Drum Tuning Bible

Tama Fanatic said:
I attempted to download this PDF; however, I'm getting an error: "User not found" Is there an updated link by any chance?
Click to expand...

Three posts above yours is a working link.

No Way Reaction GIF by Originals
 
There's a lot of unnecessary stuff in the dtb. I read it a couple of times, gave up and bought a drum dial which I've used for years to get in the ballpark quickly. I got a tune bot a while ago too, and that's easier again to use and store settings. But each to their own I guess.
 
A lot of people talk about DTB getting lost.

I'd be happy to reproduce it and host it online as web pages - is there currently an "owner" that I'd need to get permission from?
 
iainp999 said:
A lot of people talk about DTB getting lost.

I'd be happy to reproduce it and host it online as web pages - is there currently an "owner" that I'd need to get permission from?
Click to expand...

First page, first paragraph in the PDF:

Author and Site Owner: Prof.Sound
This material is granted free of use but may not be altered, published or represented as that attributable to the author or
any other person, place or entity without authors prior written consent. All that is contained within and upon this website
reflects my opinion and is not intended to promote or keep people from buying products
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Clicking on "Prof. Sound" leads to the BIO:

Scott Johnson is "Prof.Sound".
The screen name Prof.Sound was given by people on the message boards due to the knowledge and time spent trying to
describe the art of tuning.
Residing in Indianapolis, IN USA[...]
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Clicking on Contact in the navigation leads to a 404.

There are other versions floating around, e.g. https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...11d7e68aacf/1487612360705/DrumTuningBible.pdf

In order to do it correctly one has to look up Scott Johnson and ask for permission.
 
Scott Johnson was a drummer and studio owner in Indy.
He knew a lot about getting certain sounds out of a drum through tuning and muffling.
He was at a forum called "Drumweb", that was hosted by 2112 Percussion back in the late 90's and early '00's.
This is where he picked up the moniker "Prof. Sound".
He started getting asked a lot of questions and they became repetitive.
In those days, the popular format for a durm forum was in a "cascade" style and the forum's owner/webmaster would set parameters on how many threads would be contained within the cascade before they dissappeared.
It stems from the old "bulletin board" days, when the format was meant to be used for announcements and sales.
Anyway, he was getting tired of answering the same questions all the time, so he decided to put all his experiences into an online "guide".
This is what you guys have all been talking about here. The Drum Tuning Bible.
The bible has been updated over the 20+ years it's existed, thus why there's different versions online.
All one needs to do is to Google "The Drum Tuning Bible" and you'll get a ton of hits.
I don't think there needs to be anymore hosting of it, than there already is. However, if anyone wants to, have at it.
I think it's a good idea to get ahold of him about hosting it, just in case, but from what I remember, he wanted it out there, kinda like Wikipedia. It's free information, so I don't think he'd have an issue if anyone wanted to host the bible.
I tried to find some contact info for you, iainp999, as I've lost his email addy a long time ago, and my research reminded me of a stage collapse that happened before a Radiohead concert in 2012, and some chatter that the "Scott Johnson", who was their drum tech and who died in that accident, was the same one who wrote the Bible.
Don't know how true that claim was, though.
 
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Elvis said:
Scott Johnson was a drummer and studio owner in Indy.
He knew a lot about getting certain sounds out of a drum through tuning and muffling.
He was at a forum called "Drumweb", that was hosted by 2112 Percussion back in the late 90's and early '00's.
This is where he picked up the moniker "Prof. Sound".
He started getting asked a lot of questions and they became repetitive.
In those days, the popular format for a durm forum was in a "cascade" style and the forum's owner/webmaster would set parameters on how many threads would be contained within the cascade before they dissappeared.
It stems from the old "bulletin board" days, when the format was meant to be used for announcements and sales.
Anyway, he was getting tired of answering the same questions all the time, so he decided to put all his experiences into an online "guide".
This is what you guys have all been talking about here. The Drum Tuning Bible.
The bible has been updated over the 20+ years it's existed, thus why there's different versions online.
All one needs to do is to Google "The Drum Tuning Bible" and you'll get a ton of hits.
I don't think there needs to be anymore hosting of it, than there already is. However, if anyone wants to, have at it.
I think it's a good idea to get ahold of him about hosting it, just in case, but from what I remember, he wanted it out there, kinda like Wikipedia. It's free information, so I don't think he'd have an issue if anyone wanted to host the bible.
I tried to find some contact info for you, iainp999, as I've lost his email addy a long time ago, and my research reminded me of a stage collapse that happened before a Radiohead concert in 2012, and some chatter that the "Scott Johnson", who was their drum tech and who died in that accident, was the same one who wrote the Bible.
Don't know how true that claim was, though.
Click to expand...
Thanks @Elvis

I really appreciate your effort to get a contact, and that's extremely sad if that rumour turns out to be true.

