For the best sound, set your drone reeds so that they play at a slightly stronger pressure than your chanter reed. Just one reed set too strong can make a pipe much harder to blow and unsteady. Get all three drones set so they will all cut out at the same time when too much pressure is applied. This will help balance the drone sound.
When you strike a drone in, it goes from the rough sound into the smooth sound. The easier the reed the less pressure it takes to go from the rough sound to the smooth sound. If the drones are set too hard in relation to the chanter reed, you’re not going to get past the rough sound at all. You’ll either need to make your drone reeds easier or blow a harder chanter reed. An important reminder to have two pipe chanter reeds of the same strength ready to play at all times. If one goes, you’ll have the other to pop right in and match the drone strength straight away.