Accordare i surdi.

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1. For what it's worth this is my take on surdo tuning. For Batucada there needs to be an interval of at least a 4th to get the 'light/ heavy' feel. If the interval is less than that it tends to sound a bit 'flat' to my ear. This can be achieved in three ways with the drums tuned 1 1st! 4th! "th #like the bugle in the last $ost%. &nfortunately this usually stretches the limits of the drums so that either the low drums are a bit flaccid #and tend to go 'black' instead of 'blue' when hit hard%! or the high drums are choked and don't resonate so well #and go '$ink'% ' 1st! 4th! (th which doesn't stretch the range of the drums so much #I think this is what T)** currently uses% or + 1st! +rd! (th #or $ossibly 4th% and use the high drum as the 'contra' to the '$rimera' with the middle $itch drum doing the fancy 'cortadore', stuff # the terminology gets confusing%. -fro block stuff generally uses a lower tuning and to me this +rd tuning sounds best for *amba .eggae so if you $lay a mi/ture of styles you have to com$romise. This is what we use in Bloco 0omit. -fro block stuff also tends to use smaller shallower drums which have a less resonant sound. 1f course like $andeiros hide heads sound much nicer but there is the issue of maintaining them. 2ide heads are however easier to tune #I think because they stretch unevenly which removes the high harmonics which create that dissonant sound that badly tuned drums have%. In T)** we use .emo '3ower *troke' fibre skin heads which have a built in grommet #ring of $lastic% which dam$s the high harmonics and dam$s the resonance. These are e/$ensive but are the closest sound to hide heads that I have found. Interestingly when I was in .io we borrowed a set of drums from a samba school for a Bloco 0omit gig and they had hide heads with one head covered in $lastic. This I assume was so that they could be $layed in the rain if need be and turned the other way u$ if it was dry. 4ould anyone verify this, 5ike #)dinburgh% 5issing Ian

I think the most im$ortant thing is to kee$ in mind that we're dealing with the bassline of the music here. 6e dont want the bass to sound off tune! but since were dealing with very low fre7s! we can get away with $retty wide differences #who's gonna tell one or two ste$s a$art at below 18829,% But in order to give the bass/surdo the im$ortance and care that it deserves #hey! its the other (8: of the groove;;;% you don't need mathematical relations. <ust listen to the song and style being $erformed and build a bass line that rocks it. Then tune your surdos that way kee$ wrenchin' 3edro '. Tuning a *urdo In my band! surdos are tuned often. 6e never know which drums will be in our line= u$ on a $articular day> so we have to tune the drums to each other shortly before most $erformances. 3ersonally! I seem to always be cranking down on the tuning rods because I like to mess with my drums! changing heads and decorating them. I recommend tightening a surdo like a car wheel! in a criss=cross $attern. If you start at one $oint and work around the head! it is $ossible to $ull the head too far to one side or another. 2ere's a nice guide on the best way to tighten surdo tuning nuts. 1nce the head is seated and fairly tight! it is time for fine tuning. Ta$ the head near the tuning rods with a wrench or other hard ob?ect. &sing one rod as a guide! ta$ around the drum near each rod. 6hen the head near a $articular rod makes the same note as the guide rod! move to the ne/t one. @o around at least twice! since neighboring tuning rods influence one another. 6hen the head makes the same note all the way around! the drum should have a clean! resonant sound. There's some discussion in the online samba world #here's one> here's more% about tuning surdos to relative or absolute $itches. *ome advocate setting them to a concert $itch #-! A! and )! for instance%. 1thers don't s$ecify a $articular key! but want the drums to form a ma?or triad with each other. Then there are some like my band! who tune the drums until they Bsound good with each other.B +. From the im$ressions I got from several Bsamba teachersB! the kind of tuning surdos de$ends of what you want to do. For batucada! in our bateria we usually first tune the dee$est voice! which marks the B'B and B4B on a '/4=scale. The o$timum free7uency is difficult to describe> the sound has to be 7uit dee$! but the o$timum for sound and loudness de$ends on the radius and skin. I think! natural skins can be tuned dee$er than those from $lastic. Ce/t we tune the surdo B1B which marks 1 and +. This voice should be a B7uartB or B7uintB! res$ectively four or five whole tones higher then the *urdo B'B. If your third voice $lays a figure! it might be one tone over the dee$ surdo. 1n *amba .eggae! it is the o$$osite the drums should be dam$ed by a ta$e on the skin. 0oice B1B is the dee$#;% one now. *urdo B'B is tuned onto a minor ter9 #third% higher! 4entrador and rolls are a 7uint #fifth% higher than surdo 1.

