Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

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Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby Lee » Wed Jan 09, 2013 12:02 am

http://drumdial.com/

Just wanted to see how many people use these and what the thoughts are on wether they are useful. How many drummers here even have one?
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby The Tasmanian » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:50 am

I just got one a few months ago Lee.
The reason I did was so that when a drummer starts a session, and we get the kit all tuned nice, I want to know where the tuning was, especially when new skins are put on the kit and they change during the session.
Also - I get to know more about tuning particular drums in the process.
Its amazing how many drummers are not great at tuning too.
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby Kurt » Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:45 am

I actually want to get one for live sound. I think it would be a great way to fix tuning issues quickly. As said above, many drummers are rubbish drum tuners...
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby ChrisW » Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:58 am

I can't see a reason to not own a relatively cheap aid.
I never use one, and prefer the ear myself.
Some of the best drum sounds are made from uneven tensionings. Although I admit, for years I would turn up to a session at least an hour and a half early and spend most of that time tuning and retuning my drums.
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby Wiz » Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:28 am

I got one, I use it.. it really helped me learn(ing) to tune drums.

I realised I was being way too ham fisted.

I would recommend one, put it this way, it aint gonna make anything worse, and can be extremely handy...
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby Alistair » Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:39 am

I bought my brother (drummer) one about 6 months and I don't think he ever even opened the box!
Might steal it off him and see if he notices.
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby M A Taylor » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:43 pm

I have one and have done for a couple of years, I love it... I use it regularly, once you get the hang of it it's a great aid... I use it as "get everything under control" kinda thing and then work out the pitch from there..

I will say this though, it's not quick.. And it's only really effective on fresh skins..
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby Kurt » Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:30 pm

Just ordered one, at less than $75 delivered you can't go wrong!
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby ChrisW » Thu Jan 10, 2013 8:38 am

M A Taylor wrote:And it's only really effective on fresh skins..



Heads! :p
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby Wiz » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:49 am

Calf skin head... =))

Now thats a good name for a punk band
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby Junction » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:56 pm

I am not convinced, I have a Tama Tension Watch and its an incredibly slow process, compared to when I was using a Torque Drum Key, which got me there in a fraction of the time, until the drummer I stole the key from, stole it back.

link to a torque key
http://www.gallinsmps.com.au/drums/drums-brands/drums-evans/evans-torque-drum-key.html

... oh and the torque key you can use without having to demount the drum, the dial, you need the head to be horizontal with dial on top (not underneath), a real pain having to pull every drum from your kit to get to the resonant head and of course the kick!
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby Lee » Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:01 pm

The Tasmanian wrote:I just got one a few months ago Lee.
The reason I did was so that when a drummer starts a session, and we get the kit all tuned nice, I want to know where the tuning was, especially when new skins are put on the kit and they change during the session.
Also - I get to know more about tuning particular drums in the process.
Its amazing how many drummers are not great at tuning too.


That Is such a great idea for tracking, which makes me wonder why I have never seen one in any studio/session I've been to. Will you be using one on your under water session?
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby The Tasmanian » Sun Jan 13, 2013 11:06 pm

yes certainly using it for this gig - as the kit being submerged,it changes the tuning because of the (large) pressure changes, so I need to come back to roughly the same tuning during each rehearsal "dunk" / and the final gig.
I was just using the drum dial a few minutes ago - I like it,its well built, and for the first time in my life I think I can finally write down some basic (approx) tuning notes for drums on a session.
It has been a handy tool to get a understanding of the tension relationship between front and back skins too.
Still......amazing drum tuning really is a black art.
Ive witnessed many great drummers, (who pull really great tones) when Ive asked them to tune the snare (or anything) a touch, and they will tune 1,2 or 3 lugs and suddenly it sounds incredible - no reference to finicky pressure,or tapping each lug to check each overtone, or making sure that they apply the same turn on the other lugs, to keep them the same...
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Re: Drum dial. Should every studio have one?

Postby mylesgm » Mon Jan 14, 2013 5:07 am

The Tasmanian wrote:Ive witnessed many great drummers, (who pull really great tones) when Ive asked them to tune the snare (or anything) a touch, and they will tune 1,2 or 3 lugs and suddenly it sounds incredible - no reference to finicky pressure,or tapping each lug to check each overtone, or making sure that they apply the same turn on the other lugs, to keep them the same...


agree.
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