How to Tune a Darbuka

This page refers to tuning a metal darbuka, not a ceramic darbuka. A ceramic or clay darbuka is tuned with glue and an intricate roping system which usually requires an expert to do. A metal darbuka, on the other hand, can easily be tuned by anyone. To tune a standard Egyptian darbuka, you will need a 5mm Allen key.

Before you start tuning #

Before you start tuning, you will need an idea of what exactly needs doing. There are typically three problems that someone might have that would require them to tune their darbuka:

The darbuka sounds too high pitched or sharp #

Problem: The darbuka sounds sharp or high pitched. The Tek strokes have lost their ring because they are being “choked” by tight tuning on the darbuka. The Doum strokes are sounding flat because the skin is so tight that it can’t vibrate properly.

Solution: To fix this problem, we have to tune the darbuka to a lower pitch, by loosening the tuning bolts.

The darbuka sounds too low pitched or boomy #

Problem: The Tek is not ringing correctly because the skin is too loose. The Tek’s pitch will resemble more of a church bell and may even sound bassy (note that the Tek should never be producing bass sounds!). The Doum shares similar problems; it sounds very boomy and bassy, overly so. The skin is so loose that it vibrates way too much when a Doum is played.

Solution: To fix this problem, we have to tune the darbuka to a higher pitch, by tightening the tuning bolts.

The darbuka sounds unstable #

Problem: Instability occurs very regularly with cheap drums from Arab markets and the like. It can also happen when someone who doesn’t know what they are doing has tried to tune a darbuka. In this scenario, the darbuka sound is unstable. The Tek is not ringing properly because the head is uneven. The Tek is also changing pitches as it rings (it should typically ring in one clear tone). The Doum may have a little bit of an unhealthy bounce to it, as the head is uneven (but this may not always be the case). It is usually much easier to spot any instability from the Tek (or Ka).

Solution: To fix this problem, you will first need to identify the cause of the problem:

Your darbuka’s head might be fitted unevenly. You can assess this yourself by looking at the distance between the head and the body of the darbuka.
If the gap is uneven, for example, it is larger on one side of the darbuka than the other side. Your head has been fitted unevenly, and your first point of action is to stabilise the darbuka skin by tightening or loosening the tuning bolts until this gap is entirely even around the entire circumference of the darbuka.
If this gap is even, and your darbuka still sounds unstable, you will have to replace the darbuka skin. This is because the plastic molecules in the skin have set unevenly, such as because of excessive heat exposure. You can buy a replacement skin from a local drum store or online.

The tuning process #

Once you have identified what needs to be done, you have three tuning actions you can take. You either need to tighten, loosen, or stabilise the darbuka skin.

Process A: To tighten or loosen the darbuka skin #

Place your Allen key on the first tuning bolt
Loosen (anti-clockwise) or tighten (clockwise) by 1/4 of a turn on the first bolt
Go around the darbuka and loosen or tighten each bolt by 1/4 of a turn
Keep going around the drum and repeating steps 1 to 3 until you reach a sound profile you are comfortable with (read on if you need help choosing a sound profile)

Process B: To stabilise the darbuka skin #

Identify which bolts you need to loosen, and which bolts you need to tighten to ensure an even gap between the head and the body around the entire circumference of the darbuka (if there is a large gap, you need to tighten, if there is a small gap, you need to loosen)
Tighten the necessary bolts and loosen the necessary bolts by as much as is necessary to make the gap even
Now re-assess the tuning to see which of the three scenarios above that you are in. If it’s too loose or too tight, follow the steps in Process A to adjust the tuning. If it is still unstable, you will need a new darbuka skin

And there you have it, by following these steps, your darbuka should be nicely in tune!

Top tip: tuning to the Ka #

Here’s a top tip when it comes to tuning a darbuka. In my opinion, the Ka is by far the best stroke to tune to when tuning the darbuka. The reasons for this are below:

The Ka is played with the non-dominant hand, which means you can tune with the dominant hand while repeatedly playing Ka strokes to see how the sound changes with the tuning
If the Ka is in tune, the Tek will be in tune. And the Doum will almost always be in tune if the Ka is in tune. The Doum usually falls into tune the easiest.

When tuning to the Ka, you hold the drum on your non-dominant leg, as if you were about to play. You then hit the Ka repeatedly to see what it sounds like. If it sounds too low, you start tightening the screws by a quarter turn around the drum until you fall into tune. If it sounds too high, you loosen. You use your dominant hand for the tuning.

