How do I tune my Grestch drumset to a metal sound?

Question:I need my bass drum to sound more metal, and my tom toms.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I need my bass drum to sound more metal, and my tom toms.

I cannot second that mic placement comment enough. the "sound" of metal drumming, especially the bass drums, is not so much in the bass drum itself (although it had bloody better well be tuned - good answer, btw!) but where you mic it and how you EQ it. Again, cutting a lot of the lows under probably 80-100hz on it while emphasizing somewhere around 1.5khz will bring out the beater and loose a lot of the flab that a double kick will give. Running a parallel compressed kick sound will definitely help.

The only thing I can add to the tuning thing is that you want to be in tune with the rest of the band. If you're tuned to Eb and everyone else is tuned to Db, then you won't sound nearly as "tight" or cohesive.

Using damping rings can also keep your toms and kick from ringing out too much, so if you do a lot of quick hits you don't get a muddy sound.

Saul

Tuning in 1000 words or less...

Start with your highest rack tom, place in on work surface with a towel or other soft surface underneath it to deaden the opposite side heads natural resonance. CAREFULLY detune each lug a quarter turn or so making sure not to put leave too much tension on any one lug (you'll warp the head if unlucky or hamfisted and will NEVER get a good sound out of it).

Next when you get the head loosened to the point where it has NO tone other than a dull thud, FINGERTIGHTEN each lug by the rension rod until you can not tension it further with your forefinger and thumb.

Next step, take a soft mallet and strike the head as close to the lug/t-rod as you can and listen for pitch. The goal is to get ALL the lugs to resonate to the same fundamental note (like tympani tuning). Repeat this process for each lug until you achieve a nice clear tone. Every drum will have a maximum lowest fundamental tuning point. So for your desired sound try the following. Once you have achieved a clear lowest tone, detune each lug a quarter turn or so and then tune UP a eighth turn (never tune down in the end ALWAYS final tune up).

Next flip the drum over and repeat the same process for the batter head. You will achieve MAXIMUM resonance if you match the relative of the batter and resonant (top and bottom) heads. Remember: as a baseline EVERY drum will achieve a lowest maximum pitch - an easy way to find it is when you have detuned the drum to the point of NO resonance, fingertighten it to same tension THEN tune it carefully until you achieve the same pitch per lug the first clear note you hear at lowest pitch is as low as that drum will EVER tune to.

Repeat this process with each tom until they are all resonating nicely and are as low as possible in pitch (the archetypal metal/rock sound).

On to the bass drum. Bass drums are fairly tricky for two reasons, head size and tuning range variables (long tension rods, head size,shell depth etc.) The first thing you'd want to do is put the drum resonant head side down on a carpeted floor and start with the batter head. Utilize the same process as you did with the toms, detune until non resonant, finger tighten each t-rod until as tight as you can manually turn the rod itself between your forefinger and thumb, then CAREFULLY go lug by lug and tune up an eighth to a quarter turn until you achieve MAX lowest pitch for the head. Then tighten each tension rod AS LITTLE AS YOU CAN to achieve a HAIR more attack, the goal is lowest pitch at sufficent tension to get you a nice rebound from your pedal beater. Too low a pitch or more importantly too little head tension will affect your pedal speed adversely. There are several vendors who make patches (i.e. the Evans EQ patch or the Danmar Metal Kickpads) that you attach to the batter head to achieve more of a click sound and make for more rebound.

Flip the bass over and repeat the batter side process BUT get the head a bit higher in pitch (this will increase resonance resonance of the drum and not sacrifice much low end. A good alternative bass drum tuning video to watch on this subject is on the Evans website by Bob Gatzen who demonstrates his "wrinkle-mirror" technique there.

Final notes:

Tuning takes TIME, you need patience, a quiet place to tune so you can hear each adjustment.

You also may need to purchase differrent heads to achieve the sound you are looking for. I personally prefer Evans heads. I'd suggest the a two-ply batter (like a Evans G2 or EC2) on the batter side of your toms, and a thin resonant head (like a Evans Genera Resonant) to get the low and resonant sound you are looking for from them and the Evans EMAD2 two ply for your batter head and a Evans G1 for your resonant side.

Best of luck and don't be afraid to experiment while tuning your present heads (it sounds like you've already figured out what you DON'T like - lol).

I presume you mean the typical sound on modern metal recordings, where the kick drum is quite 'klicky' with mostly the beater being heard, rather than the more coventional 'thud' sound.

The bad news is you can't actually tune your drums to sound like that. It's done through the PA by a combination of microphone placement and EQ'ing at the mixing console. The trick is to place the kick drum microphone upwards towards the beater and to eq in extra mids and reduce the low (bass) content of the drum at the mixing stage. (the same applies to the toms and floot tom).