Transferring this from the "What song's on your mind?" thread because it fits better here.
Then I get those old-school ones that don't have the pitch marked on the pedal.
You reminded me how many people don't realize all drums have distinct pitch. In fact, in most scenarios, the mark of a well-tuned drum is one where the pitch doesn't fall off or pull up after the initial tone when the stick hits. It should ring out in a consistent pitch. It's a lot easier to hear, of course, when you hear it in a vacuum, because it gets much more lost in the context of piling guitars, pianos, bass, etc. on top of the drum tone, which quickly decays.
I've known of professional drummers who were sticklers for tuning the drums to key of the song they were recording. I am not one of them and I'm not alone, because many great drummers also don't care about that. I'm just noting it can be done.
Back when I was learning to tune drums, the most glaring example I can recall of a drum that sneakily matched the key of the song was Harry Connick Jr.'s "City Beneath the Sea." I forget who the drummer on that song is, but I iirc the song is in C major, and the drummer tuned his snare to a clear C with a bit of ring to it. I don't think the song would've suffered had he not done that, but in that case I'd say it was the better move, because there's a lot of space in the music where the snare cuts through and gets those downbeats to itself, and it's obvious that the song's "home note" is the same note the snare is making. It was an eye-opener for me. I'd known tom-toms had clear pitches, but due to the nature of the buzzing snare wires I'd never considered that snare drums actually have a pitch underneath all the crack and buzz of the snares.
