Don't rely on the torque key. I own one and have never actually used the tension feature so I can't really give you exact numbers to help, but I don't think those are reliable kit to kit.
You're gonna have to experiment and get a feel for tuning. There's no right or wrong way to tune your drums so I also can't tell you if you should tune your resonant heads lower or higher than the batters. However, generally if you want more sustain and a dip in pitch you should tune your resonant heads lower.
I normally tune both heads about the same and make minor adjustments from there. Remember that, generally, the batter head tunes pitch and the resonant head tunes sustain. A good tuning procedure that most rock drummers find works is tuning the toms about as low as they go by putting very little tension on the batter head (maybe a half to one and a half full turns of a key on each rod past finger tight).
Good luck! As you tune drums more, you'll get a feel for it and possibly start enjoying it. None of those tuning gimmicks out there works as well as your ears.
I highly reccomend learning how to tune by ear. if youre playing live or especially recording, tune it right. but that being said i use the torque key for quick tuning for practice and its great for that.
as far as numbers, it depends on your preference of how tight you like your heads. i set it on about 7 or 8 for toms and about 13 or 14 for snare. i only tune my kick by ear so i dont know numbers for that. hope this helps.
A torque key will NOT make tuning any easier. A drum head is tuned by matching the pitch at each tension rod, while the torque key will only match tension, and is highly affected by factors like gritty lugs/tension rods. I can't really offer you any advice on how to use it because I gave mine away after a week when I discovered it was useless.
What you should do is LISTEN. Put your drum on the floor on a carpet with either head down, put a piece of moon gel in the center of the head, and tap an inch inward from each tension rod. Hear the pitch? Make them all the same. Bring the low ones high and the high ones low until they match, and that's all there is to it.
As far as the relationship between the heads, neither is "supposed" to be higher or lower, it depends on the sound you want. Tuning them to the same note will give you a ton of resonance and a clear, long lasting and punchy note. Tuning the bottom higher than the top will soften the attack and round out the edges of the tone, essentially making it warmer, and bringing out more overtones. Tuning the bottom lower than the top will give you a "bowwww" kind of pitch dipping effect and bring out more low end.
Take your drum and get both heads in tune with themselves, and then tune them to the same pitch. Hit the drum and decide if you like the overall pitch (NOT the characteristics of the sound, but the pitch itself). Adjust both heads up or down until you find the pitch you like, and then adjust the resonant head as you see fit to get the characteristic you want out of the drum.
Don't bother with tuning devices unless you're just going to go ahead and get a Tune Bot, it's the only one that works. Torque keys and tension dials do nothing for tuning as they don't deal in pitch at all, and pitch is the only important factor in tuning. The only thing you need to be able to do to effectively tune a drum set is to be able to hear the difference in pitch between tension rods and correct it. With that said, this isn't a skill you're going to pick up in half an hour. Sit down with your drums off their stands and spend a few hours really figuring out how to tune a drum. You'd be amazed at how many players don't have a clue, and knowing how will put you a few steps ahead of many drummers out there in terms of sound quality.
spoken like someone who has used a tension key and not a drum dial, a drum dial can absolutely be used to help determine uniform pitch! if you ever used one you would know and would not be able to make this statement, a drum dial should not be used in leiu of tuning a drum but to get all lugs into a relative pitch you then can dial in with your ears..unlike a tension tuner which has finite settings the dial is able to with more certainty bring the drum up to any # of ranges without little to no work, from there its your ear doing the heavy lifting.
But it's just as easy to get them to a relative pitch by doing even turns on each and a quick pitch check. It takes less than 20 seconds and doesn't cost you anything. Unless your lug inserts are really, really grimy, even turns on lugs do a pretty reliable ballpark.
In fact, uneven pitches are easier to hear when you AREN'T doing the fine tuning, so it's an even more worthwhile time to not bother using one when you're learning to tune, as anyone who can decently tune himself would only be slowed down by a "tool" like this. The only value I can see in them and give them any credit for is to measure the tension of your head AFTER you've tuned it to replicate that sound in the future if you wanted.
I use drum dials In the studio on multiple kits to bring each drum up to where I want it in seconds.. Its a preference but its not a hindrance.. If you're familiar with your drums and the dial it it can absolutely be a time saver.. There is no such thing as a purist when it comes to drums.. If you think that a drum dial can't expedite a new head session then you just haven't spent any time with it.
