Two Tuning Tricks

[curchunk]

I wanted to share a couple tricks that I discovered for getting a conga perfectly tuned. Most tuning instructions don't go much beyond telling you to tighten the lugs evenly in a circle. It would be great if other people wanted to include their tuning tricks in this thread.

Tip #1: Use a dull dinner knife! Turn the blade sideways, and use the flat part to tap the skin near each of the lugs. This should produce a high pure tone that is practically a sine wave. It's easier to hear the pitch of this tone for tuning purposes. All of the overtones that give a conga its unique sound can make it difficult to hear the pitch. Other parts of the knife can be used to get different tones.

Tip #2: Start by loosening the lug slightly below the desired pitch. Continue to tap near the lug while slowly tightening it until it sounds in tune. This is easier than trying to compare 2 pitches that are slightly off. I got this idea from watching a violin section in the orchestra tune up.

[zaragemca]

Welcome to the forum Curchunk,the first trick is been around for sometime,some percussionists use the tuning key to do the tapping.For the second one,remember that the violin strings are separated,but the skin of the congas is one piece as a whole,the skin is elastic,and one side could be pulled stronger than the other and still sound tuned,but the ring and at one point the skin would suffer.The conga should be tuned even up and even down.Dr. Zaragemca



Edited By zaragemca on 1115309448

[curchunk]

Dr. Zaragemca,

I appreciate your comments. Of course, many people use a tuning key to tap on the skin. My point was that a dinner knife seems to do a better job of isolating the first overtone (an octave above the fundamental tone), which makes it easier to hear the pitch.

Also, I didn't mean to imply that you should tighten the lugs unevenly. Trick #2 applies to fine tuning only. You get close to the pitch by turning each lug nut the same amount while going around the drum in a circle. However, this rarely gets all of the lugs perfectly in tune with each other. That's when you can use trick #2. The drum resonates better when all of the lugs are perfectly in tune.



Edited By curchunk on 1115312950

[zaragemca]

Brother the tuning keys have the same thickness of a dinner knife for this job.I could tell you something, if somebody is experience enough to realize overtones,or fine tuning they could get it right on, by going around in circle and right to the point.I do agree with you that the drums sound better when perfectly tuned by it is going to take experience to hear that,and also even if not perfectly tuned,when you start playing the skin start compensating due to the vibration produced by the beating of the skin.Anyway how long have you been playing,what kind of music do you play?.Dr Zaragemca



Edited By zaragemca on 1115404013

[windhorse]

I like trick 2, thanks..
I've got a friend who turns and taps simultaneously. Don't do it that way myself,, but perhaps my tuning can evolve..

[Diceman]

Thanks for discussion on tuning, it has helped. But how do you find the natural resonant note of each conga, before you start getting it in tune with itself?? Incidentally a guy on another notice board said that he deliberately tuned the skins tighter in one direction so that the left hand and right hand gave slightly different notes. Sounds dangerous---Discuss??

Sabor
Diceman

[windhorse]

I would argue that you don't really need to worry about the "natural" tuning frequency of a conga.. The wood is so thick on a conga as compared with timbales/snare/toms of drum sets that they don't really do much of overtoning that might muddy the conga tone.

That's kind of one of the advantages to the non-ringiness of congas. Of course some are ringy-er than others..

We start with the Tumba and move up the scale from Do fa , do fa , do fa,,,

When they're in tune and play them from Tumba - quinto, they make the scale for "Oh when the Saints.." of the "Oh when the Saints come marching in" number.

[zaragemca]

Greeting,to all participants,to Diceman,..that percussionist need to learn the technique to change the pitch of the conga with the hand strokes,you could obtain,( in relation with experiece),from 4 to 6 differents sound from a sinle conga.The ringing could be produced by the mounting,the thickness of the shells,the conditioning of the skin,loosed lugs,etc.Also new skin would take time to reach a full tone,(due to the compensation process).Dr.Zaragemca



Edited By zaragemca on 1115481447

[Diceman]

Thanks for the welcome guys, good to have some conga 'anoraks' to talk to. In England we only have a small section on http://www.mikedolbear.com.
Z, I agree Mr Tightlugs must have money to burn, making his congas out of round.
W, I still think that there must be a natural frequency for each drum, or they would all be the same size just tuned differently, and each drum has a different volume... waddayathink? By the way, what is Do fa in terms of A,B,C etc, we Brits only work in the alphabet, sorry.
Sabor
Diceman
PS I am learning When the Saints Go Marching in :;):

[yoni]

Hi all! Welcome, Curchunk and Diceman!

I guess a way to find a drum's best natural resonance could be to tune it until it sounds at its most - resonant! I find that if playing indoors the room itself will affect resonance differently - some notes may sound very strong while others will be of a more "normal" volume. Works that way with most instruments, it seems.

all the best,
Yonatan Bar Rashi

[windhorse]

W, I still think that there must be a natural frequency for each drum, or they would all be the same size just tuned differently, and each drum has a different volume... waddayathink? By the way, what is Do fa in terms of A,B,C etc, we Brits only work in the alphabet, sorry.
Sabor
Diceman
PS I am learning When the Saints Go Marching in :;):

Of course, eveything has a natural frequency,, but some things flex better than others.. The floor on my apartment resonates better than my conga shells.. So, we could find my floor's natural frequency better than my congas..
The only way to get it BTW is take off the heads of the congas and hit the conga shell and listen for the standing wave. I just thought of something,, you could turn it over and tap it from the bottom, with the head against the floor. You could argue that the tightened head, even deadened against the floor still distorts the shell's vibration,, but whatever,, this is all overshadowed by the "best" sound you can get from the conga. - The type of head, it's thickness, the shell's material,, and of course, you're playing ability.

Do - Fa is fourths... Do Ray Me Fa...

Hope this helps..

[franc]

curchunk,
what kind of knife??? i mean the size!!!is a butter knife ok.???? my best and haevy drumming!!!!! áche!!!!! yuor friend, franc

[curchunk]

Franc,

I use a cheap all-purpose dinner knife. A thin, light blade helps to isolate the pitch. A heavier blade will make a more percussive sound, which I find harder to tune.