Drum Sound and Drum Tuning: Bridging Science and Creativity

Drum Sound and Drum Tuning assists drummers, sound engineers, and music students in learning critical skills related to drum sound and achieving an optimised and personalised drum kit set-up. The book covers the essential theories of percussion acoustics and develops this knowledge in order to facilitate creative approaches to drum tuning and professional-level recording and mixing of drums. All aspects of drumhead vibration, drumhead equalisation, and resonant drumhead coupling are de-mystified, alongside discussions relating to drumhead types, drum shell vibration, and tuning to musical intervals for different performance genres. The book develops drum sound theory and creative analysis into a detailed dissection of recording and production techniques specifically for drums, including discussions on studio technologies, room acoustics, microphone techniques, phase coherence, and mixing drums with advanced digital audio workstation (DAW) techniques and creative processing tools. Drum Sound and Drum Tuning includes many practical hands-on exercises that incorporate example tutorials with Logic Pro and iDrumTune Pro software, encouraging the reader to put theory into immediate creative practice and to develop their own listening skills in an informed and reflective manner. The book also documents primary interviews and opinion from some of the world’s most celebrated drummers, music producers, and sound engineers, enabling the reader to connect the relevant theories with real-world context, whilst refining their own personalised approach to mastering drum sound.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 1.1 Values of Great Drum Sound 1.2 Why Bother with Drum Tuning? 1.3 About this Book 1.3.1 Educational Approach 1.3.2 Online Resources 1.3.3 Interviews with Esteemed Professionals 1.3.4 Companion Software and Examples 1.4 Don’t Forget to Listen! 2 Drumhead Vibration and the Science of Sound 2.1 Sound Sources, Acoustic Transmission and Sound Reception 2.2 Evaluating Frequencies 2.3 The Single Most Valuable Musical Acoustics Theory! 2.4 Measuring and Analysing Drum Modes 3 Tuning the Pitch of a Cylindrical Drum 3.1 Exploring the Pitch Range of a Cylindrical Drum 3.2 Musical Frequencies 3.3 Coupled Drumheads 4 Lug Tuning and Clearing the Drumhead 4.1 Evaluating the First Overtone of a Drum 4.2 Beat Frequencies 4.3 The Sound of a Uniformly Tuned Drumhead 4.4 Lug Tuning with Assistance 5 Tuning the Resonant Drumhead – What, Why and How? 5.1 Harmonics and In-Harmonic Overtones 5.2 Musical Intervals 5.3 Controlling Overtones and Intervals with the Resonant Drumhead 6 A Holistic Approach to Drum Tuning 6.1 Simplicity Wins 6.2 Setting the Fundamental Pitch 6.3 Implementing Lug Tuning and Resonant Head Tuning 6.4 Damping and Decay Times 7 The Wonderful World of Drumheads 7.1 Guitar Strings on Steroids! 7.2 The Drumhead Equation 7.3 Drumhead Types and Features 7.4 Resonant Drumhead Selection 7.5 Experience Drumheads! 8 Timbre: The Truth about Drum Shell Vibration 8.1 Introducing Timbre 8.2 Tuning Fork Example with Mass Loading 8.3 Drum Shell Vibration 8.4 Loading the Drum Shell 8.5 Bearing Edges and Precision Manufacturing 8.6 Considering the Drum Shell Vibration Frequency when Tuning 9 Tuning for Different Musical Styles and Genres 9.1 Creative Objectives 9.2 Drum Sizes for Different Music Genres 9.3 Pitches and Intervals on the Kit 9.4 Tuning Suggestions for Different Genres 9.5 Drumheads for Different Music Genres 10 Snare Drum Tuning 10.1 Key Aspects of Snare Tuning 10.2 Holistic Approach to Snare Tuning 10.3 Manipulating Snare Drum Timbre 10.4 Comparing Snare Timbre Example 11 Kick Drum Tuning 11.1 Kick Drum Tone and Dynamics 11.2 Drumheads for the Kick Drum 11.3 Kick Drum Tuning Range 11.4 Controlling the Kick Drum Timbre 12 Production and Preparation for Drum Recording 12.1 Production and Pre-Production 12.2 Setting Standards and Getting Results 12.3 Choosing and Evaluating the Recording Space 12.3.1 Room Size and Dimensions 12.3.2 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 Project 12.3.5 Positioning Drums within a Room 12.4 Tuning and Performance for Recording 13 Fundamental Technologies for Drum Recording 13.1 Microphones and Transducers 13.1.1 Dynamic Microphones 13.1.2 Condenser Microphones 13.1.3 Ribbon Microphones 13.1.4 Other Audio Transducers 13.2 Microphone Characteristics 13.2.1 Microphone Polar Patterns 13.2.2 Other Microphone Characteristics 13.3 The Complete Recording Signal Chain 13.3.1 Audio Convertors 13.3.2 Mixing Desk 13.3.3 Microphone Preamplifiers 13.3.4 Recording with FX 13.4 Monitoring and Foldback 13.4.1 Control Room Monitoring 13.4.2 Headphone Foldback 14 We Need to Talk About Phase! 14.1 What Exactly is Phase? 14.2 Time Delay and Comb Filtering 14.3 Mono Compatibility 14.4 Signal Polarity 15 Microphone Techniques for Recording Drums 15.1 Microphone Placement Approaches 15.2 Stereo Recording for Drums 15.2.1 Defining The Stereo Field 15.2.2 Spaced Pair Technique 15.2.3 X-Y Technique 15.2.4 Blumlein Pair Technique 15.2.5 ORTF Technique 15.2.6 Mid-Side Technique 15.2.7 Baffled Omnidirectional Pair Technique 15.2.8 Decca Tree Technique 15.2.9 Left-Right-Center Technique 15.3 Using Spot Microphone Techniques 15.3.1 Kick Drum Microphone Technique 15.3.2 Snare Drum Microphone Technique 15.3.3 Tom Drum Microphone Technique 15.3.4 Close Cymbal Microphone Technique 15.4 Room Microphones 15.5 Microphone Choices for Recording Drums 15.6 Developing a Personal Approach 16 Mixing Drums: Balance and Dynamics 16.1 Balance, Panning and Bussing 16.2 Dynamics Processing 16.2.1 Compression and Limiting 16.2.2 Gates and Expanders 16.2.3 Envelope Shaping 16.3 Hybrid mixing 17 Mixing Drums: Creative Processing 17.1 Equalisation and Spectral Processing 17.1.1 Cutting Low Frequencies 17.1.2 Treating the Fundamental and Overtones of Each Drum 17.1.3 Adding Attack and Presence 17.1.4 Controlling High Frequencies 17.2 Using Reverb to Regain Authenticity 17.3 Delay for Drums 17.4 Distortion and Enhancers 17.5 Sequential and Sidechain and Processing 17.6 Drum Replacement 17.7 The Final Mixdown Index