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 snugglebunny 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.

can anyone tell me how to tune tritoms?
thanks