Drum Tuning
Let's start by making a few disclaimers. There is no "right" way to tune drums. There are guidelines you can and should follow.
Let's start with the kit. You can make almost any kit sound great. Every major manufacture makes a decent set that's under a grand. Small drums have some advantages to large drums. Small drums will actually sound deeper and bigger on tape. The main reason for this is that you can tune a small drum lower and keep tension on the head. A big drum tuned low will give you a "thunk" or have a nasty curve to it, almost like a really crazy vibrato. A good size recommendation is a 16x22 kick, 9x10, 10x12, and 12x14 toms and a 5x14 snare. This is a nice middle of the road kit that can be tuned well for a variety of rock, pop, metal and jazz sessions. A thinner, lighter shell will resonate more then a heavier thicker shell. Also, lighter hardware is better, but you don't want junk on there. The biggest thing that affects sustain is the amount of holes drilled in the shell and the quality of the hardware. The less the better and the cleaner the installation is the better. Also, make sure the bearing edges (the edge of the plywood that the head sits on) are smooth.
Ok, let's talk about heads for a little bit. A thinner head like a Diplomat will have a higher fundamental pitch and longer sustain then a thicker head like an Ambassador. A coated head won't have the sustain of a clear head. A clear head will also give you more attack. A pinstripe is two heads put together, so obviously it'll have less sustain, and a lower pitch which makes them popular for live work. 6 out of 10 drummers will put clear Ambassadors on the top and bottom of their toms. The rest of the guys will use pinstripes or something similar.
Ok, now that we've picked our heads, let's put them on. We'll start with the first rack tom. Take the drum off the mount and place it on a flat surface like a tabletop or a floor with shag carpet. Take the old heads off and save them unless their really beat. If you have coated heads, you don't want to see through them. If you have clear heads, change them before they get cloudy. You want to change both the top and bottom heads. Even though you don't hit the bottom head they still wear out. After a few months, they stretch and dry out and you lose tone. The top head will affect the attack and the initial pitch. The bottom head will affect the overall pitch and sustain of the drum.
Ok, take the bottom head (clear ambassador) and put it on the drum. There are three methods to tightening the lugs. #1 would be to tighten every other lug. #2 is to crank them in a star pattern. #3 is to tighten opposing lugs. Which ever way you choose, you want to keep the tension on the head even and make sure that there aren't any wrinkles. Take the head and crank it way past the point that you want it. This will stretch the head out and seat it against the bearing edge. You want to hear the head snap and crack a little bit. After it's cranked, hit it with your stick once and listen to the pitch. Now, push down on the center of the head and all around the edges. You'll hear it crack again and the pitch will drop. Congrats!!! You're stretching the head out. Tune it up again and repeat the process 2-3 times. Now flip the drum over and repeat the process for the top head. Now we get to the hard part. Flip the drum over to the bottom head. Loosen the lugs so that there's almost no tension on the head. Tune them up using one of the above methods. Bring the head up to a nice medium tension and lightly tap next to each lug with your drum key. Go around the drum and listen to the pitches. You want each lug to produce the same pitch. Loosen the lug and the pitch drops, make it tighter and the pitch will go up. Now that they're close, hit the drum and listen to the overall pitch. Is it even or does it bend? You want it to be even, if it bends the tension isn't right and you need to check the lugs again. Bring the drum to the pitch were it sustains naturally and doesn’t sound choked. Every shell has a pitch that's it's happiest at. Now that the bottom head is tuned, flip the drum over and start on the top head. Prep the top head in the same way as the bottom. If you want to hear the attack and the "smack" of the stick hitting the head, you want the top head loose. Usually the top head should be looser then the bottom. If you want less attack, crank the top head a little more. Now that you like the sound of the top head, pick the drum up off the table or floor and lay it on its side. Hit the top head. Do you like what you hear? If you do then great!!! Move onward and tune the rest of the toms. If you don't like it, then try to figure out what you don't like before you start to play with things. Don't like the pitch? Go to the bottom head. Too little attack? Go to the top head. Play with it until you like it.
Let's move onto the kick drum. A Powerstroke 3 on the beater side is an excellent choice, but you can also use a clear Ambassador. Pinstripes here could also be used but you will probably like the Powerstroke 3 better. Your choice will be what you like. A Powerstroke is really thick and dead so you get a nice low fundamental and very few overtones. The Evens EQ3 is also a good choice for this application. The standard front head is a black ambassador with a 6-8" hole. The hole is best slightly off center; you'll get more tone that way. Put the heads on in the same way that you did with the toms. A nice smack from the beater is preferred and not a heavy mental click, but a smack. Try with the beater head really loose, just tight enough that the wrinkles are out, and the front head loose too. If it's too tight then you'll get lots of sustain. You can always put a towel in the drum against the front head if you need to cut down on the sustain. Wrap it up and tape it in there to keep it from moving, but make sure it's barely resting on the head, you want to
Snare... Oh boy, everyone like's a different snare sound. I like to hear a nice crack. How do you get it? Let's start by putting the heads on with our favorite method. Use a snare side bottom head. This is the one time that you want a really thin head. The standard top head is a coated ambassador. Remove the snare from the bottom of the drum. Tune the bottom head to a medium pitch and make sure it's even the whole way around. Now we'll go to the top head. If you want a nice crack, crank it up!!! The tighter the head the more crack you’re going to get. The rule of thumb here is to keep the top and bottom heads close to each other pitch wise. The snare should be tight, but not choked. If the snare has any broken strands or it's twisted or pulled, just replace it.
If you experiment with the above you will have a good starting point to finding a sound that you like.
