And also keep in mind....

Sometimes, it's the place where you are tuning the drums that can acoustically throw you off. For example, I can get a great sound on just about any one of my drums if I tune them in a particular room. But, once I take them out of that room and into the gig (or wherever), the change can be quite drastic. Carpeted floors....low ceilings, lots of hard surfaces...soft surfaces....drums facing out or against a wall...etc.

Try different orientations of the drums, too.

Stainless steel drums are like wild stallions! They are more difficult to tame!

Yes, I defer to your expertise in this matter, of course. My own experience with them is that they were more than I could control....they seem to want to be ridden hard....like the way Bonzo played them. That's what I meant.

You know best on those SS drums. I tried Evans on a lark and am very happy with their sound and durability; however, I don't have an SS kit.

Top work, gents!!!

Tuning Report

Tuning can be challenging *****!

Right-on about where you tune. In the basement, on a carpeted work table with cinder block walls around me I had trouble getting a consistent pitch. As I'm tapping around the horn, I would try to match a tone I was happy with only to find that as I tuned a low tone, the tone that I was happy with shot up a bit. Very frustrating! They say you can't tune down, but you can't keep getting higher and tighter, right?

Anyway, brought them out of the basement and into the family room that has tall ceilings and carpet. Much easier hearing the tone and matching. Just seemed to cooperate better. As I'm doing this, I'm also listening to the John Bonham tuning Green Sparkle video on my iPod with pretty decent set of ear buds and I tried to match the tones that the dude tapped out.. I got pretty close. But I have to say I really can't get the same SOUND as those Green Sparkle beauties. Steel and wood have there own different sound properties.

I thought I had the sound on my snare that I was hoping for, but I may have done something with-out knowing because it doesn't sound right now.

I probably spent a couple of hundred on heads, half a roll of Gaffer's tape and a bunch of time tensioning, de-tensioning, re-tensioning, tapping, smacking, and yelled a few word combinations that would make a sailor blush!!! If Trixie the bunny could speak English, she would be expelled from school as she'd have learnt some really, really bad words...

With each time I had a sound I hated, I also ended up learning something new about drum tuning. The most challenging aspect? That every room sounds different and that you really can't just be bop into a venue thinking that how you tuned your drums will sound right with that room without a sound check.

I feel your pain with tuning.

Not as much pain as just annoying although it sounds like you really took it serious with all the hardware and supplies you use!

Funny, I really never ever gave tuning much thought, until recently. I banged away thinking all was good. But I know it is important - especially for those of you who play to an audience and take their craft seriously. I tip my hat to you folks.

I've done the best I could with my untrained ear.

They sound good to me now. More "vintage" sounding not the dark thudding my old dark Pinstripes presented and that was what I was shooting for.

Now if I could only get my 18" tom to not sound like a 55 gallon drum with a hide stretched on it I'll be all set.

Maybe I should stuff it with 100 cotton balls!

18" floor toms present their own challenges, for certain. I have found that the lower those are tuned, the better they sound. But I defer to the experts on all things SS Ludwig drums!!!

Keep on and you'll get it!!!