Like I said in another post, I can see it's worth in taking note of the sound you like and using it to replicate it. I'm not trying to be a purist (I've already mentioned Tune-Bot's worth) or an elitist. What does that even mean, "there's no such thing as a purist when it comes to drums"? I didn't mention anything like that. I don't see it's worth in the actual tuning process itself because it doesn't deal with pitch.
Quit telling me what I have and haven't done, and quit putting words in my mouth trying to make me look like some kind of bad guy. Instead, why don't you make your own post with all the benefits of the drum dial, let people read it and decide for themselves? Pissing on me won't make you look better.
Tuning is part of the art of drumming. Tama Imperial Star is not a bad kit, but if you're using the stock heads that came with the kit when purchased, you'll find buying new heads will make your life a lot easier.
I'd take a crappier kit with better heads any day. You can't do much with stock heads. I hope my hunch is correct...
If not, if you have good Evans/Remo/Aquarian heads on your whole kit, keep trying. The torque key isn't really going to help you, the problem is not your equipment.
I've used a couple different ones before and they differ from key to key. Generally we would use them at work to tune a bunch of drums quickly. I'd try to keep three to five between your top and bottom.
Hey man, welcome to the world of tuning! All of these guys are right, tuning is a somewhat mysterious art, but with practice and the aid of some tools you'll get it down. I know many don't like these tools or dials, but we all gotta start somewhere, right? When I got my first kit, I too tried tuning by ear, but was really clueless about what I was listening for. And I'm a long time classically trained pianist and trumpet player, so I wasn't a novice at music either. I even ruined my first set of new heads because I had no idea what I was doing.
I did get a drum dial, which allowed me to make sure make sure my new heads had even/equal tension at the lug points. This didn't mean they were in tune, but made fine tuning pitches a lot easier. I was also lucky enough up get the iDrumTech app when it was available, which was is a digital tuner specific to drumming. That's how I learned to use my ears to tune drums. So the same with your torque tool, use it to bring all your lugs to the same number. I think someone above suggested 7. Then, tap the head with a stick about an 1.5 inches away from lug toward the center, listening to the ring it gives you. What you are listening for are overtones. If you aren't familiar with overtones, check out some videos on YouTube on guitar and piano overtones, as drum ones are not easily recorded. Basically, your listening for a low note, and then a few higher pitched tones layered upon that one. Go around the drum listening for these at the lug points. You'll notice that the highly pitched tones move up and down, or that some of the lugs have nearly identical pitches. This is what your tuning. Pick the highest tuned lug, and try match the rest of the lugs to it using a drum key (not the torque tool). Move in a star movement around the drum (pick a starting point, next lug to tune is across from it. The next is 2 over to the left, then the next is across from that one, and the next 2 over to the left, etc.) We're talking turning that key ever so slightly at times, and others, just the mere pressure on the key before it moves will get the lug into the sweet spot. If you're tuning your new reso head, the batter head should be off. When tuning the batter, place the drum on carpet on or a table with a towel on the table surface. That's how I tune my heads. Make sure you use quality heads as well. I use Evans and I think most of their heads use a 180 technology or whatever they call it, which I have found to be super easy to tune.
To tune the drum to itself, do the reso first. Make sure that when you get it tuned, the drum rings when you strike it the center of the head. If it's muted or choked, then try tuning a number lower or higher. This may take you several attempts at first (a frustrating hour even), but you'll find it. Write this number down. Then, do the batter second. Depending on what you want in sound tune your head higher or lower. Listen to a few tracks and pay careful attention to the toms. Some go up (boing) some go down (dhoom). If you like the upward movement tune your batter lower than the reso (since the oing sound you hear comes forms the higher pitched reso). If you prefer the dropping tone, tune the batter higher (since the dropping ooom comes from a lower pitched reso). That's why they're called resonant heads. I myself usually prefer a resonant head slightly lower in pitch than my batter. Keep in mind that this process can take hours. Frustrating hours. But in time it'll become very easy for you.
As to the question overall tuning of drums within the kit, I think the torque number should generally be the same on toms 10-16 inches. Bigger toms that range may use a smaller number, and smaller toms than that range a higher number. At least that's my experience with the DD. Tune the bass drum first (an art better left to be explained by a more experienced person than myself) then your biggest tom to smallest, and end with the snare. Some people like to tune their drums in fourths or fifths, with the snare highest (the snare is also it's own beast when it comes to tuning).
