Can You Tune a Drum Set Without Hearing It?

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When it comes to tuning a drum set, everyone talks about how they "tune by feel." I'm guilty of relying on feel, myself, but I also rely on my ears. So I thought it would be a fun challenge to see if I can tune a drum set just by feel and compare it to a drum set that I tuned like I normally would.
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[@rdavidr]

WeLl i tUnE bY FeEl Check out the Pearl Session Studio Select over on zZound: (Affiliate Link) www.zzounds.com/a--3970705/item--PEASTS925XSP

[@BEElaine1008]

I have a Session Studio Select in the Black Halo Glitter....It is a thing of beauty!!!

[@rdavidr]

@@BEElaine1008 wanna trade? 😂 Kinda bummed they stopped making that finish

[@BEElaine1008]

@@rdavidr nope but I think you can still order them....mine took 6 months

[@ima_drummer1267]

im thinking about getting one of these in 2 years (because im still a bad beginner). how do you learn to play drums?

[@user-wp1pj9jb1d]

Do have a link to the great backing track u played with?

[@andsuaz]

Tune by smell

[@flarfatron2190]

t a s t e

[@ArborGeist]

Ever pop the head off a vintage Ludwig tom? "sniiiiiiiiiiiiiffffff"

[@thIDthIRreenactor]

@@ArborGeist my set is a 1965 ludwig and the vintage wood smell smell nice

[@ArborGeist]

@@thIDthIRreenactor nice! I have a 67 champagne sparkle super classic. Smells MUCH better than my new starclassic bb lol.

[@thIDthIRreenactor]

@@ArborGeist nice same my brother had a pace double bass drum set it's a newer one and it smelled wierd mine wich is 55 years old now smells beautiful

[@cayninx7993]

Wow you didn’t even tune the cymbals smh jk lol great vid

[@user-cz7yz9hc8b]

Your playing here is great! With both kits!

[@SlyHikari03]

Tune by feel sounded pretty neat. Sounds like it would fit metal.

[@jadenaquino6246]

Kinda love the sound of the snare drum when you were tuning it without hearing it lol-

[@Tomsolomon111]

For real dude. It's a nightmare living un the UK. constant changes in temperature and humidity make it a constant battle to get a decent sound from my drums. I like the lower tunings though, but I can get away with it in my practice room due to the small size, and there's always microphones to get more volume if needed. At the end of the day it's personal taste as to how you tune your drums.

[@tomtankengine0]

My dream kit...

[@isaachicks9052]

The hearing kit sounds a lot better. I like the one with tension too. But if I had to pick it would be the one with hearing.

[@angelacevedo3694]

both tunings sounded fine but i agree with the.. floor toms on the "feel tuning" the rack toms on the focused tuning are a bit too close together pitch wise

[@Elboy522]

If someone actually mentions that they tune by "feel," fully expect their toms to sound flappy and dead, their snare to be cranked as high as possible, and their kick to have 3 pillows inside of it, negating whatever tension they put on the bass drum batter head.

[@andrewhassell9891]

06:10 we call that the Mario Duplantier tuning

[@ScottRidesHonda]

I like my toms super loose so tbh the first one was pretty good to me.

[@jsraudio]

maybe the by feel one sounded bad from your playing position, but through the mics it sounds fantastic, 2nd tom was a bit dissonant with the first, but otherwise i much preferrered the lower toms

[@teddale5093]

Hey David, what are the cymbals you're using in this video? Thanks!

[@TheAXO92]

pretty good actually.. just need fine tuning. 😁👍👍

[@georgebennett1242]

Both sound good to me

[@JaggieMoMo]

your deaf tuning sounds better than my regular tuning LMAO

[@Ben-qd8dw]

Am I the only one that wants him to combine both these kits into one monster kit

[@balintcsoma4321]

6:10 that is a Mario Duplantier tuning

[@rusticles218]

Hey man! I just got a drum kit and I can’t seem to get the beater head to strike at a 90 degree angle (perpendicular to the floor). Only the top part of the beater hits the drum. What would you suggest I do about this problem? I don’t wanna lift or tilt the bass drum as I already have it lifted to level, but if this is the only option, how do I tackle it? Thanks and I enjoyed the video 😁👍👍

[@sammyloehnis3373]

What kind of beaters do you have? If they're flat, like on an old Iron Cobra, you might have this problem, so maybe try a rounded beater like you'd see on a DW 9000 pedal. They're in every music store and really cheap as well. I'm not sure about this, but in some pedals, I think there's an adjustment to tilt the beater head, so if you're lucky, you might have that on yours

[@rusticles218]

Sammy Loehnis Hi! I just have a standard circular felt beater. I don’t think it has any option to adjust the tilt of the beater head. Thanks for the response 👍😎👌

[@seanm7917]

What’s the snare? It doesn’t look like the one from the kit?

