Page 2 of 2
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 4:49 pm
by skyh
Any hope for Reason 5 users?
Also, I have audacity.
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:12 pm
by Depone
skyhigh wrote:Any hope for Reason 5 users?
Also, I have audacity.
Only way I can think of working this out is if you rewired reason into reaper (free unlimited trial) and then used voxengo's span within reaper. you could even just make a spectral analyser template for reaper for whenever you wanted to utilise span.
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 9:18 pm
by skyh
Hm. That's not a bad idea. I wonder how bad that rewire would be on my CPU. I have a single core Pentium 4 w/ Hyper Threading... might not handle the load of two-three applications. I'll give it a go though.
EDIT: What are some other good frequency analyzers?
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 6:46 am
by Kilo beats
not really a spectrum but fabfilter pro-q has an option to view the spectrum before and after EQ adjustments, logic has the same thing built into its EQ and i love it. shame i dont own a mac

Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 6:55 am
by subfect
as has been said - just ignore it. Even though the kick's main frequency may be say - 50hz, it's the frequencies above that that decide the tone - so you can have kicks that aren't even in the same key, and yet sound amazing through your tune.
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 7:35 am
by Ldizzy
wow went thru the whole thing and i have to say, very niceley and friendishly that the beginning of this thread was scary, it turned out good tho...
theres a key reader in logic i like to use...
however back then, when i made heavily textured hip hop beats ala pre-common dilla/ ala pete rock... i used to take minutes to tune a kick to a sample... it changed everything... as much as decay settings or layering did... (i didnt really compress back then)... i cant think of a reason not to do it... and if u find one... then u can always tune it elsewhere then on the root note... but somewhere where itll help ur mix...
these "omitted details" become horrendous thru a big system and i feel they're always the first hints of a track thats gonna collapse mixwise if u push it ...
i remember i used to pitch the kick up a couple octaves to make it a tom... which helped me loads to get a feel for its note...
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 7:42 am
by Ldizzy
(1520 posts and my english is not getting better.. sorry)
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 8:38 am
by accordionfan
idk guys, if your kicks way outta tune with your sub the subs gonna have this metallic wavey sound when the kick hits
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:29 am
by RandoRando
accordionfan wrote:idk guys, if your kicks way outta tune with your sub the subs gonna have this metallic wavey sound when the kick hits
which is why i usually Sidechain the sub to my kick with a fast release on it, so it moves out of the way for the kick but quickly resumes when the kick is done playing
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:38 am
by mwb01
only drums i tune are my bongos
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:33 am
by wearecorsairs
Divane wrote:Doesn't Battery show the key of the sample if you load it into it?
yes.
i assumed everyone would be using battery. oh well.
top tip: tune up a top kick & layer it at 3-6k.
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:15 pm
by studio dread
wearecorsairs wrote:Divane wrote:Doesn't Battery show the key of the sample if you load it into it?
yes.
i assumed everyone would be using battery. oh well.
top tip: tune up a top kick & layer it at 3-6k.
where does it show this in battery?
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 2:08 pm
by wearecorsairs
studio dread wrote:
where does it show this in battery?
dunno. i tune up the kick so that its the same note but higher, then sing the chromatic scale until i hit the note.
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 8:39 pm
by Box Head
You don't technically tune your drums to match the key of the track. Drums don't have harmonics in a regular pattern like other instruments, the harmonics of drums are scattered around the spectrum irregularly so they don't land on any particular note. You can pitch it so it doesn't interfere with the sub or so it sounds better with the rest of the tune but all you can do is use your ears and do what sounds best. Although if you synthesize a kick in a synthesizer then obviously you can play the right note to go with the rest of the tune.
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:48 pm
by accordionfan
RandoRando wrote:accordionfan wrote:idk guys, if your kicks way outta tune with your sub the subs gonna have this metallic wavey sound when the kick hits
which is why i usually Sidechain the sub to my kick with a fast release on it, so it moves out of the way for the kick but quickly resumes when the kick is done playing
fair enough
but i think it's easier to just tune it

Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 11:09 pm
by [asterisk]
Box Head wrote:You don't technically tune your drums to match the key of the track. Drums don't have harmonics in a regular pattern like other instruments, the harmonics of drums are scattered around the spectrum irregularly so they don't land on any particular note. You can pitch it so it doesn't interfere with the sub or so it sounds better with the rest of the tune but all you can do is use your ears and do what sounds best. Although if you synthesize a kick in a synthesizer then obviously you can play the right note to go with the rest of the tune.
This
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 2:03 am
by naroja
Not sure why this hasn't been mentioned yet, but... why not use a free vst tuner?
Found these after a quick search on the web:
http://tuneit.free.fr/Site/Home.html
&&
http://www.aptuner.com/cgi-bin/aptuner/apmain.html
I'm sure there are many other free ones to help with tuning chromatically.
Otherwise I agree with everyone else, just match the freaky freq's up.

Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:11 pm
by Divane
studio dread wrote:wearecorsairs wrote:Divane wrote:Doesn't Battery show the key of the sample if you load it into it?
yes.
i assumed everyone would be using battery. oh well.
top tip: tune up a top kick & layer it at 3-6k.
where does it show this in battery?
Select your kick sample in battery and then look at the first tab, i think it's called cell. In the upper half to the left there is a box showing the tuning. From there you can manually tune it up and down.
Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:41 pm
by dj2slo
I hate layering drums, I used to do it all the time, but now it just seems kinda stupid since there are fuck tons of awesome hits out there that already sound good, thick and clean. As far as tuning goes I do it by ear, I don't think anyone should need an analyzer to help them know when their kick work with sub bass. Just listen to your song, it's pretty obvious when shit just doesn't work together
Edit: this talk of Battery having a tuning feature makes me want to use it though, if it's actually accurate lol. Must have perfect drums

Re: How to tell what note your kick is hitting?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:52 pm
by bmills
Free tuner or if you like to spend money Melodyne has awesome audio -> midi functions...