Cntd. from Snarewire:
Quote:
SNARE TUNING
14x8 maple Designer.
When I got the drum, it was tuned quite a bit higher than I like, and while it sounded great, I have been chasing the tuning downward.
Snare head about 88, reso 82 (DrumDial).
First dropping the reso, and then the batter, step by step, until now I have:
Snare 85, reso 75
I would like to keep the batter fairly tight for speed, but don't want the reso to go all mushy. So here is the thing: As purchased with high tuning, there was enormous variation between direct center hit and off center hit. Lots of ring and life off-center, no ring on-center but with great depth (read balls).
As I tune downward, the variation is becoming less and the depth in center is becoming less. Can anyone explain why, or make a suggestion?
Thanks.
SonorMike said...
Greg, I can think of two reasons for this.
1) At higher tunings, there is more difference in the tension near the edge than in the center of the drum. At lower tunings the tension is more uniform across then entire diameter of the head.
2) As you've tuned down, the tensions of the batter and reso are further apart. At the higher tuning, they were tuned just 6 points apart, while they're now 10 points apart.
Anyway, just a couple thoughts I had.
MARCH 5, 2010 5:04 AM
1) It is very difficult to tell whether the center to edge differential becomes greater. What I thought I had noticed, and I've checked again since we started this conversation, is that in general, the tension in the center is about 1 point (DrumDial) of deflection greater than at the edges at all tunings I've tested, between 70 and 90.
I don't know if deflection differential and pitch differential are the same, although my sense is that they are. Even so, single step changes at low tunings sound greater to our ears than the same step at high tunings. A walk along the piano keyboard will affirm that.
After this point in the discussion, the drum head becomes a thing so complex that I'm unwilling even to try making guesses. A drumhead is like a single wire, and even that single strand is a complex item. A very different timbre is produced by plucking the ends of the wire rather than the middle, but the note stays the same. Not so with the drum head, which is a little confusing... A drum head does not just have two attachment points pullng equally across the head, but has multiple points (lugs) pulling unequally, and then a hoop that is supposed to even out the influences.
What a mess! And then there's the air column, which is another wave length generator, and then the fact that there's another head doing its own thing at the other end of the column, and affecting the air column flow which then affects the top head, etc. Add the snare wires to the mix and... well, I'm going to take up the berimbau.
.......................................................................................And look. There's a little basket to keep coins.
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