What follows is intentionally brief for those who do not want to wade through the longer text.  However, the longer version does include many more insights that may aid you in your decisions.

Fundamentals:

• Batter Head: The batter head controls the feel of the hit, initial pitch, the sound of the stick slap and the initial element of the drum sound or overtones. When the drum is hit, the ear hears mostly the attack and the fundamental pitch of the drum. Overtones emitted by the batter head are washed out at a distance, but aid in the overall projection.
• Resonant Head: Often underestimated for its contribution to the tone, it is mostly responsible for the pitch, lingering tone and pitch of that created as a result of striking the batter head and resonance of the shell. The resonant head produces “resonance” and aids in sustain, it has a major effect in the overtones and enhances the timbre of the drum. Generally you do not use anything other than single ply on the bottom, but there are exceptions.
• Tuning: As you tune the drum with one of either the batter head or resonant head higher or lower in tension and pitch, you go through “zones” producing one of clear pitch, phase cancellation (no life) or a “Doppler” sort of effect where the drum descends in pitch, also referred to as “pitch bend”. This becomes more pronounced when the resonant head is of a higher pitch than the batter.
• Seating: Things are changing in the manufacturing of heads. When the head is first mounted, the objective is to get the head to seat itself. Seating the head is where you create that all-important bond between the bearing edge of the drum and the film and cause the head collar to become tight to the hoop. Seating is often also referred to as putting more that normal tension on the head. This seating process, whereby you put the head under heavy tension to form it to the bearing edge is not required to get a good tuning. However, the pre-stretch that occurs during the high tension event can aid in minimizing the need to tune back up to pitch more often. Moreover, if your bearing edges are good and sharp, less tension may be required. If the head is pulled tight on side it may fail to be centered on the drum and its ability to produce an even harmonic tone may be inhibited. Uneven tensioning can limit the ability to tune a head to its lowest potential note.
• Heads:
  • Coated heads will be warmer and minimize high frequency tones. The stick slap has a very bright element to it, much like sandpaper rubbing together, but the main element is darker in tone. Coated is probably required if doing brushwork.
  • Clear heads are bright with overtones, the stick slap does not have bright sandpaper like characteristics as found on coated heads, but the overall presence of the slap is very bright in the upper register and carries through the mix very well.
  • Ebony is in between the coated and walks that balance of properties between coated and clear and the stick slap does not have bright sandpaper like characteristics as found on coated heads. It produces a less of a high frequency overtone resonance (“darker” tone).
  • 2-ply: These aid in durability and can also limit high pitched overtones. Often referred to as “muted” in tone, when they do not have a control ring adhered to them do produce lingering resonance and bright overtones the higher they are tuned. These come in multiple film weights depending upon the manufacturer.
  • Snare Side Heads are specifically designed to be thinner and should be the only style head used on the snare side of the snare drum. Thin heads enhance sensitivity and are brighter whereas thick heads are exactly opposite. The most common weight is a 300 weight.
• Drum Size: Shell diameter is more responsible for pitch than any other element. Depth is responsible for the duration of the note and aids in resonance. Shell thickness when thin, adds tone, body and resonance. When thick aids in projection and detracts from resonance.
• Timbre vs. Pitch: Timbre and note/pitch are not the same. Timbre refers to the overall character of the drum vs. the fundamental note, which is the point at which the drum is likely to be most "open" or "resonant" in tone quality. Know that pitch can be raised or lowered in reference to say a note on the piano. The length of shell resonance doesn’t really change, whereas the pitch of the shell resonance will change as a reflection of the overall pitch. So a 12” drum may produce a note of G up to say a D-sharp (“pitch”), but it may really stand out around an A-flat (“fundamental” note of shell). The fact that one drum is “brighter” vs. “warm” is the Timbre.
• Bearing Edges: Sharp 45° bearing edges will produce lingering sustain and bright overtones. Bearing edges of 30° are slightly more controlled in tone, have a bit less problem with high-pitched ring. Rounded edges produce a muted tone.
• Shells: The rougher the interior, the less resonant the drum. With thick shells, the heads are more responsible for tone. Each shell can have a fundamental frequency. Thinner shells exhibit this more than thick. Detailed tuning or thumping on the shell and matching the note to a known scale allows you to find that “fundamental” shell pitch and enhance or detract all the inherent sounds of that particular drum character. However, this concept is forgiving and the pitch of the head does not have to match the shell pitch note. Thinner shells are more resonant so with thin shells, tuning to the shell pitch note does make a drum most resonant. A sharp bearing edge means more high overtone and resonance (i.e. 45° vs. 30° or rounded). If the drum is void of obstructions inside, like no reinforcing hoop, the drum will be more open and vibrate more freely. With a reinforcing hoop it will have a shorter decay/sustain and a more mid-ranged presence or attack than unobstructed shells.
• Wood: The best way to relate to the sound of wood is through comparing it to another. Maple compared to African mahogany (not Philippine mahogany); Mahogany will have an approximate 20% increase in low frequency resonance over the Maple drum. The mid and high frequencies will be about the same. Maple compared to birch; Birch will have about a 10% loss in reproduction of low end and about a 20% increase in the high end, with the mid range remaining about the same. Birch will be a “harder/brighter” sounding kit. Beech is in between Maple and Birch. Several filer woods are also used, such as basswood, Philippine mahogany, poplar, etc.  These are to lessen cost and typically drums made of these woods lean more towards the tone of Birch of Beech than Maple or US/African mahogany.

