TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Production Studio
-- question about ReDrum

question about ReDrum

hey guys. Heres my question. I have a kick sample but to tune it to the rest of the song the pitch is at -14. it sounds fine but i dont have monitors and i was wondering if there is any sub freqs that i may not hear in my head phone. or anything else i should be concered with when changing the pitch so much.

the kick im using is from VEC2, its the; UK Tran#4E73 . the root note of the song is E flat.

I also noticed that lowering the pitch makes the sample longer so i made it shorter from length:127 to 72.

thanks for the help

The word that musicians use for frequency is pitch.....


.....so, yeah sure it will affect the frequency.

73's a good kick alright. Very meaty, but with top end that cuts right through.

When I use it straight up (no pitch shifting) I tend to bump 210Hz down a bit, and also use a high pass filter around 40Hz. The sample does have quite a boomy low end tail to it, so shortening the sample could work quite well.

Start saving some money for some quality monitors. I depend on mine to work out the low end. Maybe if I turned the headphones up I'd be able to tell what's going on down low, but for me it's easier to just go to the monitors, tweak and I'm done.

as far as i am aware, there is little merit in tuning a bassdrum, since it has basically no harmonic quality...

Depends on the kick itself, some kicks may not need to be tuned either because your were lucky enough to hit the right key to use with it upfront or because it has a lot of transient and not much low end / decay. It's the low end decay that resolves to a specific frequency/pitch and works better when tuned. 90% of edm works best with a tuned kick. The best way is to make your own kicks, using source material like the kick you have to obtain the transient click portion then layer it with your own correctly tuned decay portion. That way you don't alter the characteristics of the front (which is completely percussive and has no audible effective pitch) while tuning the low end to suite the key of your track.

Tuning the entire kick sample down usually alters the sound too much, but if you're happy with how it's sounding then thats great.

You'll probably need to cut off everything below 35-40hz with an eq on your kick. Also bear in mind that the body/punch of the kick is around 100-160hz or so, make sure after tuning it down you're not losing the punch in that area or else your kick will sound more like a snap on domestic hi-fi's.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm as far as i am aware, there is little merit in tuning a bassdrum, since it has basically no harmonic quality...

Well, to put it bluntly, you are wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by Sanguis Mortuum Well, to put it bluntly, you are wrong.

not necessarialy. you could debate all day about it. but the majority of kicks do have no harmonics. ive used kicks in d minor for C# tracks. some people key them some don't. i tend to just use the kicks that fit with my tracks.

quote:

Originally posted by sterilis not necessarialy. you could debate all day about it. but the majority of kicks do have no harmonics. ive used kicks in d minor for C# tracks. some people key them some don't. i tend to just use the kicks that fit with my tracks.

A kick is basically a sine with a click at the beginning. A sine obviously has a frequency which can be tuned.

If you were talking about a snare or a hat you might be right, since they're pretty close to white noise, but most kicks have a very clear fundamental frequency...

Obviously you dont need to tune your kicks, but it can make it sound better. Also, you obviously dont need to tune your kick to the exact root note of your track, as long as it is tuned to a note that doesnt clash too much...

quote:

Originally posted by Sanguis Mortuum A kick is basically a sine with a click at the beginning. A sine obviously has a frequency which can be tuned. If you were talking about a snare or a hat you might be right, since they're pretty close to white noise, but most kicks have a very clear fundamental frequency... Obviously you dont need to tune your kicks, but it can make it sound better. Also, you obviously dont need to tune your kick to the exact root note of your track, as long as it is tuned to a note that doesnt clash too much...

but most kicks dont clash because the harmonics are mostly non-existent. as i said theres no right or wrong answer. but i could throw up 10 kicks and you would be lucky to key one or differentiate just by ear.

A kick doesn't have an exact frequency due to the fast downward pitch modulation. However they do seem to sound better when tuned correctly. There's no scientific way of determining the "key" of a kick other than using your ears.

quote:

Originally posted by sterilis but most kicks dont clash because the harmonics are mostly non-existent.

Why does this mean they wont clash? If, for example, your kick has a fundamental of D and the root of your melody is D#...it will clash and sound dissonant...

quote:

Originally posted by derail 73's a good kick alright. Very meaty, but with top end that cuts right through. When I use it straight up (no pitch shifting) I tend to bump 210Hz down a bit, and also use a high pass filter around 40Hz. The sample does have quite a boomy low end tail to it, so shortening the sample could work quite well. Start saving some money for some quality monitors. I depend on mine to work out the low end. Maybe if I turned the headphones up I'd be able to tell what's going on down low, but for me it's easier to just go to the monitors, tweak and I'm done.

thanks bro your always a lot of help. i have already put on a low pass filter at around 40Hz so im one step ahead of ya. yes i really need to get monitors eventually but the sad thing is i live in an apartment and probably never get to use them to the full potential.

echosystem; there definatly is a key to this kick drum thats why i like it so much. usually tune my songs around it but this time a came up with the melodies on a piano first.

Eldritch; you are totally right. before i tuned it the plucking sound that fades in on the intro sounded out of tune . now it sounds on key.

palm; that is very interesting but i honestly dont think imskilled enough to be able to do that. i will pratice it in the future though.

the only reason i asked this question was becuase i remeber someone saying that if you pitch a kick sample any more the -/+6 that it will ruin the sample. giving it a second licten today it sounds fine to me, but like i said i use haedphones and no monitors.

mabye i can post a sample and show the differance. does anybody know how to post a quick sample without using rapidshare or megauplaod. seen people post "sample" then you click it and it play right away. how can i do that?

thanks again everyone

quote:

Originally posted by lowski thanks bro your always a lot of help. i have already put on a low pass filter at around 40Hz so im one step ahead of ya.

You probably mean a highpass filter at 40Hz

- farris

quote:

Originally posted by farris You probably mean a highpass filter at 40Hz - farris

yes you are correct. i always mix that up for some reason.

quote:

Originally posted by lowski yes you are correct. i always mix that up for some reason.

To help you remember.. --> "'high-pass' lets the high, pass (through).."

quote:

Originally posted by sterilis not necessarialy. you could debate all day about it. but the majority of kicks do have no harmonics. ive used kicks in d minor for C# tracks. some people key them some don't. i tend to just use the kicks that fit with my tracks.

Sterilis!!!
What you do to know the exact key of a kick?

I tune my kicks by ear, if it's not sounding good I make changes using the fine tune knob and if starts to sounds good, I leave in that position..

quote:

Originally posted by cristianokeller I tune my kicks by ear

The best way.. I do this too in order to fine tune the transient to harmonize better with the root key of the melody.

quote:

Originally posted by lowski mabye i can post a sample and show the differance. does anybody know how to post a quick sample without using rapidshare or megauplaod. seen people post "sample" then you click it and it play right away. how can i do that? thanks again everyone

Either you need a free website that lets you direct link(you aren't sent to a download page etc when you query the server) or your own website.

Fileden.com allows up to a 30mb direct link... the speed is not the greatest but certainly plenty for a 500kb maybe 1mb sample or whatever.

quote:

Originally posted by cristianokeller Sterilis!!! What you do to know the exact key of a kick? I tune my kicks by ear, if it's not sounding good I make changes using the fine tune knob and if starts to sounds good, I leave in that position..

i use about 4 different kicks in all my tracks. all i do is eq and compress them differently.

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.