Drum Sound and Drum Tuning: Bridging Science and Creativity from Focal Press 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.
- 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
- 13.1 Microphones and Transducers
- 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
- 17.1 Equalisation and Spectral Processing
- Index