Drum Tuning
Everything published on Viyolens under Drum Tuning — reviews, buying advice and how-tos written for players and producers in the UK.
Bass Drum Explained: Features, Types and Tips
One name, several genuinely different instruments: what a bass drum actually is, its main types, and what's going on inside the shell.
Snare Drum Head for Beginners: A Complete Guide
A snare drum head determines your drum's tone and how it responds to your playing. Here's how to choose, install, and maintain your first snare drum head.
Common Rack Toms Mistakes to Avoid
Most problems with rack toms come down to the same handful of mistakes: over-dampening, one-sided tuning, and size choices that prioritise looks over sound.
Common Kick Drum Mistakes to Avoid
Most kick drum problems come from the same predictable mistakes. Here's the honest list and how to fix every one of them.
Snare Drum Snares Explained: Features, Types and Tips
Take the wires off a snare drum and you've got an ordinary tom. Here's what those wires actually do, and how to get them working for you.
Drum Key Explained: Features, Types and Tips
A drum key is the one tool every drummer needs but rarely thinks about — here is a plain-spoken breakdown of what it does, the types available, and how to get the most out of it.
Snare for Beginners: A Complete Guide
No wiring, no software, just a shell, two heads and a set of wires. Here's the honest, no-nonsense version of what a beginner actually needs to know.
A Guide to Rack Toms
Rack toms are the core voice of fills and transitions in a drum kit — understanding their construction, mounting and tuning makes a real difference to how they sound.
Snare Head for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Replacing and tuning a snare head is simpler than most drummers think. Learn the straightforward process, avoid common beginner pitfalls, and build confidence with this essential drumming skill.
Common Congas Mistakes to Avoid
Congas are mechanically simple, which is exactly why small errors get away with themselves for so long before someone notices.
Common Tom Drum Mistakes to Avoid
From over-damping to ignoring the resonant head, here are the tom drum mistakes a sound engineer hears most often, and how to fix each one.
Rack Toms for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Learning how rack toms work — from tuning to positioning — is one of the most practical steps a new drummer can take towards getting a better sound out of any kit.
Floor Tom Explained: Features, Types and Tips
The floor tom anchors the low end of the drum kit's tom range. Understanding its construction, head choices and tuning helps you get the most from it.
The Ultimate Guide to Drum Heads
Drum heads shape every aspect of a kit's sound. This guide covers how they are built, what the variables mean in practice, and how to make sense of the options across snare, toms and bass drum.
Drum Heads for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Drum heads are one of the most important — and most replaceable — parts of a drum kit. This beginner's guide explains exactly what to look for and how to get started without getting lost in the jargon...
Tom Drum Explained: Features, Types and Tips
Rack toms, floor toms, concert toms and more — here's what a tom drum is built from, what changes its sound, and a few honest tuning basics.
Drum Hangers and Tom Mounts: A Complete Guide
Hardware is the part of a drum kit nobody photographs — invisible in the finished sound, until it is not, at which point it is the only thing anyone can hear.
Common Bass Drum Mistakes to Avoid
From tuning in isolation to a flat, over-muffled sound: the recurring bass drum mistakes that are easy to fix once you know to look for them.
Common Snare Drum Snares Mistakes to Avoid
A genuinely simple mechanism that punishes small mistakes disproportionately — here's what most often goes wrong, and why it happens.
Snare Drum Snares for Beginners: A Complete Guide
Most players get quite a way into drumming before they understand what's happening underneath the snare drum. Here's the friendly, no-assumptions version.
The Ultimate Guide to Snare Side Drum Head
The snare drum head underneath your snare is as important as the one you strike. This guide explains the three main thicknesses—2-mil, 3-mil and 5-mil—how to tune a snare drum head properly, and when...
Drum Key for Beginners: A Complete Guide
If you are new to drums, the drum key is the first tool you'll meet and the one you're most likely to lose — here is everything you need to know to get started on the right foot.
Pearl Tom Toms for Beginners: A Complete Guide
No jargon panic, no rushing — a calm, encouraging introduction to Pearl tom toms for anyone just starting out.
Common Timbales Mistakes to Avoid
Most timbales problems aren't really about the timbales themselves. Here's what I see most often, and exactly how to fix each one.
Drum Tuning is filed under
All topics
Bass Drum
Shop bass drum options for deep low-end punch, custom kit building and reliable acoustic performance.
2 topics
Congas
Congas bring hand-played rhythm, warmth and projection to Latin, pop and educational settings, with options for every le...
2 topics
Drum Heads
Shop drum heads to refresh tone, improve response and keep acoustic or electronic kits performing at their best.
Drum Key
A drum key is the essential tuning tool for tightening tension rods, changing heads and making quick kit adjustments.
Kick Drum
Kick drums provide the low-end pulse of the kit, with sizes and tuning options suited to everything from jazz to rock.
1 topic
Snare
Snare drums deliver the sharp backbeat, articulation and versatility that define most drum kit setups.
3 topics
Timbales
Explore timbales for bright Latin percussion tones, sharp articulation and expressive rhythmic playing.
Tom Drum
Shop tom drum options to replace, expand or fine-tune the voice of your acoustic kit.
