I like my drums to sound good and I try to tune them after setting up at a gig. This means that I try to to get to a gig in plenty of time to not only set up, but to accomplish the tuning task as well. It’s not always possible for me to “make noise” before the actual downbeat —at a restaurant gig, e.g. However, I find that I can do it pretty quietly. One request I need to make (sometimes), is for another musician to be quiet while I’m doing this. It may sound as if I’m simply banging on the toms or snare, but in fact, I’m really trying to hear what I’m doing. Likewise, I will be very quiet when the bassist or guitarist is tuning by ear (without the benefit of an electronic tuner).
There are different approaches to tuning drums, however the basic idea is to have each tension rod at the same pitch for any given head. You want each head to be in tune with itself. I tune my resonant heads to a higher pitch than my batter heads, but some drummers like both heads of any one drum at the same pitch. This comes down to personal preference, and there is certainly a big difference in sound. I also like my drums to really “sing” to the fullest extent possible. A choked drum is not much fun to play on and usually doesn’t sound good when recording or live. If I can get the drums to resonant with a pleasing tone, then I can adjust from there if something else is desired.
It’s taken me a while to get good at tuning. I had to practice doing it and it helped to hear some good sounding drums and check them out. Oh, and new drum heads get put on my kit more often than some drummers. But as long as your drum heads are not pitted or too worn/dirty, you should be fine.
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