tuning tips

When tuning a drum always snug the lug (not tight) and then move to the opposite side and do the same. Then move over a lug and repeat. When all snug then tighten with the same pattern to your sound preference. This will ensure the drum head has the same tension and no "dead" spots.

The bottom head is the best place to tune for "tone" ie higher or lower pitch. The tighter the head the higher the pitch. Tuning the bottom head for pitch leaves your top head tighter for playability. This works best when you are wanting a lower tone out of the drum.

Bass drum tuning can be a real headache. Here are some tips to help.
Place a pillow or blanket inside the drum touching Both heads. The amount of contact with the head will determine the amount of "dampening". In almost all cases you do not want your bass (kick) drum to ring. You want a nice solid "Thump". As above keep the striking side tighter for playability (speed) and get your Tone from the bottom (audience side) head.

The snare drum is the most "heard" sound from your drum set, so you want it to sound Great! There is a huge amount of personel preference here, but some things just sound bad.
First that annoying "buzz" from the snares (the snares are the wires on the bottom). First if they are bent or one wire is not the same as the others, replace it. The buzz come's from the bottom head vibrating from another sound, either another drum or very common the bass guitar. Make sure the snares are tight and not too loose, try turning the adjusting knob first.
from there retune the bottom head, loosen it and see if the buzz goes away. If these methods fail, the try loosening one of the top lug screws. Beyond this you may just have to change heads to get the sound you want but without the buzz.

As a general rule these basics apply. Playing Live you want your drums more "open" with more ring. This is due to all the other instruments playing at the same time you need your drums to cut through and the ring will not be noticed as ring but slight reverb. To often drummers think their set is too "live or ringy" and pack it down, only to sound very Dead with the rest of the band. (do not confuse this with the drummer who is all "mic'd-up" with dead sounding drums until the sound system comes on, where most of the sound is comming from the sound system and fx). This is the case in the studio recording arena. You want your drums to have a nice tone, but with little to no ring. This is due to the modern methods of the studios, the amount they can control and enhance (even totally change and trigger other sounds) is amazing. They are looking for a good, clear, non-ringing buzzing drum sound to work with.
In the studio it is much eaiser to add fx to enhance the sound, but removing a bad sound or ring is much more difficult, and expensive.