Drum Sound and Drum Tuning

Rob Toulson is an innovative musician, music producer, sound designer, and studio engineer working across most music and film genres. He has collaborated with many successful music artists and award-winning music producers, including Talvin Singh, Mediaeval Baebes, and Ethan Ash. He is an expert in musical acoustics and digital audio, with a doctorate in vibration and acoustics analysis and a full professor title in commercial music from University of Westminster, London, UK. He is also founder and director of RT60 Ltd, who develop cutting-edge technologies for the audio and music industries.

• List of FiguresList of Tables1 Introduction1.1 Values of Great Drum Sound1.2 Why Bother with Drum Tuning?1.3 About this Book1.3.1 Educational Approach1.3.2 Online Resources1.3.3 Interviews with Esteemed Professionals1.3.4 Companion Software and Examples1.4 Don’t Forget to Listen!2 Drumhead Vibration and the Science of Sound2.1 Sound Sources, Acoustic Transmission and Sound Reception2.2 Evaluating Frequencies2.3 The Single Most Valuable Musical Acoustics Theory!2.4 Measuring and Analysing Drum Modes3 Tuning the Pitch of a Cylindrical Drum3.1 Exploring the Pitch Range of a Cylindrical Drum3.2 Musical Frequencies3.3 Coupled Drumheads4 Lug Tuning and Clearing the Drumhead4.1 Evaluating the First Overtone of a Drum4.2 Beat Frequencies4.3 The Sound of a Uniformly Tuned Drumhead4.4 Lug Tuning with Assistance5 Tuning the Resonant Drumhead – What, Why and How?5.1 Harmonics and In-Harmonic Overtones5.2 Musical Intervals5.3 Controlling Overtones and Intervals with the Resonant Drumhead6 A Holistic Approach to Drum Tuning6.1 Simplicity Wins6.2 Setting the Fundamental Pitch6.3 Implementing Lug Tuning and Resonant Head Tuning6.4 Damping and Decay Times7 The Wonderful World of Drumheads7.1 Guitar Strings on Steroids!7.2 The Drumhead Equation7.3 Drumhead Types and Features7.4 Resonant Drumhead Selection7.5 Experience Drumheads!8 Timbre: The Truth about Drum Shell Vibration8.1 Introducing Timbre8.2 Tuning Fork Example with Mass Loading8.3 Drum Shell Vibration8.4 Loading the Drum Shell8.5 Bearing Edges and Precision Manufacturing8.6 Considering the Drum Shell Vibration Frequency when Tuning9 Tuning for Different Musical Styles and Genres 9.1 Creative Objectives9.2 Drum Sizes for Different Music Genres9.3 Pitches and Intervals on the Kit9.4 Tuning Suggestions for Different Genres9.5 Drumheads for Different Music Genres10 Snare Drum Tuning 10.1 Key Aspects of Snare Tuning10.2 Holistic Approach to Snare Tuning10.3 Manipulating Snare Drum Timbre10.4 Comparing Snare Timbre Example11 Kick Drum Tuning 11.1 Kick Drum Tone and Dynamics11.2 Drumheads for the Kick Drum11.3 Kick Drum Tuning Range11.4 Controlling the Kick Drum Timbre12 Production and Preparation for Drum Recording12.1 Production and Pre-Production12.2 Setting Standards and Getting Results12.3 Choosing and Evaluating the Recording Space12.3.1 Room Size and Dimensions12.3.2 Room Materials and Reverberation Characteristics 12.3.3 Sound Isolation and Background Noise Levels 12.3.4 Suitability for a Room’s Use in a Recording Project12.3.5 Positioning Drums within a Room12.4 Tuning and Performance for Recording13 Fundamental Technologies for Drum Recording13.1 Microphones and Transducers13.1.1 Dynamic Microphones13.1.2 Condenser Microphones13.1.3 Ribbon Microphones13.1.4 Other Audio Transducers13.2 Microphone Characteristics13.2.1 Microphone Polar Patterns13.2.2 Other Microphone Characteristics13.3 The Complete Recording Signal Chain13.3.1 Audio Convertors13.3.2 Mixing Desk13.3.3 Microphone Preamplifiers13.3.4 Recording with FX13.4 Monitoring and Foldback13.4.1 Control Room Monitoring13.4.2 Headphone Foldback14 We Need to Talk About Phase! 14.1 What Exactly is Phase?14.2 Time Delay and Comb Filtering14.3 Mono Compatibility14.4 Signal Polarity 15 Microphone Techniques for Recording Drums15.1 Microphone Placement Approaches15.2 Stereo Recording for Drums15.2.1 Defining The Stereo Field15.2.2 Spaced Pair Technique15.2.3 X-Y Technique15.2.4 Blumlein Pair Technique15.2.5 ORTF Technique15.2.6 Mid-Side Technique15.2.7 Baffled Omnidirectional Pair Technique15.2.8 Decca Tree Technique15.2.9 Left-Right-Center Technique15.3 Using Spot Microphone Techniques15.3.1 Kick Drum Microphone Technique15.3.2 Snare Drum Microphone Technique15.3.3 Tom Drum Microphone Technique15.3.4 Close Cymbal Microphone Technique15.4 Room Microphones 15.5 Microphone Choices for Recording Drums15.6 Developing a Personal Approach16 Mixing Drums: Balance and Dynamics16.1 Balance, Panning and Bussing16.2 Dynamics Processing16.2.1 Compression and Limiting16.2.2 Gates and Expanders16.2.3 Envelope Shaping16.3 Hybrid mixing17 Mixing Drums: Creative Processing17.1 Equalisation and Spectral Processing17.1.1 Cutting Low Frequencies17.1.2 Treating the Fundamental and Overtones of Each Drum17.1.3 Adding Attack and Presence17.1.4 Controlling High Frequencies17.2 Using Reverb to Regain Authenticity17.3 Delay for Drums17.4 Distortion and Enhancers17.5 Sequential and Sidechain and Processing17.6 Drum Replacement17.7 The Final MixdownIndex