[@pawelmorrison]

Tuning just by feel is kinda helpful when youre the band inbetween other bands on a gig, where theres a house kit that sounds like shit. Ive expirienced that before and got complimented by the sound guy that i sound a lot better than the previous guys. Well who would expect tuned drums to sound better huh?

[@ocho611]

aside from the 2nd floor being a tad loose, the first tuning is 100% legit, it's just not your thing

[@cj_ssfsm]

Smitty! Hehehe.

[@SoundsLikeADrum]

Good fun! Tensioning drums up is definitely the easy part and it sure sounded like you got them in a decent place just by feel. We might just have to experiment with this as well...

[@guestivity2063]

Sounds Like A Drum you two really are my favorite drum youtubers :O

[@eastbaymauiboy]

Yup, sounds like a good idea to steal (I MEAN expound on). Something like half my tuning is by feel, at least initially. It'd be cool to see the relationship between the hands, ears, and even the eyes while tuning.

[@camdudley428]

Please do a mash up and invite each other on each respective channel!

[@ryanwilson5782]

Call me crazy, but I actually liked the first tuning more.

[@ClaudioPulito]

That's why sound is such a personal thing :)

[@speedyyyyyyfast5951]

same i would of tuned the floor toms up a little bit i still do like that first tuning alot better

[@pinkjay1015]

Honestly same

[@BradsGonnaPlay]

i would take the snare and rack toms from the first kit and the kick and floor toms from the second. happy medium

[@pablodiazrueda9630]

Is not about what you like the most is about how you want it to sound

[@prod.by444runnr2]

“wait you guys tune your drums?” - electronic drum users

[@cagilundar]

You must be tuning your cables =)

[@michaelday6987]

We tune mesh heads for head feel and bounce.

[@RileyHarrisVFX]

Bro I just bought my first acoustic kit and I legit have no idea what the fuck I’m doing hahaha

[@JeserNoob]

Rip POG

[@robcolone8546]

If you get a decent electronic kit, yes you can tune your drums

[@I_Am_BearSquatch]

The "tuned by feel" kit sounds so good lol

[@joeday4293]

Sounds like something I'd use on a recording, but never live. They were fat as hell, though.

[@gutturals]

His snare sounded better by feel.

[@QuynhNguyen-qv9xy]

I think the tuned by feel sounds like a death/metal kit and the tuned by hearing has more tone

[@zacklanger694]

Video idea: can you make a set of Gavin Harrison splash bells?? I can’t find anything like them or the stand and they are supposedly homade and custom

[@sammyloehnis3373]

David has a video up about making some custom bells out of old cymbals, but if you know anyone who's handy with a disc-cutter, they shouldn't have any trouble with it if you mark out the radius you want them to cut out

[@jayechristian9697]

Lance campeau has actually done this a few times

[@Killenmachine05]

The original set was just bell cups cut out of broken cymbals, and then for future sets he would just have zildjian make them for him

[@anujjawahirani9780]

Check out paiste 2002 cup chimes.

[@emmanuelinfante]

creating a video about it would be awesome, good idea, hope he reads this

[@jtkennedy182]

What I thought was hilarious is the kit tuned only by feel had perfect sounding toms for me hahaha. I like my toms nice and deeply tuned. I’ll have to try your floor tom tuning method too!

[@williammills8953]

I kinda liked the low tone.

[@DrewKane]

I can imagine a scenario where this skill would be useful. You're performing at a live event. There's another act on stage, and they don't use drums. You have a technical problem that requires you to tune your drums before you play (a slashed head needs to be replaced), but banging on the drum would interrupt the other performer. So, you need to put a new head on and tune it up without making noise. There must be a dozen variations of this scenario I could think of, and I'm sure there are other situations that this skill would be useful.

[@compucat]

Yup! I'm a live audio engineer - this is absolutely a good scenario for that. My tuning game is nowhere near as good as I'd like it to be, though, so I cheat and use a DrumDial...which, effectively, is measuring head tension exactly the same way you would when tuning by feel!

