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Although this is covered in almost every drum magazine, I am going to cover it from an engineers point of view. (Granted, I just happen to be a drummer also.)
Believe it or not having a drum in tune is very important. In order for the drum to resonate properly, the head needs to be tightened to the shell equally all the way around the hoop. Now, there are some devices that will measure the tightness of the drum head and while this is accurate it does not give you enough information. Due to the irregularities of the edge of the shell during manufacturing you cannot rely on the reading of the measuring device. You need to listen to the pitch of the head at each lug. Then fine tune the tension so that when hitting the drum approximately 1 to 2 inches from the edge of the head the pitch is the same all the way around the head at the lug points. Now the drum head is correctly tuned to give you best resonance and reduce weird ringing.
Lets step back a moment and talk about drum heads. After all the years I have been recording drums the best all around head is still the REMO coated Ambassador. You don’t want the weight of the head to be heavy nor too light and the Ambassdor is a medium weight head. A thin head will sound great very fast after tuning but 3 or 4 times through a song and it’s shot. Conversely a heavy head will take forever to break in and the session will be over with, before it starts to sound good. Now, if the drummer is a very heavy hitter you will either need to change the medium head sometime during the project or use heavy weight heads and really break them in before the recording project. Medium weight heads will last the majority of your typical 8 song project. Unless the drummer just can’t get the take. Good luck!
The above head type works for snare and tom drums. Lets talk about the kick drum. Why do I use the term âkickâ drum instead of bass drum? Because in the studio you will be working with the bass guitar as well and if you say thru the talk back, gimmie some more bass, the bass guitarist will start playing. Get in the habit of using âkickâ and life will be much easier. Ok, back to kick drum heads. Lots of changes have happened in kick drum head technology during the last 15 years,. Some bad, but mostly good. Evans has several models that work vey well to give you that nice dry punchy sound. My preference is the EQ series, like the EQ2 or 3. Also try the EMAD series, it’s a bit darker. Tune it a bit loose and all will be heaven. Also a 22â kick is easier to work with than a 20â or 26â.
One idea is to tune the drum set to the Key of the song. While this may sound cool it does not let the drums stand out. They blend in too much. If you like that sound great! Otherwise tune the drums so they sound good to themselves. Start with the floor tom and get a good tone then work your way up the sizes. 3rds work well. A note on the resonate head. (the one opposite the batter head) Here is a little known fact. Tuning the reso head the same as the batter will produce a more lively sound. Tune the reso head above the batter in pitch will give you a slight pitch up after the initial tone. Tuning the reso head down will give you a slight pitch down after the initial tone. This is the type of tuning I prefer. The difference in tuning can be a half step, up to a whole step.
Kick is tuned a bit on the loose side, not flappy. Just a tone that you like. Snare is all over the place. Tight, loose, in-between. What ever sounds good to you. Get a couple of different shells and experiment.
Found this fun Top 10 list on News in Punk & just had to share the love!!! đ
Yes, believe it or not there IS such a thing as a punk love song.
While it might deviate from the traditional, romantic, sappy Lionel Richie-esque music youâre used to hearing on V-day, Iâm a fan of the non-traditional.
Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments!
1. The Casualties â Punk Rock Love
Seriously, this has to be number one on the list. Why? Because itâs the freaking punk love anthem, thatâs why! (Or just because I said so!)
2. The Ramones â I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Yep, itâs the quintessential punk rock love song for Valentineâs Day if youâre trying to win over that special girl.
3. MxPx â Everything Sucks When Youâre Gone
So, itâs a little depressing. And kind of sad. But if you care about that special someone in your life, the message rings true.
4. Unwritten Law â My Angel Without Wings
Just read the lyrics, and youâll totally understand why this song has to be on your uber-cool V-day song mix.
5. Social Distortion â Angel Wings
The title might be similar to Unwritten Lawâs song above, but trust me â itâs totally different. It really doesnât start getting Valentineâs Day-ish until closer to the end, but still awesome.
6. Descendents â Nothing With You
I almost forgot about this song, but it will totally work for Valentineâs Day. Especially if youâre into doing nothing with your sweetie. Yeppers.
7. Buzzcocks- Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldnât?)
Yeah, I cheated with this one. This song is truly more of an anti-valentineâs day song, but hey â you have to have at least ONE! 
8. Bouncing Souls â Hopeless Romantic
With lyrics like âI gave you my love and if you turned away, I guess Iâd be screwedâŚâ how can you NOT consider this a totally awesome punk love song? Yep, I thought so.
9. Mae â Ready and Waiting to Fall
In my humble opinion, possibly one of the better punk rock love songs around.
10. Cheap Suits – Punk Rock Love Song
âI wanna thank you for being the love of my life.â âNuff said about this track.
Happy Valentineâs Day (or, if you prefer, anti-valentineâs day!)
Some say it’s the mic pre-amp. Others might say the microphone or the speakers. When you get right down to it the most important piece of studio gear is your EARS. Hearing the tones, the balance of the mix and the arrangement beats all the other pieces of gear in your studio hands down. If you can’t hear the tones or interpret what you are hearing all else is moot. So, start to train your hearing early. Musicians learn to hear differences in pitch. If they can’t, how can they tune their instrument? Once that is learned then they begin to hear the balance between themselves and the other musicians. Audio engineer engineers start at this point. The engineer needs to listen to the individual instruments and make them sound real, or not, through the speakers. Balance or mix those instruments according to an ideal. Whether it is the producer, the band, the musician, the genre/style, the music public or themselves.
How do you go about training your brain to hear all this? Start by listening to everything! How loud is the traffic compared to the bird singing, what about that buzz or oscillation you hear when walking into a warehouse or office building? When you go to a music event listen to the mix coming out of the speakers. Can you also hear the sound coming from the onstage monitoring system? What about the reflections of the sound system bouncing off the back wall? Like I said everything.
Soon you will be able to know what frequencies affect what instruments and be better able to make adjustments to the audio that you are hearing inside your mind.
There are several training systems out there to help you along the way. My favorite is Dave Moulton’s Golden Ears system. Do a search on the web, you’ll find it.
One more thing. Take care of your hearing.
It is the most important asset you have.
Check out our latest mastering project – a talented electronica band from Chicago – The Guardians is an electronic fusion project led by songwriter / producer, Frank De La Mora & vocalist / lyricist Jessica Rodriguez in conjunction with bass player Andrew Doyle and Drummer Juny Alvarez.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO GUARDIANS MASH-UP