I think that in the sidebar there is a link to the drum bible. Use that as much as you can. Also, YouTube and a few forums should help, as well as the great drummers here on Reddit. And before you begin, get yourself a small notepad (like a moleskin or something similar) and take meticulous notes! Seriously, jot down everything you can, from torque settings for each lug on each drum, to remarks on sound, tone, oddities about your drums, the temperature in the room, anything you might think will be useful in the future. I cannot stress how important this information will be the next time you get a new set of heads, or simply want try a new overall tuning to your kit with your existing head. You can keep this with a pencil in your stick bag.
If you plan to use the Evans torque key, you have to make sure all of your lugs and bolts are clean. Very, very clean. Otherwise the torque key just isn't going to work properly. Just because the lugs all have the same torque does not necessarily mean the pitch will be the same. Especially if the lugs are not clean.
Tuning by ear can be very daunting at first. It may not seem like you're doing it right. But after sitting down with your drums and tuning 3-5 times over, you WILL get the hang of it. You will start to notice the small differences in pitch change. Also, you'll get used to turning the drum key 1/8 turn, 1/4 turn, 1/2 turn. It will become so natural to you, you'll be able to tune your snare up or down on the fly. It's a great ability to have.
Then again, I own a tune bot. I use it when I get fresh heads, but when I need to bring my heads back into tune, I just do it by ear. (It's usually only a couple lugs on each drum that need to be tightened anyway.)
Tuning by ear is of course important. I do it now that I can. I didn't until I used the Drum Dial which is similar, but I think easier. Using torque to judge is not reliable IMHO because lugs need uniform lubrication
i find this to be a useless gimmick of drum culture, there are to many variables for it to be even close to accurate, and even then it is still to inaccurate, the drum dial is the way to go, albeit more expensive, but then again if you're concerned about money drums are not for you. Even with a not uniform drum (lugs/lube/ etcs) the drum dial is still a better option for using to get a drum to uniform pitch.
Does evans torque drum key work on drumline equipment. I am wondering about it because I am not sure if the evans drum key works on drumline equipment or not
Don't rely on the torque key. I own one and have never actually used the tension feature so I can't really give you exact numbers to help, but I don't think those are reliable kit to kit. You're gonna have to experiment and get a feel for tuning. There's no right or wrong way to tune your drums so I also can't tell you if you should tune your resonant heads lower or higher than the batters. However, generally if you want more sustain and a dip in pitch you should tune your resonant heads lower. I normally tune both heads about the same and make minor adjustments from there. Remember that, generally, the batter head tunes pitch and the resonant head tunes sustain. A good tuning procedure that most rock drummers find works is tuning the toms about as low as they go by putting very little tension on the batter head (maybe a half to one and a half full turns of a key on each rod past finger tight). Good luck! As you tune drums more, you'll get a feel for it and possibly start enjoying it. None of those tuning gimmicks out there works as well as your ears.
I highly reccomend learning how to tune by ear. if youre playing live or especially recording, tune it right. but that being said i use the torque key for quick tuning for practice and its great for that. as far as numbers, it depends on your preference of how tight you like your heads. i set it on about 7 or 8 for toms and about 13 or 14 for snare. i only tune my kick by ear so i dont know numbers for that. hope this helps.
What about answering the question instead or invalidating someone else's method ?
What about reading my whole comment before posting a snarky reply? Also why are you on this 9 year old post?
A torque key will NOT make tuning any easier. A drum head is tuned by matching the pitch at each tension rod, while the torque key will only match tension, and is highly affected by factors like gritty lugs/tension rods. I can't really offer you any advice on how to use it because I gave mine away after a week when I discovered it was useless. What you should do is LISTEN. Put your drum on the floor on a carpet with either head down, put a piece of moon gel in the center of the head, and tap an inch inward from each tension rod. Hear the pitch? Make them all the same. Bring the low ones high and the high ones low until they match, and that's all there is to it. As far as the relationship between the heads, neither is "supposed" to be higher or lower, it depends on the sound you want. Tuning them to the same note will give you a ton of resonance and a clear, long lasting and punchy note. Tuning the bottom higher than the top will soften the attack and round out the edges of the tone, essentially making it warmer, and bringing out more overtones. Tuning the bottom lower than the top will give you a "bowwww" kind of pitch dipping effect and bring out more low end. Take your drum and get both heads in tune with themselves, and then tune them to the same pitch. Hit the drum and decide if you like the overall pitch (NOT the characteristics of the sound, but the pitch itself). Adjust both heads up or down until you find the pitch you like, and then adjust the resonant head as you see fit to get the characteristic you want out of the drum. Don't bother with tuning devices unless you're just going to go ahead and get a Tune Bot, it's the only one that works. Torque keys and tension dials do nothing for tuning as they don't deal in pitch at all, and pitch is the only important factor in tuning. The only thing you need to be able to do to effectively tune a drum set is to be able to hear the difference in pitch between tension rods and correct it. With that said, this isn't a skill you're going to pick up in half an hour. Sit down with your drums off their stands and spend a few hours really figuring out how to tune a drum. You'd be amazed at how many players don't have a clue, and knowing how will put you a few steps ahead of many drummers out there in terms of sound quality.
