After two hours of work and a drum kit that still sounds sub-par, I need some help. It's pathetic that I've been playing them for two years and never been officially sat down and shown how to do this, I finally can't take it anymore. I'll probably have nightmares tonight with out-of-tune drums ringing all around me, barooooooomph, barooooooooomph.

(Edited by deevol at 10:39 pm on Nov. 20, 2002)

It's not too hard, just take them one at a time. You just have to make all the lugs the same tightness. Tap near each one and make them all ring with the same tone. As far as the whole sound of the drum goes, if the lower head is tighter than the top head, the drums will ring less. This is because the sound waves that bounce back faster cancel out the incoming waves -- or something like that. Oh you can also see sometimes where the problem is if you can see the reflection of a light in the head. You can see the ripples where one lug isn't tight enough. But don't use that as your final decision to what's out of tune. Just use it as a guide and use your ear.