Drum Sound and Drum Tuning

Academic Lecture on Percussion Acoustics and Quantified Drum Tuning

By Professor Rob Toulson

Tutorial Videos on Acoustic Theory of Drumhead Vibration

Drumhead Vibration Modes

Description and measurement of fundamental and overtone vibration modes and associated frequencies

Coupled Drumheads

Showing the coupling between the batter and resonant drumheads on a cylindrical drum

Tutorial Videos on Tuning the Fundamental Pitch of a Drum

Pitch Range of a 13" Rack Tom

Showing the tuning range from 79.0 Hz to 138.0 Hz

Pitch Range of a 16" Floor Tom

Showing the tuning range from 60.0 Hz to 120.0 Hz

Tutorial Videos on Lug Tuning and equalising the Drumhead

Sonic Differences Between and Even and Unevenly Tuned Drum

Even tuning gives a warm tone with a smooth decay. Uneven tuning has audible modulation and frequency beating 

Clearing the Drumhead by Lug Tuning

Taking an untuned drum and tuning to ensure that it has a uniform frequency response at all lug locations around the perimeter of the drum

Concept of Acoustic Beating and Phase Cancellation

Two similar frequency sine waves cause beating through phase cancellation when summed together.

Tuning the Resonant Drumhead

Resonant Drumhead Tuning

Using the Resonant Tuning Factor to evaluate different approaches to resonant head tuning

A Holistic Approach to Drum Tuning

Drum Tuning 101 - Back To Basics

A simple and holistic approach to drum tuning, controlling the fundamental and overtone frequencies of the drum

Spectrum Analysis and Filtering Frequencies

Using a simple filter feature to identify and focus on the frequencies of interest

Timbre: The Truth about Drum Shell Vibration

Musical Instrument Vibration - Tuning Fork Example

Showing how mass affects the fundamental frequency of a vibrating system

Drum Shell Vibration - Part 1

Showing how the shell vibration frequency changes with and without hardware

Drum Shell Vibration - Part 2

Showing how the shell vibration frequency changes with and without hardware

Snare Drum Tuning

Tuning Range of a De Broize Custom 14x6.5 Solid Oak Snare

Evaluating tone and timbre at low, medium and high tuning

Tuning Range of a Ludwig Supralite 14x6.5 Steel Snare

Evaluating tone and timbre at low, medium and high tuning

Fine Tuning a Snare Drum

Using lug tuning and resonant head tuning to optimise the snare drum sound

Snare Drum Tuning Comparison

Comparing the sound of three snare drums when all tuned to have the same fundamental and overtone frequencies