Tuning - TD20

[tbfoster]

Greetings all,

I have extra toms on my TD20 expanded - some use aux ports. Most of the tom setups are for 4 drums, but my question - is there a general formula for tuning these, for example - using the 12" Birch set - need something between a 13" and 16", so I deepened the shell of a 13" and tuned the head down, then I shortened a 16" and tuned up. Played with the felt settings etc., just doesn't sound exactly right. Any general forumla on this or is it trial and error? OR do you just accept that this is pretty standard and use rotos or something else for the others?

BTW - did some searches and didn't find what I was looking for. If there is a thread on this - sry.

Thanks

[Hercules]

Hi tb

You're heading in the right direction.

- next make sure your mic placement gives you a nice balance
- adjust your mixer to balance the kit level and also pan the kit appropriately

- next look into the EQ/Compression settings and finally the ambience and effects - that's where most of the missing magic will be found....

[Michael Render]

I will use 6 toms at a time using your method. You just have to make sure your tuning blends with the other toms. I might assign a 12" to two and then tune one up and one down. Also watch your panning. If you assign one to an Aux that is panned center or somewhere unexpected, the toms will sound off in the stereo field. That can be disconcerting.

[Fullback32]

This is a good thread. I have four toms now, but intend to extend to six as soon as I see some Hart Pros come at a good price on eBay. It's already given me some good info and I may hook up this spare Hart Prodigy pad I have hanging around as a fifth tom and start experimenting. Thanks!

[paladin]

Stop it! I have two free inputs on my TDW-20 and have been trying to think of what to put on them. They HAVE to be filled you know ii

I kept thinking maybe one drum and one cymbal.. Now with this thread I am thinking of two drums again.

Damn G.A.S.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ii

[tbfoster]

Gracias

Great info on that, thanks all. I didn't spend much time on mixer and pan, I'll play with that as well. I did find that when I set the rim manually on aux ports to something other than a matching rim, the TD20 shows the setting, but it doesn't play that sound when hit (plays the rim sound). It works on the pre-fab kits - so it must be a setting I haven't found yet.

I'm sure this will be odd, but I set an 18" crash on the rim of my last floor tom. I'm not fast enough to get back to the right handed cymbal since it's pretty far away with my setup. Thought about adding a cymbal there like I have on my Pearl kit. Once I got used to it though, I can put in some extra chops late in the beat and still make the cymbal hit. Feel free to make fun of that one, I can take it

[SuperPuss]

There's a multitude of different things you can do tuning toms on these modules. My kit currently has 14 toms (seriously) and I do different things with them depending on what style of music I am writing.

I do actually have on patch set up with all 14 tuned close (a bit like a mini Terry Bozzio thing). That kit uses a mix of the same toms (maple or birch, can't remember off the top of my head) with mixtures of different tunings, shell depths and EQ of each of the four preset toms. By fiddling with these parameters, you can remove quirks and get them sounding like they are actually physically different toms.
Before anyone accuses me of being ridiculous (regardless of the fact that they could be correct!!!), I actually do have legitimate uses for this setup in some of my music.

Other kit patches use different instrument sets on some toms. One patch has tunable roto sounds on (funnily enough) my a-e roto's, four regular toms on my 8" mesh ones, various percussion sounds on the PD8's (dual piezo for velocity on rims), a gong on my 22" tom and a tunable tom on the 13" mesh a-e.
Another patch is the same as the last one but with tunable tympanis on the PD8's.

The possibilities are endless with E kits but, as a general rule, for tuning regular toms, the settings I have found to have the greatest bearing on realism with more than four toms are the shell tuning, shell depth, mic placement, EQ and, to a lesser degree, damping.

[tbfoster]

Stop it! I have two free inputs on my TDW-20 and have been trying to think of what to put on them. They HAVE to be filled you know ii

I kept thinking maybe one drum and one cymbal.. Now with this thread I am thinking of two drums again.

Damn G.A.S.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ii

Haha - yeah, I have one port left and it must be filled. It's like unfinished busineess or somethin'...

[tbfoster]

There's a multitude of different things you can do tuning toms on these modules. My kit currently has 14 toms (seriously) and I do different things with them depending on what style of music I am writing.

I do actually have on patch set up with all 14 tuned close (a bit like a mini Terry Bozzio thing). That kit uses a mix of the same toms (maple or birch, can't remember off the top of my head) with mixtures of different tunings, shell depths and EQ of each of the four preset toms. By fiddling with these parameters, you can remove quirks and get them sounding like they are actually physically different toms.
Before anyone accuses me of being ridiculous (regardless of the fact that they could be correct!!!), I actually do have legitimate uses for this setup in some of my music.

Other kit patches use different instrument sets on some toms. One patch has tunable roto sounds on (funnily enough) my a-e roto's, four regular toms on my 8" mesh ones, various percussion sounds on the PD8's (dual piezo for velocity on rims), a gong on my 22" tom and a tunable tom on the 13" mesh a-e.
Another patch is the same as the last one but with tunable tympanis on the PD8's.

The possibilities are endless with E kits but, as a general rule, for tuning regular toms, the settings I have found to have the greatest bearing on realism with more than four toms are the shell tuning, shell depth, mic placement, EQ and, to a lesser degree, damping.

You have a monster kit, I saw the build out you did - awesome. I have more drums that skillz right now, but I'm having a lot of fun. I really only use two sets, a mixture of the Birch toms for playing along with music and I setup the rotos when I'm practicing. They have a crisp sound and I can hear every stroke, so I can work on getting smoother.

l8r