of 6,8,10,12,13 and they are Pearl Championship drums. Also, what would be a good head choice to try out? Thanx

Topic already exists, and is STICKIED! Merging with existing topic.

I would tune a major 3rd between 1-2 and 3-4, a minor third between 2-3, and the spock up until it clicks instead of having tone. But that's just me, and tuning the spock and keeping it tuned that way will decrease the life of the head.

can anyone tell me how to tune tritoms?
thanks

We'll need to hold a séance to talk to someone that marched 'em.

Just kidding... I actually marched tri-toms my first season on marching drums! On the big ol' ancient tubs I had, I think the interval between each drum was pretty close to a major third. The tuning you'll use will depend on what kind/size your drums are. I think the tris I marched were 1970's Ludwigs, 12"-14"-16".

And just for reference, I've got a few years (or more) on most of the guys on these forums, but I'm not that old. When my junior high school started a marching line, we were playing on hand-me-down drums that were older than we were.

nice.

If you're looking for specific notes, a good rule of thumb is to always tune the #4 drum to B-flat, then follow the intervals AlabambaDrummer stated above. Also, the Spock is widely debated on whether or not it should be tuned or should click. Seeing as you're using quints, make it click. If you had a six-pack (tenors, not muscles), however, that's really when you should put tone on the spocks.

http://www.drumlines.org/threads/ubbthreads.php/topics/94454/TENOR_TUNING_thread.html#Post94454

fail.

Does anyone know how phantom regiment tunes their tenor line?

expertly.

and magically

My tri-toms sound kinda dull, and I want them more crisp, but I JUST broke a head and don't want to over-tighten them.

I want the closest I can get to Blue Devil's tenor's sound.

Not sure on their sizes.

6,8,10,12,13,14.

The use some type of remo pinstripe head. The problem may be that your tri-toms are so old that they cannot achieve the highest quality of tone that the major drum corps have today.

A useful way i found to get the air out of remo pinstripes is just play on the head in the area you see the rainbow. once it's away you re-tune.

Always start with drum 4. It is the hardest to get sounding right and if you get the top three drums where you want them you might find yourself unable to get that 4th drum to sound good relative to the others. Its much easier to crank drum one up than to fix drum four last minute.

.......

One of the most important things to do is getting the individual drums in tune with themselves.

Imagine you have a drum with 8 lugs. Once you have the head near the pitch you want check the pitch of each individual lug. (I usually tap lightly with my key about one to three inches away from the rim, next to the respective lug). Find the lowest pitched lug (lets say it lug 4), now check the lug directly across from it (lug 8) for sympathetic vibration. You might find you were hearing the pitch from the other lug. If there isn't a lug directly across from it then shame on your drum manufacturer for cutting corners.

Once you are sure you have found the lowest pitched lug bring it up a little bit. Then repeat the process until the drum is in tune with itself and the pitch you want it.

This is important because when the drum is in tune with itself it can really speak. If its not in tune with itself you can get weird overtones, and the drum wont project as well as it might otherwise.

Don't go crazy about this, its not science, your just going for close not perfect.

......

I don't think a tension gauge (a few people mentioned this) would work very well with a set of tenors, sometimes your rim is a little bent, your head a little warped, your bearing edge a little bashed. Tenor tuning isnt that exact. They work wonders on a set of timpani though. Maybe on a brand new set of quads?

......

As far as intervals go. I'm a fan of 4ths because I like that huge open range, but anything works really, just depends on what you want tonally from your tenors.

......

The pinprick trick works ok on clear pinstripes. I havnt found it to be helpful with any other kind of head. Basically if your head sounds super dead it will breed a bit more life into the tone of your head.

.......

As far as tuning to a set pitch, its hard but if your whole show is in the same key, you have drums that will hold a pitch for that long, AND you have a tech who can pull that off, more power to you.

......

With regard to higher/lower...In an ideal world we would be tuning to what is most musically appropriate...but that's not always the best choice. Here is a few things to think about.

If your tenor line is smoking, go ahead and reef those drums so everyone can hear it.

If your playing in a high school gym, higher pitched drums will go a long way in fixing balance/clarity of intent problems.

If your drums cant hold a pitch then don't ruin them more by cranking the hell out of them.

If your line isn't playing that great keeping the drum tuning low will hide some dirt, but it also makes it harder for the players to hear what clean is.

Tuning too high kills all the tone in your drums. Drum four especially sounds bad when tuned to high.

.....

With regards to the specific manufacturers...

Yamaha - These drums sounds great last a long time. I think they sound the best reefed to the moon, but also sound good at a lower pitch. Plus they make motorcycles and that's just cool. (though I ride a ninja)

Pearl - These drums have more tone than the Yamahas. They generally sound better a little lower pitched than the Yamahas. Also great drums that last a long time.