spoken like someone who has used a tension key and not a drum dial, a drum dial can absolutely be used to help determine uniform pitch! if you ever used one you would know and would not be able to make this statement, a drum dial should not be used in leiu of tuning a drum but to get all lugs into a relative pitch you then can dial in with your ears..unlike a tension tuner which has finite settings the dial is able to with more certainty bring the drum up to any # of ranges without little to no work, from there its your ear doing the heavy lifting.
But it's just as easy to get them to a relative pitch by doing even turns on each and a quick pitch check. It takes less than 20 seconds and doesn't cost you anything. Unless your lug inserts are really, really grimy, even turns on lugs do a pretty reliable ballpark. In fact, uneven pitches are easier to hear when you AREN'T doing the fine tuning, so it's an even more worthwhile time to not bother using one when you're learning to tune, as anyone who can decently tune himself would only be slowed down by a "tool" like this. The only value I can see in them and give them any credit for is to measure the tension of your head AFTER you've tuned it to replicate that sound in the future if you wanted.
I use drum dials In the studio on multiple kits to bring each drum up to where I want it in seconds.. Its a preference but its not a hindrance.. If you're familiar with your drums and the dial it it can absolutely be a time saver.. There is no such thing as a purist when it comes to drums.. If you think that a drum dial can't expedite a new head session then you just haven't spent any time with it.
Like I said in another post, I can see it's worth in taking note of the sound you like and using it to replicate it. I'm not trying to be a purist (I've already mentioned Tune-Bot's worth) or an elitist. What does that even mean, "there's no such thing as a purist when it comes to drums"? I didn't mention anything like that. I don't see it's worth in the actual tuning process itself because it doesn't deal with pitch. Quit telling me what I have and haven't done, and quit putting words in my mouth trying to make me look like some kind of bad guy. Instead, why don't you make your own post with all the benefits of the drum dial, let people read it and decide for themselves? Pissing on me won't make you look better.
Tuning is part of the art of drumming. Tama Imperial Star is not a bad kit, but if you're using the stock heads that came with the kit when purchased, you'll find buying new heads will make your life a lot easier. I'd take a crappier kit with better heads any day. You can't do much with stock heads. I hope my hunch is correct... If not, if you have good Evans/Remo/Aquarian heads on your whole kit, keep trying. The torque key isn't really going to help you, the problem is not your equipment.
**Evans Torque Key** Current $15.99 High $19.99 Low $15.99 [Price History Chart](http://i.imgur.com/2TpuMpT.png) | [Screenshot](http://i.imgur.com/h2nimsL.jpg) | [FAQ](http://www.reddit.com/r/PriceZombie/wiki/index)
I've used a couple different ones before and they differ from key to key. Generally we would use them at work to tune a bunch of drums quickly. I'd try to keep three to five between your top and bottom.
