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Here's how to find out the natural note of a tom drum: remove its resonant skin, and tune the batter skin until it sounds right - big and warm. That's the natural tone. Toms usually have two tones: low (big and fat) and high (resonant and trebley). Both notes can be tuned to with the resonant skin placed back and tuned to match, though it may require some readjustment of the batter head as well, to avoid thrashing on either side. A good idea is to tune the batter head lower (at least a semitone lower), then adjust the resonant head until the tone's back up there.

There're three ways of tuning a tom: one is both sides tuned equal, the other is resonant head tuned high, and another is batter head tuned high. Equal tuning is a bit tricky, basically one has to do the trick above - tune only one head right first, then place and tune the other, and match them until they aren't thrashing, are about the same tension (get a feel of screws with the tuner) and sustain the most. Equal tuning gives the best sustain. Resonant head high gives a fat "splat" kind of sound. Batter head high gives the classic "oo-oh-oo" kind of splash/decay sound.

Dark heads (black or slow) are best mixed with bright (clear) to get the most of both, quick response and big air mass movement. Dotted heads are good to get a warmer, thicker sound.

A trick is placing a masking tape cross or sticky paper circle on a tom head to lower tuning, though in practice it's better to place it on the internal side of a skin, not on top of it as many drummers do, as the masking tape/paper will change stick impact sound.

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