bass drum tuning

[Chuck]

strange and very different method starting at the bottom...most say this is incorrect (there is no correct and incorrect, only incorrect if you abuse the equipment)...but if it works for ya....starting at the top, defines notes (done in 82-98 Dev's, always:Cavies, Madison, Crown, Crossmen, Cadets, SCV, etc, etc.)

Not to jump your statement and call you wrong but I've always known those lines you mentioned to tune from the 4th bass up then worry about the 5th afterwards. I know this is how it is for Cavies, SCV, Madison, and Crown...atleast in the more recent years. X-men and Cadets...well, I've never really understood why they tune their basses the way they do(esp. in 02=eek!).

I will say, I have tried tuning from top to bottom, but I found that my bottom drum was much too high and lacked the low end through the full ensemble.

But to each his own. I say whatever works as long as you dont hide your basses, let them SING!! Its God's drum after all, lol.

Edited October 26, 2005 by Chuck

[DaKman]

interesting...top to bottom, bottom to top....i have never had a bass line sound poor (i have a fetish for bass drum projection...the kind one can only hear at spectator level)...i spend a lot of time with this tuning, i choose notes (one can not actually tune to specific note, but close) from the opener, and ít usually works well with the rest of the show.

the corps mention actually go from top down...even the link posted (SCV method) explains this...not that i would tune my drums with their method (i find too much interval gap in them to sound smooth), but none-the-less...tuning from bottom up is a relatively new idea...when i have attempted, my drums sound too low and get too much play....i am not a huge fan of over-muffling...a full foam ring on a 18 or 20" drum is just horribly dry....also muffling will bring the pitch down...bright vs. dark, wet vs dry, flat vs projection....ooooh, i love tonal bass drums (thanks ludwig for inventing them )

Spirit and Dev's of the mid 80's marched 24-26-28-30-36...even thought they were cranked beyond belief, the tone and projection were outstanding...but for current day...it is just too much sound....front ensemble takes care of the major punches and impacts....nowadays, bass drums are more to fill the snare voice out (thanks to the limitation of kevlar heads)

[gbass598]

starting from the top is a very bad choice. You will end up having waaaaay waaay too much crank on that drum, and your bottom end will sound week.

work from the bottom up. That's the technique that I learned. (Used in 2002/2003 Blue Devils. 2004 sac Freelancers. 2004-2005 Blue Devils "B")

But, do whatever ya want. they are your bass drums.

I prefer starting top to prevent that exact scenario. By placing the top drum at a comfortable level, I go downward from there.

The key is where you place the 1 drum. Obviously, if you reef the 1 drum, your tuning may be too high. Stop your self from over cranking and you will be fine.

[Chuck]

Dakman, I'm quite interested in where you got your information from.

Now, I hate to be the barer of bad news but, I truly know Cavies and SCV tune from the bottom up(or 4th bass up as I stated before).

I know this because I was taught under someone that marched Cavies for a number of years on the bassline and brought the same approaches( tuning, some technique, teaching) to his own bassline.

SCV's approach to the drums changed with the new bass tech a la 03. He brought in the bottom to top scheme. Though I didnt march out there, I was there long enough to pick up some things.

I learned my own scheme from both of those individual approaches.

Gbass, how'd you do things out G-men? Do you know how they do things now a days? I didnt really pay much attention to their tuning this past summer.

[gbass598]

I'm not exactly sure how they do things right now. I believe they still muffle the same way we used to. (one full ring of foam around each drum) I was there during the Yamaha years.

I believe our tech used to tune from the top down. Its been so long its hard to remember but he may have tried to match specific pitches as well. He did have perfect pitch so he was definitely very conscious of making sure all of the lugs were in tune.

As far as Dynasty goes, I believe the tuning they used was fairly similar. I know the bass tech marched either around the '01-'02 range. It was really hard to tell in places though because the Dynasty drums don't seem to project as well as the Yamaha's we used to have when I was there.

[DaveG]

I personally dont think that dynasty makes good bass drums, they got the Tenors down great though

[Gbassman5]

strange and very different method starting at the bottom...most say this is incorrect (there is no correct and incorrect, only incorrect if you abuse the equipment)...but if it works for ya....starting at the top, defines notes (done in 82-98 Dev's, always:Cavies, Madison, Crown, Crossmen, Cadets, SCV, etc, etc.)

funny story:

Juan Gomez was helping us re-muffle our basses and then tune them in Iowa this summer and started talking about how Jim Cassella would always start from the bottom, which would leave the basses too low, so the basses would always race to tune them before he got to them before shows. "we'd be cleaning 'em and Phil [Vallejo] would be tuning 'em, and then he'd come around and we'd be like, 'they're already tuned.' "

(Juan Gomez marched SCVC 1994-6 (pretty sure that's right) and SCV 1997-98 bassline)

i learned how to tune and muffle from Juan, Phil (SCV 1996-99), and Eddie Montoya (SCV 1993-96).

start from the top, get it at the tone and pitch you want, then major 3rds down to 3rd bass. then perfect 4ths to bottom. what i like to do is go to the bottom then and get it how i want it and go back up to 3rd. if it's just a quick tune before a show, just start from top and go all the way down.

for muffling, we tried using just plain weather stripping w/ horrible results this summer. ugh. if you heard us in CA, you know how bad it was.

i'm using the "Jim Cassela method" for muffling reccommended on Pearl's website.

Edited November 10, 2005 by Gbassman5

[DaKman]

funny story:

Juan Gomez was helping us re-muffle our basses and then tune them in Iowa this summer and started talking about how Jim Cassella would always start from the bottom, which would leave the basses too low, so the basses would always race to tune them before he got to them before shows. "we'd be cleaning 'em and Phil [Vallejo] would be tuning 'em, and then he'd come around and we'd be like, 'they're already tuned.' "

(Juan Gomez marched SCVC 1994-6 (pretty sure that's right) and SCV 1997-98 bassline)

i learned how to tune and muffle from Juan, Phil (SCV 1996-99), and Eddie Montoya (SCV 1993-96).

start from the top, get it at the tone and pitch you want, then major 3rds down to 3rd bass. then perfect 4ths to bottom. what i like to do is go to the bottom then and get it how i want it and go back up to 3rd. if it's just a quick tune before a show, just start from top and go all the way down.

for muffling, we tried using just plain weather stripping w/ horrible results this summer. ugh. if you heard us in CA, you know how bad it was.

i'm using the "Jim Cassela method" for muffling reccommended on Pearl's website.

strange, cassela, off the same website, claims starting from the top???? anyways...you sound like you know what you want from the basses...that is 60% of it....im a bit old school, i still like the perfect 5th between 4 and 5 (my kick) as well as at least 4" or 6" differential.

[Gbassman5]

i think Cassela may have changed what he did to tune them at some point, because i do remember seeing him tune from the top before 04 finals

[DaKman]

whether or not he tunes from the top or not, or anyone for that matter, dont make it so....tuning from the top has always provided me exactly what i want....for me this is the prefered standard.