nalesk said:hmmm I dont entirely agree with dvyce...
"When you have a live band (rock, jazz, metal, pop, whatever) and they play a whole set where songs are in all different keys... they don't tune the drums differently for each song"
NOOOOOOO ... u can play thousands of different songs in different keys with a traditional bass guitar tuning, same for drums!!!! yea ok a bass is not a drum kot, but you DO need to tune the drumkit anyway!
that coment about the cymbals applies : u cant have 100 cymbals, 1 for each tone u may need, but each cymbal needs to be finely tuned, and still, u may not want that china to come on some of ur songs because its just to noticably incompatible with the rest.
"I personally wouldn't concern myself too much with tuning drums in most cases... unless the drums are very tonal and it seems necessary. If you can't tell if your drums are "out of tune" with your track, then it probably doesn't matter."
hmmmmm yea ok, that makes sense to follow your ears anyway, but I must say 1 drummer in ten actually knows how to tune his kit properly AND does it everytime he sits behind his kit.
Well that drummer makes a difference when he plays, and this dicipline usually reflects a true musician. Its not because you are a drummer that you are necessarily tone-def lol...
However, I also have noticed in several studio sessions that some engineers tend to muffle and pad all they can to give a very toneless sound, shorter and easier to play with during the mix. I am having a great but also exhausting time right now working on a premier snaredrum with beautiful harmonics, the only problem is that its not a jazz band but more a sorta heavy fusion rock thing lol. hard to make it come out in the mix, ... I even wonder if its not actually messing up with the rest.
Well, your comparison between a bass and a drum set is not really accurate. A bass is an instrument that is intentionally tonal and it is an instrument that is capable of and is intended to be able to produce every note in a chromatic scale (A,B,C,D,E,F,G, and all sharps and flats in between).
A drum set is a percussive instrument that is not intended to produce a full spectrum of pitches... in fact it may only have a kick and a snare and a hi hat.
Really not comparable at all in design or in usage.
Like I said before... you do tune a drum kit, but not for pitch... you tune it for the general sound you are trying to acheive.
Almost every drummer I record tunes their drums before doing a session. But once again, they don't tune it for pitch, they tune it for character. for example, to get a more "popping snare" or a "ringier" snare or "boomier" toms. And depending on what type of sound you want, you will muffle different drums different amounts depending on the way you want tohe drums to sound in the track.
I never said anything about drummers being tone deaf or untalented in any way... Drummers will tune their drums in very very exacting ways... but it is not generally to match pitches in a particular key. You tune a drum based on the resonance of the drum shells and the type of sound you want from them.
And as far as your problem you are currently having with your snare drum recording. That illustrates my point perfectly... you dont use a jazz snare for a rock track. You must tune your drum (and tape it up and muffle it, etc) for the character of the sound you are looking for (and after all that, you may even need a different snare that is physically constructed for the right sound.)
If I was going to record a metal song, I wouldn't use an acoustic guitar... and I don't care how much I tune my acoustic guitar, it will never have the right sound. I don't use a strat whan i want a Les Paul sound. I don't use a traditional piano when I want a Rhodes sound. I don't use an analog synth bass when I want an upright bass sound. I probably wouldn't play guitar using open chords for a metal song or bar chords for a folky acoustic song. I wouldnt play a guitar line in a high position on a low string when the sound character I am looking for is playing the same exact notes in the same exact octave in a low position on a high string.
also, different drummers have different ways they like to tune their drums to get their own characteristic or signature sound... the same way a guitarist will set his amplifier and guitar his own particular way to get the sound he is comfortable with... and it is all about the character of the sound.
Once again, for the people who came in late, when I talk about "tuning" drums not generally being important, I am talking about tuning their pitches to match your song. I am not talking about tuning them to themselves or tuning them the way a particular drummer likes his drums to sound, or tuning them for a particular character... all of that type of tuning, like I have already said, is very important.
