Keith Moon's drum tuning question

[HuntMan]

I stumbled upon this article while researching info about Cream:
http://twtd.bluemountains.net.au/cream/moon.htm .

Overall, it's a fairly accurate appraisal of Keith's, um, unique approach
to drumming - however, this particular bit struck me as something I'd never
(as a drummer) considered before:

"The key to Moon’s drumming is his arms and especially the way he would
lead with the left. Most drummers, including Baker, build patterns
beginning with their right, leaving the left on the snare to follow. Moon
would explode with his left and often match it with his right but each
going in different directions – thus the layout of the drums with the
middle mounted tom tuned higher and then the left and right lower plus the
left floor tom."

Specifically, the author states that Keith tuned his far left (of the 3
mounted) toms lower than the middle one. I'd never considered this when
analyzing Keith's rolls before. Can this be verified by any other
percussive afficianados out there?

--
-HuntMan

[RoseRM]

I had heard that despite the difference in sizes he always tuned the toms to
the same pitch. His tenor toms were always in the big size and if you listed
to his fills, it's a lot of drumming and speed but not a lot of distinction
in pitch from tom to tom. There are subtle variations in tone due to the
variety of sizes.

I heard this and have listened closely (especially to later stuff i.e Quad
onward) and it certainly is plausible...

"HuntMan" <HuntMa...@newsfeeds.net> wrote in message
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[HuntMan]

"RoseRM" <ros...@sympatico.ca> wrote:

> I had heard that despite the difference in sizes he always tuned the
> toms to the same pitch. His tenor toms were always in the big size and
> if you listed to his fills, it's a lot of drumming and speed but not a
> lot of distinction in pitch from tom to tom. There are subtle
> variations in tone due to the variety of sizes.

Well, actually, I think his 3 mounted toms were all the same size (I'm
referring to his late '60s-early '70s Premiers). In addition, if tuned to
the same pitch (or note), they'd all basically sound the same; for example:
I could take a 9x13 mounted & tune it to a certain pitch, then take a 16x16
floor & tune it to the exact same pitch, & there wouldn't really be any
difference, except for volume. Keith did have different pitches in his tom
tunings ("Overture" from Tommy displays this point well), but I just didn't
expect his tom tuning to go low-high-lower-lowest - I'm gonna have to re-
listen to some of my favorite Keith rolls now, to be sure.
Thanks for the input...

--
-HuntMan

[David]

I've found it very difficult to make my drums sound like Keith's. The floor
toms have to be VERY loose to get that sound.

"RoseRM" <ros...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
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