do you guys pay attention to the pitch of your hats, percussion, etc? or do you just go by what sounds good? is there any sort of proper method to working with that kind of stuff?

YES!, i fine turn everything all of my percussion. I don't know how to make it absolutely perfect but! make sure you change the pitch really fast because you often get used to the pitch and when you listen to it the next day it will sound off. so make sure you try durastic changes then fine tune.

usually the best way to tune percussion is to solo the bassline and then solo the hihat, kick, etc and tune it with the bass.

The kick and bass should go together smoothly and should sound in harmony.

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Some things are pitch independent, like high hats and kick drums. Other things like toms, snares, bongos, congas, etc need to be tuned to the key of your track.

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5) State of Matter - Saving Icarus (Original Mix)

https://soundcloud.com/stateofmattermusic

Do you not lose some depth if every bit of percussion is tuned to the same note? I can't say I've ever really paid any attention to it.

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wtf?

tuning percussions in to notes of ur track.. i dont think i have ever heard about this.. sometimes an percussion can sound better on certaun pitches, but that i would think is individually..

or did i miss something?

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quote:

Originally posted by State of Matter Some things are pitch independent, like high hats and kick drums. Other things like toms, snares, bongos, congas, etc need to be tuned to the key of your track.

Not true actually, if you listened to badly tuned kick with the bassline it will sound more muddy then if it was tuned. Try this, make an EQ curve that is shaped like a bell so you can only hear the frequencies from about 40-70hz and nothing else. If the kick is not tuned correctly you can hear a beat frequency(wobblely sounding bass, or out of phase) if it is tuned right it would meld together right.

I know this first hand experence because I have 2 12" subs in my car, and you can notice when kicks and basslines are badly tuned. Say for example when a bassline is playing a long sustained note, and a kick hits in between that note, it will sound really screwed up and muddy.

The best example that I have heard of a well tuned kick is ANY Usher song from the confessions CD. The sound quality and mastering job on that cd is unbelievable, and of course it should be, because he has a milti million dollar studio.

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hmm...a kick plays quite a wide range of frequencies so i don't see how they can be 'in tune'. They can 'work together with the bass'..but there's no real way to tune a kickdrum exactly, since it's pitch changes during it's duration.

Can you explain this bell-shaped eq trick a bit more? it sounds interesting. thanks

Thanks for the replies everyone, I think I have a better sense of what I should be doing now.

quote:

Originally posted by Elfs1der Not true actually, if you listened to badly tuned kick with the bassline it will sound more muddy then if it was tuned. Try this, make an EQ curve that is shaped like a bell so you can only hear the frequencies from about 40-70hz and nothing else. If the kick is not tuned correctly you can hear a beat frequency(wobblely sounding bass, or out of phase) if it is tuned right it would meld together right. I know this first hand experence because I have 2 12" subs in my car, and you can notice when kicks and basslines are badly tuned. Say for example when a bassline is playing a long sustained note, and a kick hits in between that note, it will sound really screwed up and muddy. The best example that I have heard of a well tuned kick is ANY Usher song from the confessions CD. The sound quality and mastering job on that cd is unbelievable, and of course it should be, because he has a milti million dollar studio.

This has less to do with tuning than proper eq'ing. Muddiness isnt caused because the kick isn't the correct 'key' but because there are frequencies present that muddy up the track that may not be as present when the sample is played at a different key. The real way to fix this is just to pay attention to your eq, it has nothing to do with the actual tone of the sample.

However, like I said snares congas bongos and things of that nature have a definite pitch that needs to be in tune with the bassline or it will sound wrong.

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Most recent tracks:
1) Ilan Bluestone - Spheres (State of Matter Eleventh Hour Mix)
2) MK-S - Illuminate (State of Matter Revival Mix)
3) Scarab - Vagabond (State of Matter Revival Mix)
4) Ferry Corsten & The Thrillseekers - Sublime (State of Matter Revival Mix)
5) State of Matter - Saving Icarus (Original Mix)

https://soundcloud.com/stateofmattermusic

I think state of matter is correct about kick EQing rather than pitch changing; however, I still think it's a good idea to think about pitch changing the kick if you are using a kick made of many kick samples combined. Sometimes changing the pitch on one will make the whole thing 'thump' more and whatnot, so just because you don't HAVE to change the pitch on kicks doesn't mean it isn't a good idea to play with it

im not saying your wrong but here's something to think about. do you think if the kick was played in the right zone in the first place it wouldnt have to eq'ed to fit with everything else?

You can definitely tune the kick or any other piece of percussion. It does sound better when the kick and the bass are in tune. This does not mean that they have to play the same note, but harmony must be present for a good bassline. The same goes for snares, hi hats etc...