Dynasty - These are alright, the mounting system is awesome but it stops there. The drums RCC and Blue Devils use are not the same ones they ship out. (Im sure this is true with any company but the level of difference is basically unacceptable). If you put a set of suedes or coated emperors on these and reef em you can get close to that blue devil/RCC sound. Not the greatest sounding drums in the world, not the worst.

Premier - Premier has come out with 3 different sets of tenors over the past decade.

The free-floating tenors: I think these were ditched back in 2001, cool concept but the drums didnt have much tone, the rims also tended shifted away from the bearing edge, causing a nice twangy ping on your brand new heads. If you reef em they are hard to hear on the field. Sound best low to mid range.

The Drumset Tenors: I call em the drumset tenors because they have have drumset lugs. These drums actualy sound good when you pull them out of the box but as the lug casing break (and they will), the rim warps (and it will) and the shell starts caving in (and it will) these drums sound like poo. Watch out for those drumset tension rods breaking too, almost lost an eye one day>< I think they stopped making these in 2006

The revolution series: Premiers new line of stuff, its better as far as the hardware goes, but in the end you have to work twice as hard to get them to sound as good as a set of pearls or yamahas from the late 90s. The hardware will still break, its just going to take longer. They don't sound good reefed but in the low to mid range they sound ok.

Ludwig - Um, I dont know because the only set I have ever played on/tuned was a kiddie set from the late 80s. Those drums sucked but hey maybe the new stuff is better. Perhaps someone can chime in on what range sounds good for these.

.....

If you take anything away from my post please just make sure that the tuning of each individual lug is close.

I'm going to state the obvious, but some people may or may not know.

When you're tuning your drum heads, make sure that each sweet spot around the lugs on the head match to the same tune. Tap around in a star pattern and make sure that you have the same tune all the way around the head.

This will not only ensure a good quality sound, but will also allow for even vibration.

Bear in mind that playing in the "normal" tenor sweet spot will make the tune start to fade on the head unevenly, so go back periodically (before your show) and lather, rinse, repeat.

I was always taught to tune the intervals between the drums, and to not go for a pitch.

While I can appreciate the effort that goes into tuning tenor and bass lines to specific intervals, I generally just tune to whatever sounds good to me at the moment.

On big block drums, I tend to start at the bottom and get the #4 drum right where I like it -- a nice balance between a firm feel and a full, low tone. On small block drums, I tend to tune down from the eight-inch #1 drum since its tuning range has such a small sweet spot. Too loose and it feels like you're playing on a wet paper bag. Too tight and it sounds like a spock.

After getting the first drum right, I work my way up (or down) the set, adjusting intervals by ear. Like DrumCrack mentioned (when resurrecting a year-old thread) , it's really important to keep each head balanced, meaning the head has the same tension and pitch all the way around. If a head is unbalanced, you can get some really nasty overtones from the drum. An out-of-balance head will also cause the tone of the drum to sound different depending on where it's struck.

If you've got more than one set of tenors to tune, get one set tuned just right and tune the other sets to match. Balanced heads are absolutely critical for this. If you're trying to get two drums in tune with each other and they're out of balance, you may be able to get the primary pitch to match, but each drum will likely have different overtones and the mismatch can cause a really dissonant "bark".

When I tune tenors, I just get a good tone on 4 then tune a Perfect 5th up to 2 and a Major 3rd up to 3. Then a minor 3rd from 1 to 2, and minor 3rds up from there

That sounds like a really odd way to tune your drums. I can't imagine you would here too many other lines using that same technique, Major 2nds and 1 Major 3rd? Whatever works I suppose.

So after reading thru all 7 pages of this topic, I couldn't find anything about the intervals used for small block tenors.According to Quad Logics tuning logic (for big blocks) all the drums that are two inches apart in size are tuned to a major 3rd while the drums 1 inch apart and a minor 3rd. According to that logic, would that mean that on a normal set of small blocks (8,10,12,13) that the 1 to 2 interval would be a major 3rd, the 2 to 3 interval would be the same, and that it would finish out to a minor 3rd between the 3rd and 4th drums?

Not surprisingly, for me, the tenors I play (Dynasty) aren't tuned to notes. They're quint tenors: 6, 8, 10, 12, 13. We have Remo Ebony Emperor Crimplock heads on them. I've been on them for four years, and have three different tuning methods...

..with the first guy, we basically tightened them as much as possible. For me, this worked well for the highest (6") drum. It sounded O.K. for the 8", but the lowest two sounded way too high. It didn't get the deep tone that I was looking for. The 10" was alright - I don't remember what it sounded like, but it probably wasn't pretty.

...with the second guy, he tried to tune them to a pitch. They sounded fairly good, but they went out of tune easily (for various reasons obviously - how hard they were hit, etc.) They did sound good - all five of them, but they didn't keep the tune long.

