Accordare i surdi.(Raccolta di testi)

1. For what it's worth this is my take on surdo tuning.

For Batucada there needs to be an interval of at least a 4th to get the 'light/ heavy' feel. If the interval is less than that it tends to sound a bit 'flat' to my ear.

This can be achieved in three ways with the drums tuned:

1 1st, 4th, 7th (like the bugle in the last post). Unfortunately this usually stretches the limits of the drums so that either the low drums are a bit flaccid (and tend to go 'black' instead of 'blue' when hit hard), or the high drums are choked and don't resonate so well (and go 'pink')

2 1st, 4th, 5th which doesn't stretch the range of the drums so much (I think this is what TESS currently uses) or

3 1st, 3rd, 5th (or possibly 4th) and use the high drum as the 'contra' to the 'primera' with the middle pitch drum doing the fancy 'cortadore'? stuff ( the terminology gets confusing).

Afro block stuff generally uses a lower tuning and to me this 3rd tuning sounds best for Samba Reggae so if you play a mixture of styles you have to compromise. This is what we use in Bloco Vomit.

Afro block stuff also tends to use smaller shallower drums which have a less resonant sound.

Of course like pandeiros hide heads sound much nicer but there is the issue of maintaining them. Hide heads are however easier to tune (I think because they stretch unevenly which removes the high harmonics which create that dissonant sound that badly tuned drums have).

In TESS we use Remo 'Power Stroke' fibre skin heads which have a built in grommet (ring of plastic) which damps the high harmonics and damps the resonance. These are expensive but are the closest sound to hide heads that I have found.

Interestingly when I was in Rio we borrowed a set of drums from a samba school for a Bloco Vomit gig and they had hide heads with one head covered in plastic. This I assume was so that they could be played in the rain if need be and turned the other way up if it was dry. Could anyone verify this?

Mike (Edinburgh)

Missing Ian

I think the most important thing is to keep in mind that we're dealing with the bassline of the music here. We dont want the bass to sound off tune, but since were dealing with very low freqs, we can get away with pretty wide differences (who's gonna tell one or two steps apart at below 100Hz?)

But in order to give the bass/surdo the importance and care that it deserves (hey, its the other 50% of the groove!!!) you don't need mathematical relations. Just listen to the song and style being performed and build a bass line that rocks it. Then tune your surdos that way keep wrenchin'

Pedro

2. Tuning a Surdo

In my band, surdos are tuned often. We never know which drums will be in our line-up on a particular day; so we have to tune the drums to each other shortly before most performances. Personally, I seem to always be cranking down on the tuning rods because I like to mess with my drums, changing heads and decorating them.

I recommend tightening a surdo like a car wheel, in a criss-cross pattern. If you start at one point and work around the head, it is possible to pull the head too far to one side or another. Here's a nice guide on the best way to tighten surdo tuning nuts. Once the head is seated and fairly tight, it is time for fine tuning.

Tap the head near the tuning rods with a wrench or other hard object. Using one rod as a guide, tap around the drum near each rod. When the head near a particular rod makes the same note as the guide rod, move to the next one. Go around at least twice, since neighboring tuning rods influence one another. When the head makes the same note all the way around, the drum should have a clean, resonant sound.

There's some discussion in the online samba world (here's one; here's more) about tuning surdos to relative or absolute pitches. Some advocate setting them to a concert pitch (A, D, and E, for instance). Others don't specify a particular key, but want the drums to form a major triad with each other. Then there are some like my band, who tune the drums until they "sound good with each other."

3. From the impressions I got from several "samba teachers", the kind of tuning surdos depends of what you want to do.

For batucada, in our bateria we usually first tune the deepest voice, which marks the "2" and "4" on a 2/4-scale. The optimum freequency is difficult to describe; the sound has to be quit deep, but the optimum for sound and loudness depends on the radius and skin. I think, natural skins can be tuned deeper than those from plastic. Next we tune the surdo "1" which marks 1 and 3. This voice should be a "quart" or "quint", respectively four or five whole tones higher then the Surdo "2". If your third voice plays a figure, it might be one tone over the deep surdo.

