Have you ever wanted to tune your drum but don’t have the ear for it? Well now there’s an app for that.
iDrumTune analyzes the pitch of the drum—from snares to toms— and gives a readout of the drumhead vibration frequency. In the simplest words, iDrumTune is “like a guitar tuner, but for drums,” says Rob Toulson, the app’s creator.
Plus, as Toulson puts it, “if you hit the drum at the edge, you can also analyze the drum’s overtones. This is really useful for checking that the drum has an even tuning around the perimeter of the drumhead.”
Toulson completed his Ph.D. in digital signal processing in 2003. Since then he combined his education with his passion for music, researching music production techniques and drum tuning. “Drums are not so simple, so a number of years of laboratory research has been undertaken in order to fully understand the drum acoustics,” Toulson says.
This app is more than for changing drumheads; it also includes text on the science of drum tuning. “The app encourages musicians to be more inquisitive about their instrument,” Toulson says. “By experimenting with iDrumTune, you can start to get a more thorough understanding of why and how the drum makes the sound it does, so it acts as an educational tool too, allowing people to learn the art of drum tuning faster.”
The app is available for $0.99. For tutorial videos and more information, visit www.idrumtune.com.