The unknown drum set. Part 4

As a tuner faced with a set of drums who’s got an unruly shell, you have to commit a little crime.

You have to compromise.

No other way.

That medium tom will not have the same controlled decay as the rest the kit: very well, the rest of the kit will have to compromise and get a dryer sound. That’s right. Just to accommodate the middle tom.

The crime is in the compromise.

Because if you didn’t have to compromise, the drum kit would sound gorgeous. It would have its own beautiful distinct tone. It would be pushing as one instrument and one instrument only in the music.

But, unfortunately, you have to compromise. Again, no exception.

Which brings the whole sound of the kit down. Not by much. If you are a good tuner, people will never even notice the difference. They usually are amazed that their drum kit belong to the same family. They didn’t see that possible before you came in. But the true sound of most of the kit will have to degrade a bit.

And that’s too bad.

Because it means that in all my years of tuning and all the kit I have tuned, I have never achieve that impossible goal: to hear one drum kit make sense. Just one.

Oh, I know there is an explanation, a very reasonable explanation for this situation. Once you know, it all makes sense.

Let’s to the next blog for the explanation.