THE BEST WAY TO TUNE DRUMS FOR THE BEST SOUND

TUNE-BOT DRUM TUNER MAKES TUNING DRUMS
EASY, FAST, REPEATABLE

by Mark King for proworkshop.com

TUNE-BOT DRUM TUNER CLIPPED TO DRUM RIM

I've owned drum sets for over 40-years but I never knew how to tune them correctly to get the best tone. At best it was just a guessing game. I watched tons of videos. I've had drummers tell me how great my kit sounded and others tell me my set was totally wrong and then they retune the whole kit. Did it sound better? Not to my ears.

 DW DRUMSET IN PROWORKSHOP.COM STUDIO

In 2012 I built an all new DW drum set for our recording studio, I had a teacher come work with me weekly and he taught me how to play them. More than ever I really wanted to learn how to tune them better and get them sounding the best possible. I was obsessed with getting it right, but what is right? Everybody has their own idea, I've never met two drummers who agree about how they should be tuned. 

I tried apps on my iPhone, I tried little torque wrenches, I tried dial tuning aids. None of this resulted in the best tone. Then I read an interview with a studio drummer who was using the Tune-Bot drum tuner. He was raving about how he could get consistent tone and eliminate sympathetic vibrations by tuning the upper and lower heads to the correct different frequencies. 

WELCOME TUNE-BOT

I'm going to cut to the chase, if you're not absolutely positively delighted about the way you're tuning your drums buy one of these, it's a game changer. Tune-Bot definitely works.

Guitar players have been using tuners for years. Finally Drummers have a professional tool that can help them accurately and consistently tune drums to the right pitches.

TUNING CALCULATOR ON TUNE-BOT WEB SITE

What are those pitches you ask? The Tune-Bot web site is filled with useful information to help you understand the science behind the tuning. They provide a calculator (also available as an app for iPhone and android) that will help you find exactly what pitches to tune the upper and lower head on each drum. You answer some simple questions about your drum set and the tone you like, then the calculator suggests the frequencies for each head on the top and bottom of each drum, no more guessing.

Before I bought Tune-Bot I pulled all my drums out and retuned the whole kit from the ground up. I was determined to learn how. I wasted two days then ordered Tune-Bot.

I calculated the pitches for my six toms and tuned them to the suggested frequencies. Like magic, now drummers come in to the studio and they don't complain anymore. The kit plays like a real musical instrument, the toms are tuned to major-thirds and they sound great.

I can retune any drum except the bass drum in 10 minutes. Once you learn how to read the display and follow the directions for tuning you'll be doing it too. Imagine never wasting any more time trying to make your drums sound good? No more guessing. Try and tune drums when you have a cold and stuffy nose and ears. I guarantee Tune-Bot does not care how you feel, it will help you tune your drums the same every time.

DAMPEN WITH TUNING NOT TOWELS, GEL AND PADS

Without Tune-Bot it's easy to get the tuning between the top and bottom heads on a drum out of whack (that's technical drum jargon, lol). When they're NOT tuned right you end up with these big annoying sustaining overtones that need to be dampened some how. For years we've been using towels, gels, pads and rings to dampen the heads and eliminate these annoying sustaining resonances.

Tune-Bot lets you get those resonances under control naturally by accurately tuning the upper and lower head to precise but different frequencies that naturally control overtones. Your drums will ring and sound full without annoying sustaining tones when you get them tuned to the right frequencies. The sound of your drums will be clearer when you no longer need tape or pads or whatever to try and get the overtones under control.

TUNE-BOT HELPS WHEN CHOOSING DRUM HEADS

OUR STUDIO DRUM SET, BLACK HEADS ARE DOUBLE THICKNESS,
SNARE HEAD HAS INTERNAL CONTROL RINGS

Tune-Bot helps make the differences between drum heads more obvious because it allows you to tune the drum exactly the same each time. This allows you to hear the effect of different thicknesses and brands of heads, all with the exact same tuning. You're hearing the affect of the head, not the randomness of human error in tuning.

After I got Tune-Bot and began experimenting with it I broke out my stash of spare heads and tried lots of different combinations. I went back to using clear resonant heads and thicker (black) double ply heads on the four largest toms. This got me a big tone without too much sustain.

HOW DO YOU USE TUNE-BOT?

It's easy, Tune-Bot clips to the rim of the drum your tuning. An internal microphone extends over the drum head. You hit the drum to establish the current tuning and then work the tuning from there based off the numbers you read on the screen of Tune-Bot. If you want the full directions there is a link to them at the end of this article.

INTERNAL MEMORY STORAGE

Tune-Bot has storage locations in it so you can store the relative pitches you use most often. This makes it even faster to tune up before a gig.

DRUMMERS ARE CHEAP, SO IS TUNE-BOT

I've seen drum kits that haven't had a head changed in way too long. If you don't have the money to buy heads Tune-Bot is probably not for you.

Tune-Bot costs $100 on Amazon right now as I'm writing this, I just checked. Sometimes it's on sale for around $80, it was on sale when I bought mine. There is now a second lower priced model with fewer features, I have not tried it so I can't comment on it's performance.

LOWER PRICED TUNE-BOT GIG MODEL

WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN?

Personally I'd buy the $100 Tune-Bot in a second if mine was lost or stolen. For me Tune-Bot is as essential as sticks, it's the difference between acceptable drum tone and FABULOUS DRUM TONE. This is the single most important tool a drummer has besides a drum key. 

Good luck, happy drum tuning and good music to all!

Full Tune-Bot on Amazon read the reviews, they're very helpful

Lower Priced Tune-Bot on Amazon be sure to read the reviews

Tune-Bot web site

Tune-Bot calculator on Tune-Bot web site

Directions for using Tune-Bot from Tune-bot web site

TUNE-BOT BY OVERTONE LABS