Should the percussion elements be in the same key as the song?

[Spring Goose]

You can do, but you don't necessarily have to, it's upto you.

[zerocrossing]

You're likely to get 100 different valid answers here.

For me it comes down to function. Does your sound have a stable tonal centre and, if so, are you using it as a tonal element? I can't really see any application for (or even envision strongly tonal variations of) hi-hats and claps, but for long 808 kicks or distorted 909s that pull double duty as bass instruments/anchors, or certain snares like the very high pitched 'water drip' snares in some late-10s EDMs, perhaps it does and perhaps you are.

My gut feeling is that if you can't hear a tonal clash (or indeed hear an obvious tone) then it doesn't need to be tuned, or 'tuning' it is more a matter of getting it to sit in the mix.

Right. Many drums actually vary quite a bit in terms of having a root tonal center. What I do is I listen to each sound in isolation and if I notice it doesn’t sound right, I manually tune it until it sounds right to me. I never bother looking at actual frequencies in an analyzer. That said, I often notice in amateur music (and even sometimes in professional releases) that there’s a clashing drum or percussion element and it drives me nuts.

[Effectsworks]

Not necessarily... I rarely do it myself.

But if you've a long tail, on an analog drum that sounds like a note, like an 808 or some such then probably.

[Bee_Abney]

I guess there is a lot of choice in the matter, but I need to train my ears to work out what makes sense. Still, not deviating too much from the way it was recorded is a great tip.

[imrae]

Never seen an acoustic performer tune their hand claps.

I do often play with pitch on clap samples but that's because it shifts the timbre as well.

[Erisian]

If it is chromatic percussion, I would be sure to use the same key, otherwise it doesn't matter.

[jancivil]

I actually do choose toms KIND OF for pitch or really how it fits with the rest, and the ring of the snare, even, should clash 'a certain way' or even seem 'consonant' or outstanding in a 'musical' way. But there's no real facile explanation or description, it's all contextual.
The Indian tabla definitely are tuned to pitch.

upshot is: use yer ear, make it sound right to you

[Chr!s]

Definitely, if it presents a steady pitch at all.

Some technically non-pitched percussion can still emit a fairly clear tone depending on how and where it's hit. Some of them just do it all the time. You see this with some electronic kicks, but it can be a big issue with frame drums and the like.

I have a frame drum which tends to hover around an A note if you watch it on a tuner and I have to tune some samples I use.

The sample I used as a "kick" on my Faun cover on YouTube hits a pretty clear C#, but the song is in D, so I had to pitch shift it and let me tell ya...it sounds a lot better now.

[juno987654321]

The sample I used as a "kick" on my Faun cover on YouTube hits a pretty clear C#, but the song is in D, so I had to pitch shift it and let me tell ya...it sounds a lot better now.

I don't know much about anything but kicks (or rather the fundamental part of its bass) - if used in the typical genres, say house music - I would really like to keep in tune to the key. It's also common practice. But the real percussive element of the kick is the transient and this element does not really have a fixed pitch though you could also sometimes tune the pitch that the transient at least starts from or ends in...

Other sounds like claps don't really have a pitch, do they? If synthesized, they are often just made of small bursts of white noise.

And then with those instruments that only "kind of" have a tonal center/pitch... it really depends. Sometimes you want an instrument to further support your song harmonically, sometimes you want to create some tension/disharmonic contents...

[Stamped Records]

If it sounds good to you, that's all that matters.

I think the best suggestion is to a/b comparison.

This is what I do, and no, the drums don't absolutely need to be in the key of the track you are making.