[@JeserNoob]

CompuCat I don’t consider cheating. In fact that’s a great solution! This coming from someone who just tuned my kit using said device a few days ago and am still blown away that I can for once see results in my tuning progression

[@thebreakfastmenu]

As a guitarist, the most valuable thing I've learned from this video is how "zzounds" is actually supposed to be pronounced.

[@stenduginski2306]

Elvin Jones's wife tuned his drums before shows by bouncing a quarter off the heads and counting the bounces

[@halcyon3397]

This video sold me on the pearl session studio select. Thanks b0ss

[@connorcampbell144]

Rdavidr can you please put both kits together to make a big double bass kit with 4 rack Tom's 4 floor Tom's and 2 bass drums and 1 snare please. This is what we are all waiting for thanks.

[@BEElaine1008]

And why not...since you have them right there already and they are the same ..... yeah...I could like that 🥁

[@cryinbryan]

And while he’s at it, let’s hear some METAL 😍

[@blakecurtis7809]

Yesss. Bring us ripping double bass, blast beats and super tom fills.

[@loudtowncar]

Yes play us some of your old tunes from the metal band you were in!

[@the_minimalistic_adventure]

Ehhh. It wouldn't really work as a double bas kit. You have two kits with the same size toms. If you tune one tom to where it's suppose to "sit" in the tuning range and then tune the other same sized tom lower, it can start sounding a little wonky.

[@danielsimpkins9662]

I actually liked the lower tuning better. I like how deep they sound.

[@icantseeitall]

When his “not good enough” tuned kit sounds better than yours after spending hours trying to tune it😅

[@joeday4293]

Yeah, ya need yer ears, fellers.

[@MrSawlong]

i play drums for like 15 years now, i have no clue about tuning... i mean, i watched a lot videos about it and i can live with the sound of my kit. but to be honest: i love that sound of your tuned kit, without hearing. i think i will do it like this in the future xD

[@cohen2112]

Try using a tune bot. I'm not too good of a tuner myself but it takes about 15 minutes to get my kit tuned perfectly using it. They aren't that expensive either and are pretty easy to use.

[@MrSawlong]

@@cohen2112 i guess the rdavidr way without hearing isnt expensive either

[@farshimelt]

Go to Rob Brown's website. Quick, easy tuning method.

[@kevinschindele4829]

Same man. I feel like I'm always really close like I know when a set sounds like shit but I still don't think my shit is properly in tune but it's gotta be close because people say they like the sound.

[@MathijsIgnoul]

With hearing > without hearing. Tuning something without listening to it feels dumb to me ...

[@JakeStaffin]

I think both sound really cool, and though I kind of like the pitch/sound of the tuned-by-feel kit, those drums would sound so much cooler with more tone and tuning precision. Really gives some perspective!!

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I admit I tune by ear BUT afterwards I need to hear that they sound good THEN I need to hear they don’t buzz or rattle THEN I need to hear that they all sound good together THEN I consider if they suit the song &/or band. Basically, YES, I ‘tune by feel’ BUT in between the stages I’ve outlined above, there is the possibility of listening & adjusting as I go...

[@Diddi150]

I prefere the sound of the drums that you tuned without hearing.

[@patricklidstone5659]

Legend has it this is how chad channing had his drums tuned on bleach

[@JeserNoob]

He used drums? I thought they were PVC pipes with heads?

[@crazy8sdrums]

..and extra note...Those Pearl drums sure look fantastic! What a pretty wrap!

[@AlexSlavenDrums]

I think the biggest success of all this is the two rack toms, they sounds quite nice!

[@BADD400]

Great video David. I kinda of liked the floor toms with out hear. But the kits with hearings tuning sounds fabulous. Thanks for doing this video

[@martenmanna]

I like my kick batter tighter, my snare wires cranked, and low toms, so I actually really loved the "tuned-by-feel" kit hahaha

[@pollinirr]

application for "tuning drums without hearing": I was at a gig working in FOH and the drums from the backline were dusty (yes, in a theater a backline company sent us a drum that was storage for months). The schedule was tight and delayed, so I had to tune the drums while the other band was in soundcheck. A pretty useful technique for tuning drums fast and without hearing.

[@robclem8407]

Minimal Sound Tuning can be beneficial when you blow a head during a live gig and need to replace and tune the drum in the dressing room without driving everyone nuts. In these situations I use a Tama Tension Watch. You can get it pretty close by feel and using the Tension Watch.

[@Chudhole]

Ha my kit is tuned like the no ear first one. I love it. It always sounds cool on jam recordings.