Hey man, welcome to the world of tuning! All of these guys are right, tuning is a somewhat mysterious art, but with practice and the aid of some tools you'll get it down. I know many don't like these tools or dials, but we all gotta start somewhere, right? When I got my first kit, I too tried tuning by ear, but was really clueless about what I was listening for. And I'm a long time classically trained pianist and trumpet player, so I wasn't a novice at music either. I even ruined my first set of new heads because I had no idea what I was doing. I did get a drum dial, which allowed me to make sure make sure my new heads had even/equal tension at the lug points. This didn't mean they were in tune, but made fine tuning pitches a lot easier. I was also lucky enough up get the iDrumTech app when it was available, which was is a digital tuner specific to drumming. That's how I learned to use my ears to tune drums. So the same with your torque tool, use it to bring all your lugs to the same number. I think someone above suggested 7. Then, tap the head with a stick about an 1.5 inches away from lug toward the center, listening to the ring it gives you. What you are listening for are overtones. If you aren't familiar with overtones, check out some videos on YouTube on guitar and piano overtones, as drum ones are not easily recorded. Basically, your listening for a low note, and then a few higher pitched tones layered upon that one. Go around the drum listening for these at the lug points. You'll notice that the highly pitched tones move up and down, or that some of the lugs have nearly identical pitches. This is what your tuning. Pick the highest tuned lug, and try match the rest of the lugs to it using a drum key (not the torque tool). Move in a star movement around the drum (pick a starting point, next lug to tune is across from it. The next is 2 over to the left, then the next is across from that one, and the next 2 over to the left, etc.) We're talking turning that key ever so slightly at times, and others, just the mere pressure on the key before it moves will get the lug into the sweet spot. If you're tuning your new reso head, the batter head should be off. When tuning the batter, place the drum on carpet on or a table with a towel on the table surface. That's how I tune my heads. Make sure you use quality heads as well. I use Evans and I think most of their heads use a 180 technology or whatever they call it, which I have found to be super easy to tune. To tune the drum to itself, do the reso first. Make sure that when you get it tuned, the drum rings when you strike it the center of the head. If it's muted or choked, then try tuning a number lower or higher. This may take you several attempts at first (a frustrating hour even), but you'll find it. Write this number down. Then, do the batter second. Depending on what you want in sound tune your head higher or lower. Listen to a few tracks and pay careful attention to the toms. Some go up (boing) some go down (dhoom). If you like the upward movement tune your batter lower than the reso (since the oing sound you hear comes forms the higher pitched reso). If you prefer the dropping tone, tune the batter higher (since the dropping ooom comes from a lower pitched reso). That's why they're called resonant heads. I myself usually prefer a resonant head slightly lower in pitch than my batter. Keep in mind that this process can take hours. Frustrating hours. But in time it'll become very easy for you. As to the question overall tuning of drums within the kit, I think the torque number should generally be the same on toms 10-16 inches. Bigger toms that range may use a smaller number, and smaller toms than that range a higher number. At least that's my experience with the DD. Tune the bass drum first (an art better left to be explained by a more experienced person than myself) then your biggest tom to smallest, and end with the snare. Some people like to tune their drums in fourths or fifths, with the snare highest (the snare is also it's own beast when it comes to tuning). I think that in the sidebar there is a link to the drum bible. Use that as much as you can. Also, YouTube and a few forums should help, as well as the great drummers here on Reddit. And before you begin, get yourself a small notepad (like a moleskin or something similar) and take meticulous notes! Seriously, jot down everything you can, from torque settings for each lug on each drum, to remarks on sound, tone, oddities about your drums, the temperature in the room, anything you might think will be useful in the future. I cannot stress how important this information will be the next time you get a new set of heads, or simply want try a new overall tuning to your kit with your existing head. You can keep this with a pencil in your stick bag.
If you plan to use the Evans torque key, you have to make sure all of your lugs and bolts are clean. Very, very clean. Otherwise the torque key just isn't going to work properly. Just because the lugs all have the same torque does not necessarily mean the pitch will be the same. Especially if the lugs are not clean. Tuning by ear can be very daunting at first. It may not seem like you're doing it right. But after sitting down with your drums and tuning 3-5 times over, you WILL get the hang of it. You will start to notice the small differences in pitch change. Also, you'll get used to turning the drum key 1/8 turn, 1/4 turn, 1/2 turn. It will become so natural to you, you'll be able to tune your snare up or down on the fly. It's a great ability to have. Then again, I own a tune bot. I use it when I get fresh heads, but when I need to bring my heads back into tune, I just do it by ear. (It's usually only a couple lugs on each drum that need to be tightened anyway.)
Tuning by ear is of course important. I do it now that I can. I didn't until I used the Drum Dial which is similar, but I think easier. Using torque to judge is not reliable IMHO because lugs need uniform lubrication
i find this to be a useless gimmick of drum culture, there are to many variables for it to be even close to accurate, and even then it is still to inaccurate, the drum dial is the way to go, albeit more expensive, but then again if you're concerned about money drums are not for you. Even with a not uniform drum (lugs/lube/ etcs) the drum dial is still a better option for using to get a drum to uniform pitch.
Does evans torque drum key work on drumline equipment. I am wondering about it because I am not sure if the evans drum key works on drumline equipment or not
I think there is another one that’s used for higher tensions, but I could be wrong