Anyone else have trouble tuning their floor tom?

[henry_bellfry]

I'm fairly new to drumming. I think I'm fairly competant at tuning my mounted toms (12 and 13) but I can never get the right sound out of my floor tom. Granted, my set isn't the greatest (Tama Swingstar) but it's so hard for me to tune the floor tom; perhaps it's more difficult for me to hear the lower frequencies. I've viewed all the youtube videos on tom tuning but I still can't get it. Any tips?

[KenSanders]

What are you currently doing when tuning the floor tom?

What is the size of the drum?

What specific heads do you have on the drum?

What musical style do you want to play with your drum set?

[GunnarWaage]

one question?

Are you in any case using two drums that have the same diameter, meaning; For examble if you have a piccolo snare drum like 4x14 and a mounted tom 8x10 those two add up to 18 inches. Then those two can together with the overall kit sound be very problematic.

Check this out if there are two drums that have that relationship in the kit. If so, you can tune them to the same pitch like a small tom and a snare drum, or tune a couple of drums that are very close to one another in size to a chord.

Of course the easyest way to find out wheather this is the case is to check the drums away from the kit even in another room. The kit-noice may very well be another drum which appears to be sounding fine.

This problem generally occurs when I use a large kit with three toms.

Hope this theory doesn't make you nuts:) and mabey your problem is of another nature. It may be a faulty bearing edge on the floor tom, check that as well.

either way you will find the solution in the end,,,,

[KenSanders]

Henry,
Hope the replies helped you with your floor tom problems

[Tomm]

There was a time that I was not happy with my floor tom sound.  It seemed that no matter what tension I set it at, it just wasn't what I was looking for.  That was before my son sat in on the drums during a gig, which was when I realized the sound I was looking for was being heard in front of the drums and not on top of the drum as I was striking it.  This may not resolve your problem, but when ever I tune my kit, I like to hear someone else play on it as I listen out front and decide on any adjustments.  For me, this is easy to do because my family has no shortage of drummers to help out.

[KenSanders]

That's great advice for everyone to consider!