[@Radwalls]

IMO the 'without hearing' kinda makes it sound like you give less of a crap, which kinda adds to the badass aspect. It also has more sustain and works over the song better. With the 'with hearing' it's more mid centered as opposed to 'low centered' without hearing. Also, the without hearing definitely makes you change your playing to make sure that low tom is heard! Great video, RDAVID!!!!

[@Skeleton_Dork]

The one tuned without hearing actaully reminds me of MTPowerdrumkit, especially the floor toms, super slappy and flat

[@FranksPercussion]

The kit tuned by feel sounds like every guitar center kit ive ever played on lol

[@gregchapman3519]

Man those new Pearl Session kits fucking smoke. Tuned or untuned correctly. Great job!

[@rddsknk89]

Wow, it's awesome to see you have a sponser like this! I remember when you only had 8,000 subs. Your channel has come a long way!

[@ronmyers2317]

And a word on a snare drum. I was taught as far as snare tension that if you tap the drum head very lightly with the stick and you don't hear the snares then they are too tight. You should be able to hear the snares at any volume even the lightest.

[@AtTheSourceStudios]

Damn. Best drum sound you've gotten. Keep these drums mang

[@DavidLopes4]

You should try out heartbeat/istanbul cymbals

[@ronmyers2317]

When I was in school in the class for tuning, my instructor said that the only bad drum sound is one that you don't like. Maybe it is all a matter of personal preference? But as far as your drums go, I really can't hear a difference enough in the two different examples. I think they all sound great as your drums always do. I used to tune by ear until I bought a drum dial and I figured I couldn't go wrong with it as it came with a piece of paper recommending the tension 4 many different types of drum heads. So I guess I put all my faith in my drum dial these days. And I agree with tuning my resonant head lower then my batter side. And by the way that is a sweet finish on those drums. Love the ice blue

[@ronmyers2317]

Correct. Resonant head higher not lower

[@TK-eg6vp]

Pretty drumset. Digging that color

[@The_asdfghjkl]

Sounds better than my kit. ( can't tune to save my life.)

[@davidsuprenant893]

A great drum kit at a very affordable price,I must say.!!!

[@IoneiTheBand]

tuned by feel Kit still absolutely slaps. Those toms are dope.

[@mk_rexx]

The demo sounds awesome because of the switching between the lower and the higher tuned kits

[@RyanAlexanderBloom]

Snare with hearing was dramatically better. Almost like hearing yourself tune is important! Weird.

[@gosgood1973]

Hey man if you can get zzounds to send you kits all the time more power to you do that s*** everyday! I'm sure you have to return them though right?

[@crazy8sdrums]

Tuning drums is a skill that needs to be developed. It takes time and patience and practice. Lots of practice. It is totally possible to tune your drums by feel if your drums are in perfect working order and the lugs are lubricated and built with quality....and the bearing edges are properly made and with new or nearly new condition drumheads.

[@ThatMattGoodMusic]

I preferred the rack toms on the without hearing kit as I like lower rack toms, but everything else had a much nicer tone after tuning by ear. Nice vid! Looking forward to the tuning tutorial because I'm still not hugely sure and I love the sound you get out of kits!

[@TheCymbalProject]

That is one sexy looking wrap.

[@Christopher_Wheeler]

dRuMs NeEd TuNiNg?!

[@ZeBubba]

Closed mic'd those way low "without hearing" ft's sounded quite cool actually, I'd bring them up just a bit tho. Because that kind of tuning will not project at all into the room. Cool test!

[@Jcurtisjr1506]

That finish is just stunning and love the “tuned by ear” kit! That’s just lovely! :-D

[@willspeck7796]

Quick question I’ve had my drum set for about 2 years now and it’s a pearl sound check my snare has a lot of ringing overtones and I thought it was my heads because when it has an o ring on it sounds like some snares without any muffling I got new heads and snares a wile back I used your recommendation with the ambassador snare side and I got a controlled sound coated and i watched a lot of videos on how to tune a snare it is pretty much tuned like yours are but it’s still rings a little bit with the o ring so to get the sound I want I have my keys 2 wallets and my phone on there and it sounds big and fat is it just my snare or my tuning process

[@walthammond6816]

How do you find room on the snare head to play it?

[@rsrexkwondo2326]

I freaking love the snare sound of the feel-tuned kit.

[@CBRansom35]

Had to change heads in between sets a couple times over the years in very loud environment. You develop a knack for feel tuning. I had no doubt you'd nail it. You are a very seasoned professional! I still hate Pearl hardware, but their shells are top shelf and sound good most any way you tune them.

