Well im not stubbern enough to contunue arguing with so many people saying its a worthwhile thing to do. Gonna look at some of these videos/tutorials when I get home from work later if i can find them and make up my mind after trying it myself.

Maybe this is what iv been missing all these years of making dance music!

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Originally posted by Andy28 Olav Basoski explains about finding the key of you kicks using a spectrum analizer by measuring its peak

yes you can ABSOLUTELY do that. It needs to be exact though as the difference between G & G# is only 3hz which with a small GUI can be tough to read.

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Originally posted by Zombie0729 yes you can ABSOLUTELY do that. It needs to be exact though as the difference between G & G# is only 3hz which with a small GUI can be tough to read.

What he actually does is use the analizer to find the frequency, then takes a plane sine wave in live's operator and plays keys till its matched there abouts to the same frequency, then he fine tunes it till its the same to get its root note, then goes on to create his bass sound.. If you can get a hold of this video its well worth watching, Olav Basoski shows you how to make a plucking bass out of a wooden block sound, this guy really knows his stuff!! Have to say though a dont really think much of the track he makes but you can learn so much from it.. If you have never tried pitching your kicks, percs etc in tune with your track I would recomend you at least give it a go, it will sound better, no doubt about it.

use/trust your ears

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Originally posted by meriter Your primary focus should be making good music. That's all. No one gives a shit how you do it. And the people that do are fags.

All this stuff about spectrum analysers and sine waves is bullshit. Its a lot easier than that. You just pitch it using your ears till the kick is in tune with the track.

If you want to build a bass out of wood block sounds, thats pretty easy too. I've used a pluck made from bongos for a track of mine before, its not hard at all and you don't need ot go blind trying to work out the pitch based on a 3 hz difference on a spectrum analyser. You just play a C note and pitch the perc sample until you hear it play a C note. You should be able to work this out based on your track's key, just leave it playing in the background.

Quite aside from which, a spectrum analyser will sometimes have a lot of trouble because the pitch of a lot of drums is NOT STABLE. The typical drum sound sweeps from a high pitch to a low pitch very quickly, whether or not it needs to be pitched depends on if the amplitude envelope tapers off after the pitch envelope stabilises. Use your ears and not your eyes and stop overthinking this incredibly simple concept.

And keep in mind that as David Mac said, you can completely fuck up the texture that drew you to the sound in the first place by doing this. Sometimes it should just be left alone or you should find a new sample.

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It's pretty easy to use a spectrum analyzer to find the fundamental of the kick to match the bassline. Most kicks will have some kind of lingering tail. Usually you can see it in the analyzer as it'll poke up in the sub range. If it doesn't or it isn't very clear, I set the sample start of the kick to the very end of the kick so that only the tail plays.

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

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Originally posted by kitphillips All this stuff about spectrum analysers and sine waves is bullshit.

How can this be bullshit when it works?? FACT!!
Yes you can use your ears dont deny that works but it can be very unreliable at the same time. As for saying "don't need to go blind trying to work out the pitch based on a 3 hz difference on a spectrum analyser" thats bullshit cos in live just hover your curser over the peak and it tells you its frequency, easy as that.. Also recon its quicker to play a sine wave, match its peak to find its key, rather than play a c note or what ever then pitch your sample til it matches then count how many semi's you shifted it to work out what its original key is.. Not saying its the right way to do things, use what ever way works best for yourself, just don't say its bullshit when its not, and its certinly not overthinking things when its so easy to do.

Last edited by Andy28 on Jul-03-2010 at 19:20

Can anyone explain how i tune my perc/kick using a freq analyzer? When it comes to the kick i guess you look how high the highest peak @ the bottom end goes but how do i do with clap, bongos, percs etc? Is it the same with those? I use this one: http://www.voxengo.com/product/span/
Which is free btw

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Originally posted by trancedanne Can anyone explain how i tune my perc/kick using a freq analyzer? When it comes to the kick i guess you look how high the highest peak @ the bottom end goes but how do i do with clap, bongos, percs etc? Is it the same with those? I use this one: http://www.voxengo.com/product/span/ Which is free btw

tuning top drums needs to be done by ear as different algorithms within your sequencer/sampler are going to effect it differently. Bongo's & such don't have an exact pitch like the sinewave kickdrums we were talking about earlier in this thread so you just have to play with it. For example in my new record i had bongo's and detuned them 2 full semitones on ableton's "beat" algorithm. it was the right pitch but it sounded granulated. I then put it on tones and it was only 1.2 semitones, it sounded correct and less processed.

a lot of times if i do drums first in a record then add synth elements i usually have to go back to tune the drums. when you start a track w/ drums you don't go 'oh this is in E minor', it's not until you have those synth elements that determine where everything should go in terms of pitch.

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Originally posted by Andy28 Blah blah blah my ears don't work as good as my spectrum analyser

Its overthinking it because its more complicated than it needs to be.

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quote:

Originally posted by kitphillips Its overthinking cos my brain is the size of a pea

its not complicated at all.. must just be you..
Anyway ad rather take advice from the pro's not someone that was named after a car cos his mother fancied the hoff