The tom tuner

How to tune toms

1. Mute the head you are not tuning. A towel on the other head lets the tuner lock onto the one you are working on.
2. Resonant head first. The bottom head sets the character of the tom. Lug match it, then leave it alone.
3. Then the batter, into its range. Pick the tom’s size in Target range and land the fundamental inside the band, then lug match until every rod reads the same.
4. Tune the whole set before judging any of it. A rack tom that sounds odd on its own often sounds right the moment the floor tom is under it.
5. Space them out. A musical interval between neighbouring toms, a fourth is the usual starting point, keeps fills sounding like a melody rather than a mumble.

Rack toms, floor toms and the sweet spot

Every tom has a band where it rings longest and fullest. Too slack and it flaps; too tight and it chokes into a short, boxy note. Sweep the batter slowly through its range with the tuner running and you will hear where the drum opens up.

Floor toms sit lowest and need the most patience: big heads take longer to settle, and a little extra tension makes a big difference to how they speak.

Resonant head a touch above the batter gives a note that falls away neatly; below it gives more boom and a pitch that dives. Try both on one tom and keep what suits the music.

How to use it

1. Free listen — hit the drum once, cleanly, and read the fundamental pitch. Quiet room, mic close to the drum, moderate hits work best. The level bar shows what the mic is hearing, so you can tell straight away that it's alive.
2. Lug match — the secret to a clean-sounding drum. Pick how many lugs your drum has and how close you want them — Standard suits most drums, Fine is for a quiet room and a studio sound, Relaxed gets a kit even and playable fast. Then set the pitch: tap your best-sounding lug and make it the reference, type a target, or use a saved kit pitch. From there just follow the glowing lug — tap about an inch in from its tension rod, turn the key by the amount it asks for, and when the lug lands inside the green band the tool moves on around the star pattern by itself, no need to touch the screen. It will ask for a second tap before it ever sends you to the key, because one hit on a drum head is a suggestion, not a measurement — and the turns it asks for start small and get more accurate as it learns what a turn is worth on your drum. Tightening one lug shifts its neighbours, so it loops back for another pass until every lug reads true in one clean go. Matched lugs = no weird overtones.
3. Target range — pick your drum and aim the fundamental inside the band. The ranges are typical starting points for a musical kit, not rules. If it sounds great outside the range, it is great.
4. My kits — once a drum sounds right, save the pitch to your kit. Next head change, tap the saved pitch and the tuner flips into lug-match mode aimed at exactly that frequency. Kits save on this device for everyone; create a free account and they follow you everywhere.

Tom tuning frequency chart

The same ranges the Target mode uses, printed for the drum room — batter-head fundamentals for a musical, all-round tuning. Start here, then trust your ears: if it sounds great outside the range, it is great.

Resonant heads a touch higher than the batter (a semitone or two) gives a controlled, slightly descending note; reso lower gives more boom and dive. Kick numbers assume a port or light damping.

The full routine — seating heads, which head to tune first and setting the intervals across a kit — is on the main drum tuner page. Want a dedicated device instead? See our guide to the best drum tuners.

Tom tuner questions