Lesson 09
Timbre: The Truth about Drum Shell Vibration
Why two identically-tuned drums still sound subtly different, and why shell vibration is not what some common folk-lore would have you believe.
With all musical instruments, there's a hidden quality that makes some just sound better or different to others, and some instruments which sound more suited to a certain style, genre or even the musician and their performance traits. Sometimes there's no right or wrong; some pianists play a Steinberg, others prefer a Yamaha. Some guitarists play a Gibson Les Paul and others choose a Fender Stratocaster. But these instruments can all be tuned the same, to give the same frequencies when played and hence to allow a consistent and optimal sound every time. So if these instruments have identical tuning, what is it that makes them sound different? Well, that is all the other magical qualities of the musical instrument,...[lesson locked]
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Course content by Professor Rob Toulson – Professor of Musical Acoustics, Inventor of iDrumTune and author of the book Drum Sound and Drum Tuning: Bridging Science and Creativity.