How to find the key of drum samples??

[Jbravo]

Yeah I don't think it's necessary unless it creates an obvious dissonance with the bassline or some other musical part, though maybe some people don't notice it

[ramseysounds]

Personally I think the obsession over tuning drums is nonsense. If you think your kick has a problem fitting in with the other sounds, you will want to change it, and pitching is one option. So if you notice that the pitch is an issue, by all means fix it. You don't need to fix things that ain't broke though.

+100

[Kinh]

Personally I think the obsession over tuning drums is nonsense. If you think your kick has a problem fitting in with the other sounds, you will want to change it, and pitching is one option. So if you notice that the pitch is an issue, by all means fix it. You don't need to fix things that ain't broke though.

+100

-100
It doesn't answer the question

[Kinh]

Tuning kicks is essential in many electronic genres.
Spectral analyzers tend to be not reliable and often they'll display several notes in the range.
The best way I find is simply tuning up an octave or 2 and finding out what note is mostly heard, the one that sounds right when played against a synth note. So answer: your ears.

[andymcbain]

If you really want to want find out what your drum sample is doing, frequency wise, in detail - download Sonic Visualiser, load in your sample and run a spectrogram as an offline process - and add a time ruler.

http://www.sonicvisualiser.org/

Geeky way of doing it yes, but if we're going into such levels of geekery with production now then why not.

I can see why precisely tuning a kick drum would be important in certain genres - I used to think it was essential in Psytrance for example. I'm more inclined to just go with what seems to work for the track and the groove now. Likewise with other percussion hits... groove first, technicalities later (if at all).

[Hooj]

Hello everyone,

I always read from everybody, and i have to say that i understand that this has to be the right way, that you always have to tune your drum samples in the key of the track. The problem is, how to find the key of the sample??
For example i use Logic's tuner and it doesn't show me nothing??? Maybe if i use another tuner?? Any ideas???

load a kick drum sample in EXS24. Next, drop a tuner on the same channel.

*** be sure to increase the sustain of the kick sample so the tuner can pick it up.

[Mister Natural]

I've tried it have found that tuning the kick to Tonic becomes monotonous-sounding
Feels a bit more natural for the kick to be non-diatonic/atonal

[MogwaiBoy]

My method is to solo the kick, use Voxengo SPAN with the highest precision (slow), zero in on the highest peak the kick is producing and figure out what the frequency is, compare it against a note/frequency chart (from google), for example:



Here is a good one suitable for printing:
https://www.doctormix.com/docs/Note-To- ... -Chart.jpg

[fumemusic]

Analyzer, live or better non-live.

[ghettosynth]

Hello everyone,

I always read from everybody, and i have to say that i understand that this has to be the right way, that you always have to tune your drum samples in the key of the track. The problem is, how to find the key of the sample??
For example i use Logic's tuner and it doesn't show me nothing??? Maybe if i use another tuner?? Any ideas???

load a kick drum sample in EXS24. Next, drop a tuner on the same channel.

*** be sure to increase the sustain of the kick sample so the tuner can pick it up.

Exactly, came here to say this. If you have a sustained kick then I find it helpful to use the sustained portion as the pitch reference and not the initial attack which will be generally higher.

[Kyrpto]

I also think the best way is to tune it by ear.

[jordonpmusic]

Something I struggled with for a long time. Best way for me is to transpose it + 2 octaves. Fundamental should be near enough obvious. Tuners should pick it up at that range as well. High cut the higher harmonics to give the tuner something to focus in on.