...with the third guy, I have am trying to tune the 6" and 8" fairly high - so they have a cracking pop sound. The 10" and the 12" still sound mediocre. I did tune them so they sound the same all around the drum - something that was neglected in the past, but they don't sound good. I still don't know what to go for with these. I will probably go towards tuning them to a pitch. The 13" sounds good. My head is broken, but it gets the resonance and has a low sound. Somewhat like a floor tom of a drum set, but more resonance.

It sounds like you're tuning from the top down. It'll be much easier for you to start with the 4 drum and work your way up to the spocks than the other way around.

Yeah. I'm used to doing it that way. What's the benefit of going up from the lowest? (Just curious. This is actually the first year where I've been looking around enough to realize how much of a joke my drumline is.)

The lower drums are the hardest to get the way you want them to sound, in my opinion. You know how on the spocks you can pretty much just crank 'em without too much thought into it? Well, it's pretty much the opposite for the lower drums. There's a wide range where they'll be too low pitch, and a wide range where they'll be too high. There's a smaller "sweet spot" for the right tone, and by starting with them it's easier to get there and work your way up with the other drums. I don't know if that made any sense... it's a bit tough to put into words

Make perfect sense. Never really thought about that, thanks!

Before I state my tuning practices, I would first like to say that I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Dynasty is overrated. That aside.........

Throughout high school, I got to march Yamaha and Pearl tenors. As previously stated, by one of the other members, the Yamaha sets tend to sound better cranked. I have the bulk of my tenor playing experience on Pearl tenors. They DO pack quite a bit more tone than Yamaha, although I gotta say they still sound great when cranked. They're actually quite versatile in my opinion. You can make 'em sound good low, cranked, and all points in between.

More recently, I've gotten my hands on some Dynasty tenors, since the line I tech uses a full line of Dynasty. They're alright. Not the best in tone, and not quite as versatile as Pearl, but you can still get them to sound good cranked, or at a medium pitch, but no lower.

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As far as tuning goes, it seems to me that it depends on the set you're using, and the music. As a general rule, if I'm tuning tighter, I make the intervals between drums smaller. Never below a minor third, but on tighter tunings, never above a major third. If I'm at a good medium/medium-high tuning, I tend to structure the intervals as below:

4<->3 = minor third
3<->2 = major third
2<->1 = minor third
Then the spock/glock/shot drum is cranked high enough to cut, without being annoying.

On lower tunings, It's generally perfect 4ths across the board, with the spock a perfect 5th above drum one.

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When taking music into consideration, think of the theme. If you're doing something historic, tune lower. Go for somewhat of an "old-school" sound. Otherwise, medium to cranked is all you really need.

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I've never really thought of tuning to a specific key, but I'm definitely going to try that this week.

OK, so here are some recommendations no matter what size drums you use:

14" - G
13" - B
12" - D
10" - A#
8" - C and above
6" - G and above

Use a pitch source (All Dr. Beat 88s and 90s do this), and tune each lug to the same pitch (this is balancing or clearing the head like timpani).

You can move these around, but these are resonant pitches for the size of the drum.

Try it, adjust to taste, sprinkle with good playing and viola...

NL

I tune them in a minor 7 chord.

Evans info.
Also depending on the drum sie you can tune to these notes.
6" F#
8" C#
10" A
12" F#
13" D
14" Bb

On the four main drums I try to keep it around an octave. Don't want really large intervals.

I tighten the heads with the criss cross method and tap the drum near each tension rod and match all to the desired pitch. I strive to tighten tension evenly as possible with changing pitch.
I like them medium pitches. Not too high and not low where they sound like timpani.

When I was in high school, my instructor didn't tune to specific notes per say. If you know the dumb dog from bugs bunny who would say "which way did he go george, which way did he go?" that is how we tuned the drums across (4,2,1,3). I.E. "which"=drum 4, "way"=drum 2 "did he"=drum 1 and "go"=drum3. Believe it or not it was a quick and easy way to tune and the drums sounded pretty good. Heres a link to the sound clip I'm talking about in case anybody was curious.

http://www.megawavs.com/play.aspx?id=595

It never ceases to amaze me. Some of the vocal cues people use to tune their drums. And a lot of times, they even sound pretty good! Perfect example of not needing to know much about intervals to get a good sound from your drums. As long as you have some sort of relative guide, you'll be fine more often than not. Tuning tenors is prolly the easiest thing in the line to tune, really. I actually have a harder time with snare drums!

i like cranking the shot and then getting drum 1 within an octave of the shot. then i'll go to a 1.5 step interval between 1 and 2, a 2 step interval to 3, and a 2 step interval to 4. for sextets, i like using the same tuning but tuning the 2nd shot 3 steps lower than the 1st shot. my preferences. these tunings are musical and high enough, that when used right, it sounds tight (clean). but also low enough where it doesn't sound brattish and you get some nice scv-esque "lowvertones".

Tune the tenors to the bass drums tunning, Old school style =D