2o$e! this may hel$ you. Aaniel 4. *&.A& T&CIC@* 2ot $otato this one I'm sure you'll hear as many different answers as re$lies. 6e have had different tunings given to us by every Bra9ilian and samba 'e/$ert' who has ever been near )dinburgh. The sim$le solution is to tune your lowest sudo to the lowest note which is distinct as a note. 2ow low this is de$ends on thickness of skin and de$th and diameter of the drum. Then tune the other one or two si9es to intervals of +rds! 4ths or (ths! #+rds and 4ths for + tunings! (th for ' $erha$s%. 6e used to have 4 tunings for samba reggae but it made other $ieces difficult. In 5aracatu you want a dull thud. In .ecife/1linda they use small bombas with leather skins tuned 7uite loose and they beat the shit out of them with wooden sticks #no fluffy bits on the end%. 6e dam$ ours with clothes etc to get the effect. Inner *ense use little $ads which hang at the side of the drums to be $ut over for dam$ening. 0ery good they sound too. )very time the tem$erature or humidity changes! the surdu go u$ and down in tune! not consistently! again it de$ends on what the heads are made of. 1ur im$orted hide skins are more inclined to go u$ and down than $lastic bass drum skins. 5ost $eo$le have the contra or cortador surdu tuned the highest though some like it tuned between the $rimera #5arcacao% and secunda. Its u$ to you. I think it is very im$ortant in s. reggae es$. to have good tunings. The best sound comes from very fluffy/soft sticks! es$ on the $rimeira. 5ost $eo$le in the &D use hard sticks which don't give that beautiful dee$ rich bottom end. Eisten to 5estre 5arcel if you can get hold of it. The 5arcacao is almost subsonic and on my car cassete you can't hear it at all; Den 4o/ #)dinburgh/bloco escoces/banda cachaca% kenFglendoick.com (. Den has mostly nailed everything that could be said about tuning traditions = but I would em$hasis his $oint that different schools and BmastersB will call for different tunings. -ll! however derive from these BtraditionsB. For those of you that don't know! there are three basic surdo si9es/$itches within the traditional school Eow G marcacao! or maracana #marking surdo%! in batucada $layed on ' H 4! assuming 4/4. -lso! called marcador! surdao! surdo $rimeira. 5id G res$osta #res$onse surdo%! $lay on 1 H +. 2i G cortador #cutting surdo = or accenting surdo%! various accenting $atterns for te/ture. -s Den says though! not always high. #1n the above! sorry if some of the accent marks and s7uiggles under the BcB or over the BaB don't re$roduce.% The e/act $itches are not as im$ortant as the BroundB tone $roduced by each drum! $roviding a distinction between $arts. This is of course true in samba! batucada! samba=reggae! baiao! maracatu! frevo! $artido=alto! etc. 1n intervals! I also agree with Den with + surdos I like a ma?or triad = fundamental! ma?or +rd! and (th. ' surdos! usually a 4th a$art. Trust your ears; I counted 4 different samba reggae $arts with 1lodum on 3aul *imon's Eive at 4entral 3ark video of the BThe 1bvious 4hildB. -nd

the other musicians $robably added more. *ome $arts overla$! but we all know the rich sound that 1lodum obtains. -ll the $ieces fit. Because of $hysics! the softer mallets will activate the lower! richer fundamental tone of any head. - harder mallet will active the higher overtones! as well = sometimes even more so. Iour rhythm will dictate your $reference. -nd don't forget! the higher the $itch! the more it carries. Aon't overdo the surdo cortadors = they can over$ower. -lso! due to $hysics! the center of the head will be a drier! lower sound. -nd the half= way $oint between the center and the rim the most resonant! with overtones. -gain! tailor these differences to your rhythm. In fact! they $rovide you with greater variations in your tonal ca$abilities! that you can incor$orate into broader inter$retation of the music. #<ust as a single conga can use many techni7ues sounding like many drums.% Finally! most Bra9ilian surdos are light weight #es$. the metal shell ones%! with thinner heads on even the large ones. They $roduce a more definable tone that I $refer! but take a lot less Bmallet $owerB to deliver volume with warmth and $resence. In other words! don't beat them into submission. 2a$$y drumming; *amba*teve J*amba*teveFaol.comK L. 4arol Frank! *urdo tuning I once asked 4arlinhos Brown about the tuning of surdos. 2is re$ly was that he used the relative tones of Ao! Fa and *o for all of his surdos. That would be base! 4th and (th.