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ez, ive been told if im going to use vocals try lay them down first then match the key of your synth to them but im struggling. Ive made a sick little vocal pattern, liking that but im struggling to get my synth to sound anything like good with them, (im playing areound in chords in ableton to find 1 i like) and its not like im struggling on my own, my GF is trying to help out and struggling and shes a fucking grade 6 pianist. Anyone know what i might be doing wrong here and can shed some light on this situation

cheers

Have you tried downloading the free version of Virtual DJ or some other program that has key detection? That might go a long way in saving you some time trying to match a synth patch and vox.

If you're using Ableton, then use the Spectrum to find the key. Then you can slap the vocals or synths on a Sampler and change it to the right key.

If you're not using Ableton, I'm sure there are third party frequency analysers and samplers.

Post it here?

If you're struggling, you must not have a very good ear- which is something that everyone can improve upon.

Your ears are your greatest tool..
Use em!
I never know the key's of my acapella's I just throw shit that sounds nice together

def takes a good ear to match a chord progression to a vocal melody. i personally find it much easier to do it the other way around... come up with chord progression, then write vocal melody to fit on top.

if you already have a vocal and nothing to go along with it.. you will have to have a good enough ear to determine first WHICH KEY it is in.. then from there you would need to have a reference for what chords/notes are in that key.. THEN you can write chord progression/bassline/synths etc once you know the general frame of reference/KEY you are working with.

get mixed in key its a great easy program which tells you the key without needing any knowledge..
but remixes aren't ever going to be easy, one tip is to listen to the original try incorporate as much as you can but still keeping it a remix that way its not going to sound all out of place

Is there a key change in the vocals?

Long shot but could be the problem.

^ what I was thinking

Melodyne is the king for this. Will tell you each note that is being sung and which key the whole sample is in. You can then change any notes that aren't fitting, or change your synth to the correct key. I couldn't live without it!

I find the key with a piano first and then work from there. the piano is the easiest to key match with

Soundcloud

Tune it! is a free plugin that works pretty well.