I'll try to dig a bit further before taking any action, but based on what you're saying, it sounds like he was happy to put it all out into the public domain.
 
Much like a guy looking into a refrigerator and can't see something right in front of his face (this is what my wife tells me all the time), in scanning the PDF I found nothing about tuning the heads on the same drum differently. Did I miss it and if so, what page is it on? I bring it up as there are those online that state to tune the bottom head higher than the batter head. It produces a quicker rounded up decay. Just curious what others think as I am not finding it that way necessarily.
 
Hi everyone,

I have a problem with the tuning of the 12 inch tom on my Mapex drum kit (https://www.scavino.it/mapex_vr5244tczbl.htm).

The tom sounds great when I hit it, it resonates fine at about 130 Hz after tuning, holding it in my hand holding it by the rear holding screw (where the retaining pin goes in).

When I mount it on its stand, it practically no longer sounds. The sound is as if it's stunted, as if it's losing sustain and resonance ☹.

What do you think this could be due to? I'm using Remo ambassador coated as a beating and resonating skin.

Thank you all, Valerio.
 
The tom mount, stand or holder on the kick is soaking up all the vibrations instead of the drum vibrating. Similar to, if you hold a cymbal by it's edge and strick it, it will not sustain. I'm not familiar with Mapex tom mounts but there are many different designs that help with this problem I like the Tama star cast holders the best. Sometimes if you have a dbl. tom holder, moving the other drum to different position can change the way the 12 will ring. This is especially true with holders like Yamaha where the drum can slide back and forth on the hex shaft. If possible try changing the position of the drums involved.
 
lefty2 said:
The tom mount, stand or holder on the kick is soaking up all the vibrations instead of the drum vibrating. Similar to, if you hold a cymbal by it's edge and strick it, it will not sustain. I'm not familiar with Mapex tom mounts but there are many different designs that help with this problem I like the Tama star cast holders the best. Sometimes if you have a dbl. tom holder, moving the other drum to different position can change the way the 12 will ring. This is especially true with holders like Yamaha where the drum can slide back and forth on the hex shaft. If possible try changing the position of the drums involved.
Click to expand...
thank you for your answer. I will try your technique of reversing the toms. Thank you very much. Bye
 
Elvis said:
I tried to find some contact info for you, iainp999, as I've lost his email addy a long time ago, and my research reminded me of a stage collapse that happened before a Radiohead concert in 2012, and some chatter that the "Scott Johnson", who was their drum tech and who died in that accident, was the same one who wrote the Bible.
Don't know how true that claim was, though.
Click to expand...
I was curious to find out if is this true. And no, it's not Scott Johnson aka. Prof. Sound, author of DTB.
That poor soul was a young bloke (33) from Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
Here's more info under section Tributes.

en.m.wikipedia.org

Radiohead stage collapse - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
Velvettiere said:
Hi everyone,

I have a problem with the tuning of the 12 inch tom on my Mapex drum kit (https://www.scavino.it/mapex_vr5244tczbl.htm).

The tom sounds great when I hit it, it resonates fine at about 130 Hz after tuning, holding it in my hand holding it by the rear holding screw (where the retaining pin goes in).

When I mount it on its stand, it practically no longer sounds. The sound is as if it's stunted, as if it's losing sustain and resonance ☹.

What do you think this could be due to? I'm using Remo ambassador coated as a beating and resonating skin.

Thank you all, Valerio.
Click to expand...
Install a RIMS mount on that drum. That should cure your problem.
They're sized by the diameter of the drum and the number of lugs on that drum.
 