Top tip: finding your perfect sound #

It is crucial to find a sound profile you like, and you are comfortable with. It is also important to remember there is more than one way to tune a darbuka, and that each darbuka will have a slightly different sound profile based on its size, its quality, its build material, its skin type, etc.

For example, a Sombaty darbuka is bigger than a standard darbuka, so it will have more powerful Doums, and also more powerful Teks depending on its tuning. If you try to get a standard darbuka’s Doum to sound as powerful as a Sombaty darbuka, you will have to tune the Doum quite low, which will jeopardise the Tek and Ka. This is an excellent example of a reason it’s essential to tune to the Ka, as mentioned above.

Typically, people have different sound profiles that they like. Some people prefer a slightly lower sound with a bit more of a bell to the Tek. Some people prefer a tighter tuning with more of a crispness to the Tek. If you tune slightly lower, your Tek will have a slight bell to the sound, but your Doum will be very powerful. If you tune slightly higher, your Tek will sound crisp and strong, but your Doum may suffer a little.

You should ask yourself whether you prefer a slightly higher or lower tuning, then tune your Ka to that pitch. Listening to someone else’s darbuka, which is in tune, will help with this.

The best of both worlds is possible when the perfect-size darbuka is made from high-quality materials by an expert craftsman. In my experience, a well-made Sombaty gets closest: a standard-size darbuka, while also a fantastic drum, is just slightly too small to maintain a strong Tek as well as a strong Doum.

Top tip: avoiding extremes in tuning #

It is particularly important when tuning a darbuka to avoid extremes, such as tuning too low or tuning too high. It will very clearly sound out of tune and may damage your darbuka skin.

For example, if you tune a darbuka too high (the skin is too tight), you will not be able to lower the pitch very easily, as the molecules in the plastic skin have been stretched too far and have “set” in that position. When you do end up loosening the bolts, it will jump to an overly low tuning. As such, we wouldn’t recommend tuning too tightly.

Which plastic darbuka skin sounds the best? #

There are many kinds of darbuka skin out there; however, the best kind for you will typically depend on your circumstances. Nevertheless, there are some rough guidelines you can follow.

The darbuka can create fantastically deep Doum sounds, and impossibly high Tek sounds. A plastic skin will produce higher Teks than most natural leather skins. However, not all skins are created equal, and it becomes essential to choose one that will bring out the best in your darbuka.

Build quality #

This is a big one, so much so that it can be split into two parts:

Plastic quality – If the quality of the plastic used is low, for example, it has lots of scratches on it, it won’t sound as good. Think about this; sound comes from sound waves, which are effectively vibrations. You want your darbuka skin to vibrate as evenly and clearly as possible to create the most resonant and best quality sound.
Metal crimped hoop – The crimped metal hoop of the darbuka skin is the metal piece around the plastic skin that allows the skin to be fitted to the darbuka. The metal hoop fits snugly inside the internal tuning mechanism which allows the skin to be stretched across the darbuka head. Consequently, this also needs to be of good quality. If the metal hoop is of low quality, it will not fit evenly inside the internal tuning mechanism. Say, for example, one part of the metal hoop was thicker than another part. It would result in the sound being imbalanced, which might create a problem when playing.

Let’s take a look at the different darbuka skins there are available on the open market:

Alexandria darbuka skins – Absolutely terrible! Poorly made with lots of scratches and sound miserable!
Gawharet El Fan darbuka skins – These aren’t that great; they are also badly made and have lots of scratches.
Stagg darbuka skins – Decent, but definitely on the lower side of the quality scale. They are cheap, though.
Meinl darbuka skins – These can sound reasonably good – however they only come in Meinl’s 8.5" darbuka size, which makes them unusable on most darbukas.
PowerBeat darbuka skins – These are excellent quality; they sound great and are made well. Plus, they come in black or white.
REMO darbuka skins – These are the best skins we have come across. They sound incredible, they look fantastic and are available in every size you could need. Be warned; they are expensive!

Are plastic darbuka skins reusable? #

The short answer is, no – we would not recommend re-using a plastic darbuka skin. It is possible, but not recommended. Firstly, let’s clarify what we mean by reusability. If you fit a darbuka skin to a darbuka, and then you remove the skin from the darbuka after it has been tuned, you will struggle to re-use that same skin.

