Who here has one of these and or uses one??

How long have you heard yours??

Any problems with it??

Also, I recall hearing someone talking about tuning drums and how they tune there drums to specific notes. I find this interesting and would like to kno more about it. I consider myself to be a decent drummer but my tuning and ear skills are still pretty NOOBISH. Any tips?

I use Tama Tension Watch, which is pretty much the same as the DD. No issues with it exept that you have to learn how to use it and how to interpret what you have the numbers.
Yes, you can tune drums to a specific note. Search this forum for information(AFAIK there is already a topic on Tama's Rhythm Watch/DD). DW is very easy to tune- they stamp the note at which the drum is supposed to sound best on the inside of the shell
If you have a DD, it's good to tune your kit to notes/to what you think sounds best, record the tensions with the DD, so you can tune them to what you like in a few moments.









Last edited by Shalaq on Tue Feb 06, 2007 7:31 am; edited 1 time in total
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Shalaq wrote:

DW is very easy to tune- they stamp the note at which the drum is supposed to sound best on the inside of the shell

i didnt know this, are you aware of any other drum manufacturers doing this or similar things?

Nope, I don't think any manufacturer does this. I've never seen it on a DW drum either, just read it once on the DW site. But I believe every drum will sound good if you tune it to the note that DW specifies for the same sized drum of their own.








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The drum dial doesn't really help you tune to a specific note without a tuner. You can certainly buy a chromatic tuner if you don't already have one, or use a keyboard if you have one of those.

With your tuner handy, pick up the drum shell and tap it lightly with a stick or mallet. Listen to the shell resonate. Then, try to hum the most prominent note. The tuner will tell you what the note is.

Then, tune up the head with the drumdial and tap the head. Use your tuner and the drumdial to get it close to the same note as the shell.

my dw shells all have the key stamped on the inside and i do tune them to it. however i always get confused about how to do this. i usually get a tuner and take both heads of the drum. i put batter head on and tune to the note the drum specifies, however as soon as i put the resonant head on it raises the pitch

it takes me a while to get it right lol unless someone knows a better way

That's because drums are tuned into harmonics. I'm not an expert, but basically the pitch of the drum is altered by both heads. One head alone can be in a lower/higher pitch than the pitch desired. I think you should tune both heads the same pitch regardless on the note you're supposed to tune to and then tune the whole drum (by criscrossing both heads) to the note.
BTW could you specify what sizes you have and what notes should they be tuned to? This is how I tune- it's not precise(I tune to what sounds good to me), my guitarist just once checked them with a guitar tuner.
I was surpised BTW
22kick- D
18floor-H
16floor-D
12tom- H
14 Snare- G
This is what my cymbals are tuned to
22 ride- G sharp
20sizzle ride- G sharp 1 octave above
17 heavy crash- Gsharp 2 octaves above
17 turk crash- F sharp
14 hats-D sharp
I think for recording session next month I'll tune the drums slightly higher because we play in E or Dsharp.








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well the way im doing it now is put the batter head on tune to the pitch the drum specifies then i on resonant head and tune up half way then i lower the batter head abit and it seems to level it out to the right key,

is this not the best way?

ill get you the notes of my drums as soon as i can get to my kit :s

H? what? the lowest note is a G








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Ooops, didn't tell you that- in USA it's ABCDEFG, but in Poland ( I don't know why) we use AHCDEFG, so change the H to an A and you're set








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Shalaq wrote:

I use Tama Rhythm Watch, which is pretty much the same as the DD.

Isn't the Rhytm watch a metronome?










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Sorry. Tension Watch it is. Must've had a bad day.








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Shalaq wrote:

Sorry. Tension Watch it is. Must've had a bad day.

Man you confuzzled the bejezus outa me! I knew Tama had a drum dial, I just couldn't imagine they would name it the same thing as the metronome! (although, ya never know... Microsoft has had two products named Excel, the earliest one was a contact management tool, the newer version is a spread sheet!)








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