Tune of the kick

Steve Sancteria

New member
So I finally figured out that it´s very important that the tune of the kick has to fit the tune of the track as well (Kick doesn´t have to fit the root key of the track but the general key to harmonize).

So instead of pitch correct the kicks and risk any disturbing fragments that ruin the sound of the kick, I´ve just decided to sort all my kicks by their tune and doing so, I use a spectrum analyzer to check the peak´s frequence to figure out the tune of the kick, BUT I became kind of insecure since my analyzer shows up some results that I didn´t expect and I wanted to ask you if the decisions I make to figure out the tune are the proper ones.

So here is a picture how my analyzer is showing up the peak of the spectrum (the cursor isn´t captured by paint as it seems, but is located at the peak position of the frequence line)

Kick analyze.jpg

in this case, it´s a kick from a vengeance pack peaking at G# where I´ve been really sure it´s a flat G (G seems to be a magical thing in EDM like the magical BPM 128)

here another example:
Kick analyze 2.jpg
here the average peak seems to be over A even if the small bigger chunk is close to G#


So yeah somehow I am not 100% sure if I should stick the 1st posted kick to G# and the 2nd to A because if I produce music and think the Kick is in A and in the end it´s actually G# but it´s peaking at A with -48Cent for any reason, this half tone difference is not as dramatic as a thew tone difference, but not fitting the actual key of the track and can be very frustrating if you figure it out after releasing the track.

So some advice from the sound gurus of the community would be very helpfull and make me feel better sorting all my kicks to improve my work flow :D
 

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You don't need to tune kicks

Decades and decades of rock/pop/jazz/metal/all instrumental genres didn't tune their kicks and lots of their music sounded pretty great.

Sometimes pitching your kicks differently makes them sound better, but it's not necessarily because it's 'in key' it might just be that a certain sample sounds good pitched to G# (so if your kick sounds good at G#, it'll probably still sound good if no matter if the rest of your track is in G or G#.

There might be a slight benefit to it being in key but I've never noticed a track sounding bad because the kicks were out of tune.
 
This is a classic case of...use your ears. Use the analyzer to confirm what you're hearing rather than the other way around. Also, some kicks just won't have a strong fundamental pitch, even if the analyzer gives you one.
 
I´ve started to improve that subject in general today and since I am using 2 layers for the kick, one for the low, one for the click, It´s easier to analyze the dominant frequence in the needed section, it´s easy to hear the dominant frequence with this FabFilter Q-2 function as well.

Something that makes sense for me in theory, but sounds wierd in real (might be cause of my headphones) is, to set the lower frequence spectrum to mono in the stereo image. So I´ve cuted the lowest band of the 4-band imager at 140hz and set that to -100, so it´s completely mono, everything feels more "clear" ofc but it somehow feels like some deep bass is missing as well :D
Quite unsure with that one and I think it will change if I use actual studio monitors, so does it make sense to make the low end of the kick and bass spectrum MONO?
 
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