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Badmarx said:
Hi guys,

I have been reading this and other forums for a few months now. After a lengthy illness and time away from drumming due to life getting in the way (or more to the point, near death getting in the way of living) and have finally taken my pearl reference and mapex black panther out of their luggage and started setting up after a seven year absence from playing. The tune bot has really caught my eye and after getting one iv also decided to try Evans skins for the first time. I'm replacing all skins with g2 coated on the batter and g1 coated on the reso. But iv received the gift of clear resos too. I have 8" 10" 12" rag toms and a 14" floor Tom. The snare is the gold hardware black wooden premium black panther series. I know the first reference drums were an issue for tuning for some people but I love them and mine have about 4 days playing on them before I went away from drumming for the last few years. Up until then I was a two hours a day kinda guy.

I'm just wondering if anyone can lead me towards info that might serve as a guide/templet to tuning pitches using the tune bot on a reference and black panther . Iv tuned them to ear and love the sound of the coated resos( I know this isn't a norm) but it's a lovely warm tone with a reduction on overtones and sustain. Which I like but I'm not married to, it was just for the hell of it. For fun and experimenting il be changing heads around to finally get to play with the drums.

Thanks in advance and it's amazing to see how much drumming has changed while iv been ill. Any suggestions will be tried and messed around with as I love playing with tuning in general. I must about the snare is the issue I don't know if it's developed problems while the years rolled by but tuning it isn't going as planned or maybe I'm just out of practice. I'd just love to hear what sounds those of you that have similar kits have developed as I'm in a rush to catch up and start getting back to a regular session on the chair

Thanks mike
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My method is to (tension)..the batter head equally all round to a state that feels comfortable ie..not too tight..then tension the bottom head a semitone higher..job done.😄
 
Frankly, I have not read this entire thread. But as Resurrected "Drummer" or should I say a player of Drums, after a50 Year Hiatus [1969} in 2019, I hve found that I knew Nothing of Drum Tuning back then. I'm learning now from this forum and others as well as You Tube Videos. There is so much involved , despite what Rob Brown says (Love that guy). Although I don't do Gigs (Maybe some day with local Geriatric musicians - at 72 years of age), I do have some OCD. The frustration of not being able to get my drums to acceptable sounds (at least what I think they should sound like) drives the OCD. I did stumble upon this fellow on YT :
. He has some interesting videos explaining Drum Sounds and the influences of Recording, Miking, Equing drums and how different it is in the Room. Happy Drumming All. FWIW, I play about 1 hour a day to My Music as a retirement / pleasure Hobby.
 
Croatian Man said:
Frankly, I have not read this entire thread. But as Resurrected "Drummer" or should I say a player of Drums, after a50 Year Hiatus [1969} in 2019, I hve found that I knew Nothing of Drum Tuning back then. I'm learning now from this forum and others as well as You Tube Videos. There is so much involved , despite what Rob Brown says (Love that guy). Although I don't do Gigs (Maybe some day with local Geriatric musicians - at 72 years of age), I do have some OCD. The frustration of not being able to get my drums to acceptable sounds (at least what I think they should sound like) drives the OCD. I did stumble upon this fellow on YT :
. He has some interesting videos explaining Drum Sounds and the influences of Recording, Miking, Equing drums and how different it is in the Room. Happy Drumming All. FWIW, I play about 1 hour a day to My Music as a retirement / pleasure Hobby.
Click to expand...
Rob Brown gives you some good quick and dirty tuning advice, but it definitely needs tweaking when I do it. Also, the harder you press in the middle, the higher the tuning you need to get the wrinkles out.

Also, I thought the maple snare sounded considerably better than the poplar snare.
 
Man, I will say it again.....Tuning Drums is an "Art". I tried Rob Browns methods, (I love him, very funny), I get close but I still need more Practice. Not getting to the sweet Spots that I Think I should be at , is frustrating to me. I get the Snares to sound pretty good and then hit certain Rack Toms and Get Snare Buzz! I have been trying some of the advice from Sounds Like A Drum (Cory), and that helps to an extent. He advocates for very subtle 1/4 turns on the Reso and/or batter heads lugs. Today, getting frustrated, I replaced the EC2 clear RESO head ( I tried that in lieu of the Remo stock Reso), put back the Remo, tuned the Reso side to a higher note, fooled with the UV2 Coated Batter head and Hit a Sweeter Spot (less Snare buzz with a good sound form the Drum). This is teaching me a considerable amount about Sound Engineering - I'll give you that !! I'm just about a melodic sound across the 3 Rack Toms & the 2 Floor Toms.
 
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