[@user-ux2fg8dl2w]

I think a good idea for a video is a full tutorial on mixing a drum set, including where to place the mics, wiring, mixing and getting the recordings to a laptop.

[@Gretsch0997]

There’s many videos on that already out there. Rad’ does outside of the norm videos.

[@vimitea5945]

i personally like the 10" and 12" toms and the snare more when u tuned it without hearing. :)

[@jorgefajardo5844]

Look at Rob Browm "tune your toms quick & easy " he uses very little hearing.

[@thunderfan77]

I've used Rob Brown's tuning method for years and it's by bar the quickest, most reliable, best sounding tuning I've ever used.

[@jakegreene4313]

It. Just. Works man

[@ronaldbritton9705]

I use Rob browse method as well as a start point and then put my final tweaks on it. But by and large Rob Brown's method is awesome and quick.

[@claystaggs8908]

Rob Brown here too quick and easy and it always gets me where I wanna be

[@jamesvandread6695]

I didn't know how to tune till I saw rob browns stuff now I do his and a couple little tweeks of my own for the snare

[@MatthewFant]

Have this kit in the red color. Love it. Awesome 🤘

[@zachnoe4503]

If we heard the without hearing tuning with no mics then it’d be easier to tell how they sound

[@bjorn_joseph]

The deaf ones reminded me of Ringo on Abbey road, but without being completely choked lol

[@marcus_mayhem]

I tune by feel and sight. I will retune by ear or if I can't hear, I do it by sight and pressure on the head.

[@jimflys2]

Cool. I actually like the deaf tuned snare better. The drums ear tuned are more cohesive and clear.

[@xTensex]

Am I crazy for preferring those “unheard “ rack TOMS ?

[@UPdan]

Very nice looking set.

[@Dmoney2times51]

I suck at tuning toms

[@Brainwave000]

Drummers HELP ME! Ive recently joined a Beatles tribute band as a drummer, however up until now my entire musical career has been as a guitarist, althought I can play drums, I know very little about them. What is a reasonably priced snare drum I should be looking at to achieve that Ringo sound? Any other tips/advice appreciated too! (early Beatles sound 1963-1966)

[@garagestudios1143]

But... you tuned by ear?? I’n the video it shows you tuning your rack toms by ear and then said it wasn’t? Maybe I’m just confused or dumb or something but yeah dosent add up for me

[@IHitCirqle]

where do you get your play-along tracks? or do you make them yourself?

[@JerridFoiles]

Do a video on the Drumdial. I use it and tune easily. There are some people that criticize it by calling it a superficial way, but if you use the John Good method in tandem, you can get the drums in tune with themselves, then note the Drumdial number for each one, and you're good to go.

[@jacobsingson12_]

I actually did use to tune my floor toms "by feel as well", mainly the batter heads. I would tune the reso normally but then tune the batter just a smidge above finger tight, and some cases didn't even use a key. You could even see the wrinkles still and sometimes the tension rods would loosen themselves as I played. However, I did get better eventually and learned to listen to the tone and feel of the batter head as well. Great vid and experiment!

[@MrBrombomb]

I noticed that the snare drum has an under head dampener. I love these because you can get a more precise adjustment of the dampening without over dampening. By the way, which model of snare is this from Pearl?

[@300Foxes]

When the music started: Me: David doesn't always put the title of the track that he is playing to up on the screen, that's cool... This track is called: "Without Hearing"... Oh crap... Wait a minute. 😄

[@kensamek6049]

I use Pearl Masters Studio BRX kit in Vintage Sunburst. I have been playing drums for 40 years. I have had great success tuning my drums using a pair of hearing protection headphones 🎧. It really works great. They eliminate the overtones while and give you kind of a gated eq sound while tuning. You should try it and post a video trying it out and see how it works out for you.

[@itsn0g00d]

Been with Sounds Like a Drum since the get-go... any chances of a collab? Ben and Cody are great guys and true experimenters... I think there's a common thread...

[@Don_of_the_Dad]

Heads up to the broke folk in the comments: but zzouunds. If you do a few rounds of their 3 months payment plans, they’ll let you do 12 months, with a $3,000 limit no credit needed. Every year I choose another pat of my home studio to beef up

[@jakegreene4313]

Check out Rob Beatdown Browns videos for tuning. It is So simple but so stinking effective

[@eddygaspar6842]

The tuning without hearing is how I tune my kit😂