On Samba Reggae, it is the opposite: the drums should be damped by a tape on the skin. Voice "1" is the deep(!) one now. Surdo "2" is tuned onto a minor terz (third) higher, Centrador and rolls are a quint (fifth) higher than surdo 1.

Hope, this may help you.

Daniel

4. SURDU TUNINGS

Hot potato this one: I'm sure you'll hear as many different answers as replies. We have had different tunings given to us by every Brazilian and samba 'expert' who has ever been near Edinburgh. The simple solution is to tune your lowest sudo to the lowest note which is distinct as a note. How low this is depends on thickness of skin and depth and diameter of the drum. Then tune the other one or two sizes to intervals of 3rds, 4ths or 5ths, (3rds and 4ths for 3 tunings, 5th for 2 perhaps). We used to have 4 tunings for samba reggae but it made other pieces difficult. In Maracatu you want a dull thud. In Recife/Olinda they use small bombas with leather skins tuned quite loose and they beat the shit out of them with wooden sticks (no fluffy bits on the end). We damp ours with clothes etc to get the effect. Inner Sense use little pads which hang at the side of the drums to be put over for dampening. Very good they sound too. Every time the temperature or humidity changes, the surdu go up and down in tune, not consistently, again it depends on what the heads are made of. Our imported hide skins are more inclined to go up and down than plastic bass drum skins.

Most people have the contra or cortador surdu tuned the highest though some like it tuned between the primera (Marcacao) and secunda. Its up to you. I think it is very important in s. reggae esp. to have good tunings. The best sound comes from very fluffy/soft sticks, esp on the primeira. Most people in the UK use hard sticks which don't give that beautiful deep rich bottom end. Listen to Mestre Marcel if you can get hold of it. The Marcacao is almost subsonic and on my car cassete you can't hear it at all!

Ken Cox (Edinburgh/bloco escoces/banda cachaca) ken@glendoick.com

5. Ken has mostly nailed everything that could be said about tuning traditions - but I would emphasis his point that different schools and "masters" will call for different tunings. All, however derive from these "traditions".

For those of you that don't know, there are three basic surdo sizes/pitches within the traditional school: Low = marcacao, or maracana (marking surdo), in batucada played on 2 & 4, assuming 4/4. Also, called marcador, surdao, surdo primeira. Mid = resposta (response surdo), play on 1 & 3. Hi = cortador (cutting surdo - or accenting surdo), various accenting patterns for texture. As Ken says though, not always high. (On the above, sorry if some of the accent marks and squiggles under the "c" or over the "a" don't reproduce.)

The exact pitches are not as important as the "round" tone produced by each drum, providing a distinction between parts. This is of course true in samba, batucada, samba-reggae, baiao, maracatu, frevo, partido-alto, etc. On intervals, I also agree with Ken: with 3 surdos I like a major triad - fundamental, major 3rd, and 5th. 2 surdos, usually a 4th apart. Trust your ears! I counted 4 different samba reggae parts with Olodum on Paul Simon's Live at Central Park video of the "The Obvious Child". And

the other musicians probably added more. Some parts overlap, but we all know the rich sound that Olodum obtains. All the pieces fit.

Because of physics, the softer mallets will activate the lower, richer fundamental tone of any head. A harder mallet will active the higher overtones, as well - sometimes even more so. Your rhythm will dictate your preference. And don't forget, the higher the pitch, the more it carries. Don't overdo the surdo cortadors - they can overpower.

Also, due to physics, the center of the head will be a drier, lower sound. And the half-way point between the center and the rim the most resonant, with overtones. Again, tailor these differences to your rhythm. In fact, they provide you with greater variations in your tonal capabilities, that you can incorporate into broader interpretation of the music. (Just as a single conga can use many techniques sounding like many drums.)

Finally, most Brazilian surdos are light weight (esp. the metal shell ones), with thinner heads on even the large ones. They produce a more definable tone that I prefer, but take a lot less "mallet power" to deliver volume with warmth and presence. In other words, don't beat them into submission.

Happy drumming! SambaSteve <SambaSteve@aol.com>

6. Carol Frank, Surdo tuning

I once asked Carlinhos Brown about the tuning of surdos. His reply was that he used the relative tones of Do, Fa and So for all of his surdos. That would be base, 4th and 5th.