As I was listening to old songs like KC and the Sunshine Band's That's the way I like it, I noticed again the way the brass section seems to make a pitch bend downwards at the end of a riff, but it might also be different horns playing different notes and ending slightly delayed, like a cascade so to speak. It is so fast, I can't tell. If it were different horns, it would be incredibly perfect in terms of timing.
For instance at 18, 23 secs etc.
That made me wonder, which instruments do allow the player to make pitch bends and which don't? A piano for instance only has keys and one can't do a pitch bend. What about brass instruments? A trumpet has those push buttons, do they only define precise notes?
Instruments with and without pitch bend
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fluffy_little_something fluffy_little_something https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=281847
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- KVRAF
- 26033 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
The effect at those points comes across to me as more a product of the reverb than of a pitch change per se, and yes, differing decays play their part. There may be a slight, very quick 'fall' but I'd have to listen harder than I did to tell.
Trumpet valves first of all determine pitch by their effect on the cylindrical structure but pitch differential can be effected by lipping, and thru half-valving. A trombone's slide mechanism determines the length of the operative tube but in doing a portamento exists between discrete pitches, and a vibrato is achieved herein as well.
On trumpet, simply lipping a doit (pitch slide upwards) or a fall produces, by the construction of the instrument, all of the pitches in the series (a non-valved trumpet type is a bugle, which is only going to give up the harmonic series from the fundamental of the horn by design) from one to the next); half-valving connects them in something more like a pure portamento. The really quick *fall* may simply be 'lipped'.
Compare the clarinet solo beginning Rhapsody in Blue (the smear):
Trumpet valves first of all determine pitch by their effect on the cylindrical structure but pitch differential can be effected by lipping, and thru half-valving. A trombone's slide mechanism determines the length of the operative tube but in doing a portamento exists between discrete pitches, and a vibrato is achieved herein as well.
On trumpet, simply lipping a doit (pitch slide upwards) or a fall produces, by the construction of the instrument, all of the pitches in the series (a non-valved trumpet type is a bugle, which is only going to give up the harmonic series from the fundamental of the horn by design) from one to the next); half-valving connects them in something more like a pure portamento. The really quick *fall* may simply be 'lipped'.
Compare the clarinet solo beginning Rhapsody in Blue (the smear):
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fluffy_little_something fluffy_little_something https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=281847
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- 12880 posts since 5 Jun, 2012
I see, so a trumpet valve is not like an on/off switch, but like a water tap.
It seems that with tricks most instruments can do pitch bends, even drums. Guitar and bass as well, of course.
I noticed that pitch bends, even subtle ones, are one reason why some music sounds authentic and alive, while some music sounds artificial and robotic.
That's also important with sample libraries. There is no point in having perfect instrument samples when the playing doesn't emulate that of a real player, which is not easy in many cases.
It seems that with tricks most instruments can do pitch bends, even drums. Guitar and bass as well, of course.
I noticed that pitch bends, even subtle ones, are one reason why some music sounds authentic and alive, while some music sounds artificial and robotic.
That's also important with sample libraries. There is no point in having perfect instrument samples when the playing doesn't emulate that of a real player, which is not easy in many cases.
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- KVRAF
- 26033 posts since 20 Oct, 2007 from gonesville
very crucial, pitch differential in sample libs especially. I'm in the pitch bend lane constantly. And I set certain toms to high 'velocity to pitch' values.
Some things are evident in the recording, however; the reality of the pitch variance hitting a bass guitar string hard uncorrected is *there*; often to a fault (it starts off sharp).
VSL Vienna Instrument Pro has an excellent humanize pitch feature with really well-considered presets. But you can roll you own easily.
Some things are evident in the recording, however; the reality of the pitch variance hitting a bass guitar string hard uncorrected is *there*; often to a fault (it starts off sharp).
VSL Vienna Instrument Pro has an excellent humanize pitch feature with really well-considered presets. But you can roll you own easily.