Tuning an 18" floor tom

[Gaddabout]

Was wondering if any of you have some strong opinions on tuning an 18x16 floor tom. I've been working with a kid who has a REALLY nice custom maple kit, teaching him some tuning techniques and letting him develop his own opinion on the sound he prefers.

The only challenge has been finding a happy spot for his 18" floor tom. He's tried just about every combination of heads, but it's just unwieldy. He got a really good sound in the studio with a two-ply coated head and the reso head tuned up a bit high, but it's not a great live sound and his expectations are for it to be a bit meaner on the low end.

Thoughts? Considerations? Suggestions?

[Old Pit Guy]

I never liked tuning 18" toms. A guy on another forum was happy with the Aquarian Super II with the Studio-X ring head. Here -

http://www.aquariandrumheads.com/produc ... r-2-series

I've ever tried them. As far as tuning, I would bring the bottom up just a hair higher than the top or dead even w/the top. I also used to cut holes in 18" floors and stick the mic up through the hole like a BD using a little desk mic stand.

[Gaddabout]

Thanks for the suggestion. Cutting the reso head out and mic'ing is an interesting suggestion. We'll have to experiment with that one.

[Old Pit Guy]

I liked the results, and so did the FOH guy. I used a soup can as a template to razor cut it, and the hole was roughly 2" - 3" in from the edge of the bottom head. The reso is a bit dead, so I tuned it halfheartedly. Also applied some duct tape around the hole to prevent splitting. The top third of an SM 57 angled straight up on the small stand slipped right into the hole. BOOM.

[Matus]

Quick tip on the soup can: you can avoid the razor if you heat it on an electric heating plate or something like that until it's able to burn through the head.

About the tuning, I don't like 18"s but for it to work fine you'd have to either go for it and tune it low or use it on the medium side. Either way it's kind of a loss in my experience because if it's low it won't have any recognisable tone to it and if you crank it you'll lose that low end.

[funkydrummer]

Quick tip on the soup can: you can avoid the razor if you heat it on an electric heating plate or something like that until it's able to burn through the head.

About the tuning, I don't like 18"s but for it to work fine you'd have to either go for it and tune it low or use it on the medium side. Either way it's kind of a loss in my experience because if it's low it won't have any recognisable tone to it and if you crank it you'll lose that low end.

The soup can method is legit! I've done that before with kick drum reso heads, and it works like a charm.

[Matus]

Read it on Modern Drummer like 10 or 15 years ago and always worked wonders! I use the Remo Dynamo now, but for everything else it's a quick, clean and effective method

[Old Pit Guy]

I'm an old fart - I'm talking '80s. Someone always had a razor blade, and I used a bar glass for a template the first time.

I like the cauterizing effect of the hot plate though.

[Josiah]

the kickport 'tomport' make quite a difference. least it did on my 18. didnt try it on the other toms. eliminated some of the issues matus mentions, which i agree with. particularly live they get muddy really easy. i just tune it like any other large tom, its bigger so it likes to growl more, a little moongel helps a lot as well.

[Rhythmatist]

Get one of those DW cradles, turn it on its side and put a pedal on it...anything larger than 16" is a bass drum IMO.