The reason for this is simple – a plastic skin stretches when it is fitted to a darbuka and then tuned. Usually, the skin has to be stretched quite tightly to get it tight enough to play properly. When it is stretched to this degree, it will not return to its original looseness when it is unscrewed; it will still be quite tight. As such, to tighten it onto a new darbuka will be quite tricky. Think of it this way:

Imagine a darbuka skin is at 0% tightness when you buy it
You then tighten it to 100% tightness when you fit it to a darbuka
When you remove it from the darbuka, it will reduce to about 50% tightness, not the 0% tightness that it was initially
When you fit this skin with 50% tightness to a second darbuka, you will have to tighten it to 150% tightness to get good sound (which is impossible)
Since this is impossible, you will only be able to tighten from 50% tightness to 100% tightness, which is not enough to get a good sound. As such, the darbuka skin will be too loose and hence will sound terrible!

My darbuka skin tore when I fitted it to my darbuka #

This is a common occurrence with poorly made darbukas (although it can occasionally happen on a good quality darbuka too). Let’s take a step back and look at the reason this happens.

When a plastic skin is fitted to a darbuka, it should perfectly fit on the opening at the top of the darbuka (if it doesn’t, the skin is the wrong size). The head should then be placed on the skin and screwed into the darbuka body. As it’s screwed in, the skin will become tighter and tighter. While the skin is tightening, it is in direct contact with the internal tuning mechanism at the top of the darbuka. If the skin gets trapped inside the mechanism, for example, it catches on a protruding bit of metal, it will tear. This is the most likely reason for the skin to tear, with the only other common reason being the skin itself is faulty.

Now, provided you have a good quality darbuka and a good quality darbuka skin, you should be able to fit your skin to your darbuka without any significant issues. For example, a well-made darbuka shouldn’t have any problem being re-fitted with a new skin.

The major issue that causes this problem is a badly finished internal tuning mechanism, and this comes back to the quality of the darbuka that you purchased. The reality is that the internal tuning mechanism is not outwardly visible. So some lesser darbuka manufacturers would not ensure a high level of quality on the inside of this mechanism. As such, we often find that the internal mechanism is in awful condition if the darbuka has not been made well. If this is the case with your darbuka, be extra careful when attempting to fit a darbuka skin to the darbuka and ensure that you tune it very slowly to avoid it catching on something and ripping. To make it easier, there are a few techniques that you can use to soften the plastic on the darbuka skin so that it doesn’t tear as easily if you are worried!

The hairdryer method #

It is possible to loosen the plastic molecules of the darbuka skin using the heat from a hairdryer. All you have to do is put the hairdryer on the lowest heat setting (but make sure it is heating and not cooling) and heat the darbuka skin for between 5 and 10 seconds when you feel that the skin is becoming challenging to tighten. The heat from the hairdryer will loosen the molecules and allow them to be tightened more easily. It is essential not to overheat the skin, or you will cause irreparable damage to the plastic head.

When I first started teaching darbuka, I bought 8 darbukas to use with my students. They were badly made and very sharp around the head. Getting the skin on the darbuka without tearing it was looking challenging, so I heated the skin with an iron. I managed to get the darbuka skins on without tearing them, but a few days later I realised that all 8 of the darbukas were sounding terrible. I realised I’d overheated the skins and ruined them! Make sure you’re very careful when using this technique!

Can you fit a natural leather skin to a metal darbuka? #

A question we are often asked is can you fit a natural leather skin to a metal darbuka. The answer is yes, it is possible to fit a natural leather skin to a metal darbuka body. You can do so by removing any current skin fitted to the metal darbuka, and then using a rope to tie down the natural leather skin to the metal body. You should get an expert to help you with this, as if the knots are not tied correctly, it could lead to the head being imbalanced and creating an uneven sound! It is also important to note that while a natural leather skin can be fitted to a metal darbuka, a plastic skin cannot be fitted to a clay darbuka – for obvious reasons (you can’t screw bolts into clay, or it will crack)!

How do you measure a darbuka head? #

To measure a darbuka head, measure the diameter across the inside of the head, from one inner edge to the other.

What if the skin I’m using is too big or too small? #

If your darbuka skin is a different size to your darbuka head, you may have a problem.

In a clay darbuka, it’s not too bad, and as long as they are roughly the same, you will still be able to fit the darbuka skin to the head with an appropriate knot pattern.

However, if you try to fit an incorrect sized plastic darbuka skin to a metal darbuka, you will not be able to screw the head back onto the body, because the crimped metal hoop will get in the way of the bolts that will screw through the darbuka. If the head is too small for the darbuka, it will simply not fit onto the internal tuning mechanism. It is therefore essential that you get the correct size plastic darbuka skin. The good news is, as long as you measure your head correctly, you should easily be able to purchase the right size darbuka skin!