I just came back from the studio with the band I'm in and I always feel the same way about the way my toms sound on the tracks. I DON'T LIKE IT! I tune them constantly to get a good sound out of them my smallest tom 13" doesn't give me any trouble but the bigger they get 16" and 18" floor tom's the more ringy out of tune sound they get. I use moongels to dampen the sound but I don't want to dampen the sound so much that it sounds like a classic rock drum set. Is there some way I can make it sound better or does the person who mixes the drums have to mess with the sound?

I tune them at my house not in the studio. That might be the problem and I don't deny that I could use more practice tuning. The tuning does compliment the music. I like to tune the drums low but not so low that it distorts the sound

Well are you noticing this only on the recording or when you are in the room playing?

Maybe it's mic and/or mic placement? What type of heads are you using?

When I'm at home they sound fine it's just when I hear them played back in the song. It might be to much reverb because they sound like electronic drums instead of natural sounding. I use Remo Ebony for resonant heads and Remo Emperor for batter heads. The mic is positioned just a little inside the rim of the head. Probably about an inch or two.

eew I hate the way a ton of fake reverb makes drums sound.

if that's what's bothering you, your tuning has nothing to do with it. time for a discussion with your recording engineer where you politely describe the sound you're looking for. if that doesn't work, hide his drugs.*

*this is not a reflection on all recording engineers, just some of the ones I have been fortunate enough to work with. this disclaimer disavows any knowledge of specific illicit activity by the poster with reference to people employed in the recording profession.

I agree with ALAN the engineer is there to get the sound that YOU want after all you are paying for it, if he wants some verb on drum set up a room mic and get the natural reverb, just tell the engineer you want a more dry sound to your drums. Dont pay money for something that you are not 100% satisfied with!

this is also true. However, I do sometimes tune the drums lower, if I'm looking for a thicker, more organic, less tonal sound.

tune your toms just a touch looser and aim the mics at a 45 degree angle about an inch to an inch and a half from the rim of the tom. then place 1 piece of ducktape (or a moon gel) directly under the mic. this should give you a warm and punchy tom sound.

i think moon gels suck...i like my drums to sing when they're played. if you want a nice punchy sound, go with some evans coated g2's for the batter, and then some evans g2 clear for the resonant, and they'll sound explosive if tuned right.

I definitely wouldn't suggest moongels right off the bat. and wouldn't suggest duct tape ever.

Another thing to think about is how do they sound in the mix? Drums sound a lot different when you start to mix them in with the bass and guitar.

not even for the engineer?

Tune in the room you are playing in first off. Try a higher pitch too, the lower you try to tune the toms the more they are going to sound like classic rock toms. Next get a larger tom (seeing as its your problem child) and place it in different areas of the room and smack the bitch. Once you found a nice spot set up their. Room placement is often over looked, corners will accentuate low end. Also if this is a low budge studio/ home studio its gonna play a bigger role, ideally no wall should be parallel in a good live room.

It could also be mic choice/placement, the closer you get a dynamic mic ,i.e a shure sm57, to the sound source it increases the bass freq.s this is known as "The proximity effect". To alleviate this try pulling the mics back 2-4 inches or instead of placing the mic against the head try a 45* angle.

Processing could also be a factor and you would be surprised at what an e.q can do to the tracks(for the best and the worst). I try not to mess with toms to much as an engineer myself, seeing as I like the organic sound, but some guys will totally obliterate the original sound with compression, eq and reverb. If he likes to use verb in the overheads ask him not to and try just the snare maybe, I find this to give enough verb to the drums so they sound real with out washing everything out; like when the verb is in the overheads.