Tuning

This procedure works on all drums, toms, snare and kick. In the following, the normal top head is referred to as the “batter” whereas the normal bottom is referred to as “resonant”):

1.          Remove both old heads, inspect the drum, thump it and eliminate rattles and buzzes.

2.          Set the drum on an absorbent surface, such as carpet or blanket.

3.          With batter side down, resonant side facing up put the resonant head on.

4.          Tighten all lugs just to the point where contact is made with the washer or rim. Once contact is made with the washer/rim, back-off 1/4 turn.

5.          Using two keys 180 degrees apart (or in the case of an odd number of lugs use 1 key in a star type pattern), tighten in half turn increments together until you've put 2 complete turns on all rods of the drum. The musical note is not important.

6.          Lift the drum up a few inches, hit the head once and see if it is a distortion free sound. If not give each lug another 1/4 of one full turn. Repeat until the drum is distortion free. Do not be afraid to really tighten the head above a normal playing pitch, it is essential that the head produce a clear undistorted tone before proceeding.

7.          Place the drum back down on the carpet with the side you are tuning facing up.

8.          Tap with the drum key, lightly and with even force about 1.5” (40mm) from the edge. ALWAYS tap with equal force and in the same place at each lug. LISTEN to an element of resonance of the tap. There will be several tones. You need to focus on one element or frequency band heard. Remember, even force at an identical distance from the lug. Now adjust each lug so the pitch of the resonance is identical. The order is not very important here. DO NOT EVER TUNE DOWN TO A NOTE, TUNE UP. If a lug is too high detune below what you are trying to achieve and then bring it back up to pitch.

9.          To make sure the head is seated or crack the glue joint in the case of heads with glued collars, push down with light force making about a 1/2” (14mm) depression directly in the center of the head. 

10.       With the drum off the floor or on its stand/mount we need to detention the head just to the point of no resonance and where the head buzzes. Loosen as you tightened with 1 or 2 keys in ¼ (90°) turn increments hitting the head between each turn of a lug. Now put 1/8^th of a full turn on each and every lug and hit the head once between each hit until you get a distortion free and clear tone.

11.       Now as in Step 8, even out each lug so they are all the same pitch.

12.       Turn the drum over and place the batter side on and place the drum batter side up on a carpet or absorbent surface.

Repeat the above Steps 4-11 on the batter side using the head of your choice. Once complete, proceed to the section Fine Tuning below.

Fine Tuning

Here’s where you dial the drum in. Note: If you have the time let the drum sit a few hours to overnight to stabilize the head. This is not a requirement by any means, but will help in some cases and make the tuning process easier.

