Drum Tuning Frequency Chart
Target fundamental frequency (Hz) for each drum · play the tone and tune your head to match
How to play
- Pick a drum. The big number is the drum’s target fundamental frequency in hertz — the pitch the drum “sings” when you strike it. The bar shows where it sits in the drum range (40–350 Hz).
- Play target tone sounds a clean sine wave at that frequency. Strike your drum and raise/lower every lug evenly until the drum’s ring matches the tone.
- Fine tuner — drag the slider to sweep a second tone (40–350 Hz). The readout shows the frequency and how far it is from the target in hertz and cents; it turns green when you’re within a few cents.
- Each drum lists a typical batter (top) and resonant (bottom) head frequency. Bigger shells & looser heads = lower Hz; smaller shells & tighter heads = higher Hz.
- These are useful starting points, not laws — genre, shell and taste all shift them. Trust your ears. Vol sets volume.
This is a drum tuning frequency chart widget. This is an online tool that allow you to tune all of the drums in your set using this widget’s frequency chart as a guide. Simply click on name of the drum and listen to a target tone, or turn the fine tuner until you’re hearing a similar sound from your drum.
To begin with, choose a drum using row of buttons at the top. These each corresponds to a popular drum size, for example a 14 inch snare or a 22 inch bass drum. When you click on one of these buttons it will highlight that button and load associated frequency data.
How to Use the Drum Tuning Tool
Below it you’ll see a large number. This indicates the targeted base pitch in hertz. It’s the pitch the drum would sound like if it were hit. You can also see visually how high or low this pitch is in relation to full low frequency range.
The play target tone button provides a clean reference sound that matches fundamental frequency of the chosen drum. Play it and then hit your drum to see how they matches up. Evenly tune your drum heads until the ring match the tone.
The play my tone button let you hear what’s going on with the fine tuner slider so that you know whether or not your manual tuning is close to the target. To match your hearing, sweep through frequencies using the fine tuner slider. When you’ve heard the pitch closest to your drum, drag the slider across until it line up. You’ll see current frequency and the number of cents off from the target on the readout.
Once you’re close enough, text will turn green indicating your alignment is within a very tight range of the target pitch. This visual indication allow for exact fine tuning without need for other tools.
There are also notes on each drum regarding type of head used, a resonant head and a batter head. The batter head is the one at top which you hit with your sticks or hands. The other, the resonant head, is the bottom head and it influence the tone and sustain. These are approximate frequency ranges the widget suggests per head type. Use them to begin experimenting yourself with what works best for you.
The reference tone is used for tuning and can be adjusted in loudness via the volume control. Set it to whatever is comfortabley so that you don’t have to strain your ears as you tune.
The help panel is a brief reminder about what each feature do. Click to open or collapse it. The Fullscreen button expands the widget to full screen. Use this if you’re working on a device with little space and want more room to play around with the controls.
Using the chart, try tuning some of your other drums in the kit. Listen to how a floor tom sounds compared too a bass drum. Find the exact pitch you like by using the fine tuner.
Remember that the numbers is there as a guide for your creativity. It’s all about letting your ears take over. Begin playing and making adjustments until you have a sound that works for you.