As a follow up to our recent Tech Tip pertaining to drum tuning, Sweetwater Sales Engineer Nathan Russell adds the following tip to help you drummers and engineers get the best sound out of your drums.
Drums are much the same as monitors or speakers mounted in a cabinet. Like tapping on the speaker in a cabinet, if you tap on the shell of a drum the resonance of it will tell you the tuning of that shell. Of course this is best done with the head(s) removed. If you want to optimize your chances at getting a good drum sound, you should aim to tune your drum to this pitch. Some manufacturers even take this a step further and actually stamp the pitch on the inside of the drum shell. This will give you the most out of your drum, every time that you hit it.