1.          Working with the resonant side facing you, place the drum up on its stand or hold by the rim. Hit once and see if you still have a low, resonant and clear tone. If so go to Step 2 below.  If not, begin tightening evenly and successively on each lug in extremely small increments of no more than 1/16^th of a turn per lug. Slow is the key here. Go around once, even out the tone as in Step 8 above by tapping and then strike once in the center. You want to tune just until you get a low and clear tone. STOP AT THIS POINT.

2.          Turn the drum over, batter side towards you. Hit once and see if you still have a low, resonant and clear tone. If so go to Step 3 below.  If not, like above tighten evenly and successively on each lug in extremely small increments of no more than 1/16^th of a turn per lug. Go around once, even out by tapping and then strike once in the center. You want to again tune just until you get a low and clear tone. STOP AT THIS POINT.

3.          Like it or not, this is the lowest pitch this drum will ever go. Note: If you’ve gone around several times moving up in pitch but the tone is distorted, you may have one or more of a bad head, bearing edge problem, shell problem, lug casing issue or the head didn’t seat. Before replacement, I suggest leaving the head under tension for 24 hours and try again.  I have found that the problem goes away many times overnight. I don’t know why. If you can’t wait, try another head or try taking the pitch way up.

4.          Now it’s time to proceed up through the tuning zones to get the most out of the drum. Focusing on the batter or top head, proceed and tune, never go in larger increments than 1/16^th of a full turn on the way up. Again, slow small movements of the lug are important until you grasp the concepts. Always hit the drum between each twist of a lug. With every few full rounds of lug tightening, stop and make sure the head is in tune with itself.

What to Expect - You will go through phases where the drum sounds good then sounds bad for a couple of turns and then suddenly the sound opens up again. You can usually do this for 2 zones and then the top head will go dead and have a high overtone/ring. While pitch may continue to change, the drum continues to have no real life to it. At this point you've gone too far with the top head, back off 1/4 to 1/2 turn or go back to the point where the drum sounds even, focused and open (sounds good).

5.          If you want a pitch higher than this pitch you achieved, go to the bottom head and tighten each lug 1/8 to 1/4 of a full turn on each lug. Again, always hit the drum between each twist of a lug and with every few full rounds of lug tightening, stop and make sure the head is in tune with itself.  Once you reach that point where the drum again has no life, after this you can increase the pitch of the top head again for another 1-2 steps.

What to Expect - When tuning in this manner, you'll experience certain phases in the tuning where when struck will the drum will have a descending pitch. Some like this sound and stop here. As you move up out of that phase of the zone, you'll reach a point where the drum evens out, the Doppler is gone and the drum becomes open and even in sound. This is the point where both heads are or are close to being identical in pitch.

6.          Beyond this point, the drum will go dead again and you have to repeat with the 1/16, 1/8 or 1/4 turns on the opposite head to effectively raise the pitch of the drum and move up again to another zone and repeat the procedure.

Quick Tips

1.          You can use or eliminate muffling devices such as “moon gel”. Moon Gel is effective and cutting unwanted overtones and lessening the duration of the note. Simply apply as much as you require for the sound – its that simple. You can also use a “O” shaped ring, either purchased or made from old heads that can create a similar effect as using moon gel. If using these “devices” bothers you, you can intentionally detune or raise pitch slightly on both heads. For example you might lower the batter and raise the resonant (or visa versus) by equal amounts causing a phase shift and become more muted or more open depending upon where you are in the zone.

2.          People often will loosen one lug to create a similar affect. Although I find it is better to move all the lugs by a certain amount. This way you don’t run the risk of destroying the head.

3.          Keeping your resonant head to its lowest note and then detuning it ever so slightly may help in achieving a “fat, loose or dark” drum sound. The batter head is then used to alter the pitch.  Note that the pitch for a “fat” tuning can be somewhat limited.

4.          For more “punch or attack”, the resonant head is raised in pitch by a small degree over the pitch the batter head. To create an “open, resonant” sound, both heads should be of equal pitch.  Use of a clear head will result in a more “open” tone.