Tuning Drum Samples

[lfm]

If doing hiphop with 2-3s sounding kicks
- tuning matters
- it becomes a note

Percussive notes don't need to be tuned to music. To some degree to genre possibly, metal, jazz etc.

Otherwise I would only spend time on pitch between snare, rack toms, floor toms and kick. And relation between crash cymbals etc.

And other aspects like you have settings for in drumsamplers
- amount of muffle
- decay times

and similar.

There are loads of YT vids with tunings acoustic drums if to go deeper. Some talk about what they tune upper skin to a note, and lower bottom skin to another etc. Some meant they tune bottom skin to upper skin on next tom etc. Many styles to preference.

[osiris]

I don't know why I hear you don't tune drums. I just read an article about drummers tuning their snares. Kicks, I get. In a real drum kit you probably can't tune a kick, but I'm not a drummer (but I play one on Soundcloud) I definitely get hip hop because sometimes the kicks are unbelievable and can propel the tune.

[Ah_Dziz]

To the OP. Generally tuning the fundamental of a kick to the root of the key of the song or a perfect fifth from there is a good move if you just want something that has a nice round bottom in the sub region. If you're using long 808s or something then the kick often becomes a large part of the bass line and then you have far more pitch to consider. I generally tune things so the loudest spectral peak is centered around the 1 or 5 and then try and have the body of the answering beat (often a snare) about a fifth to an octave above that. Waves actually makes a nice plugin for repitching just the fundamental of a drum sound. It's crazy handy even though it's basically a crossover and a pitch shifter. I can't come up with the name off the top of my head though.

[RyanM12]

If anything, i would detune drums to make sure they are not hitting the same frequencies. I want my drums to punch through not blend in

What if the kick hits the bass? You tuning to thirds and or fifths?

Lol what? it's irrelevant.
If your kick is long enough that it's making a solid note, then it's a bass so sure tune it, and if your other bass is clashing that's an arrangement issue (or you need sidechaining, trackspacer, etc). Check out Deadmou5 video on that topic.

I have a feeling a lot producers who say "tune your drum samples to the key" don't even know what key means. But anyway I don't make that music so I should stay out of it.

[osiris]

One piece of advice I've read is you have to decide what the dominant is in your song. It's either the kick or the bass.

[perpetual3]

Totally not irrelevant for me. I will often tune my short kick (in kick 2) to the same note as the bass (with phase reset on trigger for consistency). I have never listened to a Deadmouse track my life. For reference to why I do what I do, check out the lowend inRhythm and Sound, See Mi Yah Reshape.

If anything, i would detune drums to make sure they are not hitting the same frequencies. I want my drums to punch through not blend in

What if the kick hits the bass? You tuning to thirds and or fifths?

Lol what? it's irrelevant.
If your kick is long enough that it's making a solid note, then it's a bass so sure tune it, and if your other bass is clashing that's an arrangement issue (or you need sidechaining, trackspacer, etc). Check out Deadmou5 video on that topic.

I have a feeling a lot producers who say "tune your drum samples to the key" don't even know what key means. But anyway I don't make that music so I should stay out of it.

[Jhonrouxmusic]

lo que hace sebastian leger en sus producciones es usar el resonador de ableton y ajusta el resonador solo para las baterias en la nota que esta trabajando toda la pista, obvio sin exagerar

[replicant X]

deleted.

[Shane Sanders]

I'm not guessing: real drummers with real drum kits don't retune or switch kit because the next song is in a different key.

This is a very good point, IMO.

A corollary statement would be to point out that drummers with huge kits often have tons of tonal percussion (Neil Peart, for example—hear Xanadu for a great example). So, he's got to think about the whole presentation. I'm sure he thought about the tightness of his snare heads in relation to the general dominant timbres of his whole band—how to be heard but not overheard, if that makes sense. But, yeah, he probably wasn't using technology to find a fundamental frequency to rule all fundamental freqs. He just got that sucker to crack and poke through and yet allow for nuance.

[sssyntax]

Hi there, I've looked around and noticed that this very important topic does not get talked about much.
I am surprised because it's such a core topic.
Listening to a lot of hip hop, the kick and snare often seem to be an octave apart.
70s Rock, they often seem to be an octave or 5th apart following along with a bassline of say alternating C octaves or C and G 5ths.
Rock can be either but I notice that some 80s Rock has almost the same or similar pitch.
Back in black has a very low snare.
Hpw this is done in a real kit or samples is beyond me and in still struggling to work it out.

[jamcat]

I'm not guessing: real drummers with real drum kits don't retune or switch kit because the next song is in a different key.

Not entirely true. Budgie has been tuning his drums (specifically the toms) to the song since the early ‘80s.

If you retune a sample, you must use formant correct pitch-shifting, such as Melodyne. Otherwise your drums will be resized. Also, no one has mentioned that the top and bottom drum heads are tuned to different pitches, which might sound unnatural or conflict when retuned.

[WackyZoundz]

You need to tune by ear for one particular reason: Drums usually don't have a stable tuning, their pitch either falls or rises (at least slightly). You can try using a tuner only on the initial/end/average pitch but you will find out that this usually won't give you satisfying results while tuning by ear does.

[tunabox]

You need to tune by ear for one particular reason: Drums usually don't have a stable tuning, their pitch either falls or rises (at least slightly). You can try using a tuner only on the initial/end/average pitch but you will find out that this usually won't give you satisfying results while tuning by ear does.

this is the right answer. visualizer tools can only help point you in the right direction, but end of the day its still up to your ears

[sqigls]

i often re-tune drums with PSP HertzRider2
works well

[Funky40]

You need to tune by ear for one particular reason: Drums usually don't have a stable tuning, their pitch either falls or rises (at least slightly). You can try using a tuner only on the initial/end/average pitch but you will find out that this usually won't give you satisfying results while tuning by ear does.

good point ! Thanks, this helps !