Porcaro tuning thread?

[PorcaroFan]

Hey, I am a new member and prior to joining I was reading a thread that was discussing Jeff's tuning, but now i cant seem to find it. I searched it but nothing came up. If anyone can help I d be very appreciative.

Glad to be here!

[Old Pit Guy]

I remember seeing that too. I can say this, his drums sounded phenomenal in person. While I was at PIT, someone (can't remember, I'm talking '87) sent me down to The Palace where Jeff was playing an event to coordinate some load-ins from cartage as a favor for someone at PIT, and Jeff's drums were already set up on stage -- it was a brand new set.

In he walks with a small entourage, including his nearly newborn (at the time), and he sat the baby down for all of two seconds to sign something and the little guy tumbled right off the back of the stage. That's a pretty scary drop. Thankfully, the kid was fine, but Jeff was as good a sprinter as he was a drummer, I sh*t you not. I've never seen a guy fly off a stage, back on and out the door that fast in my life. Anyway ... afterward, a couple of us sat behind the kit and fooled around for a few minutes. Just solid pro-level tuning. Nothing out of the ordinary other than "damn, these sound amazing!"

Sorry, can't resist the urge to tell old stories, especially anything about Jeff.

[PorcaroFan]

Wow, thats scary. That must have been Miles. Speaking of PIT, I had some files a few years back, and if I can ever retrieve my itunes from an old laptop I will get them again, of Jeff teaching a class. In all it was about an hour of Jeff just talking and taking questions from students. It told alot about him and just how down to earth he was. He told some great session stories as well. And by all means share any stories you can! Thanks

[DSOP]

http://users.tkk.fi/~tlindval/Porcaro_MI_Clinic.mp3

[PorcaroFan]

Awesome....Thanks

[Old Pit Guy]

http://users.tkk.fi/~tlindval/Porcaro_MI_Clinic.mp3

Were you in the lab that day?

[JayD]

That's incredible. Thank you sooooo much for sharing this!

[Da Chooch]

this mp3's been floating around HOD for a few years at least. thank you DSOP for refreshing our memories.

[Pocketplayer]

from various interviews...

"For recording, I mainly use Ludwig DB-750 drum heads on all my Ludwig toms. I use bottom heads. It's a thin head, and the best sounding. I change the heads on all the drums of my recording sets every three days. I tune them low and fat as hell and they sound perfect for recording. They're thin, but they're tuned so loose, they get wrinkles. After a few hard takes they get dents and they're no good anymore. I use Remo Ambassador on the snare drum, and some of the Remo clear plastic on the other sets. No black dots. I don't like any of that. One set has the Evans heads, tuned real tight. "

"You're asking the wrong guy about tuning tips," Jeff laughs, although he manages to describe his instinctive method: "I just wish we had one of my drums from any drumset to take a picture of. You put it on a flat table and look at it and you'll see maybe one of the top rims at an angle. When I put a new head on, I do not evenly tune the drum around. I've never in my life hit every lug to see if it's right. I guess it's all feel. I can tune a drum to hear a pitch, and I can just tell by the feel of the key on the screw that goes to the lug, and how loose or tight that feels, where that drum is at. "

"I really don't have any tuning method. I usually tune the drums differently for every new song or every situation. When putting on new heads, I'll tighten each head as tight as I can get it, play on it a while to let it stretch, and then tune it up from there. I don't worry about the head being tensioned evenly; it generally isn't. I just tune it until it sounds good. Sometimes it takes two hours; sometimes it takes two minutes. You have to realize that, as far as drum sizes and tuning go when recording, every song is different. There are sometimes different drums used or different sizes, and different tuning methods will also be used, depending on the song."

[PorcaroFan]

this mp3's been floating around HOD for a few years at least. thank you DSOP for refreshing our memories.

Yes, I had that file for years and lost my ipod and the laptop I had it in itunes crashed. Need to see if itunes can be pulled off of that old laptop. Its nice to hear Jeff talking drums and drumming. Please feel free to share any rare Jeff stuff at anytime. Hard to believe he has been gone almost 19 years! I listened to that class countless times as I traveled with my job and band!