How do you tune kick drum samples ?
- Thread starter dominic94
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rickpolo
New member
Hey buddy, tuning is basically setting your drums to the key of your song. For example if your root note is In C you want your root note for your drums to follow suite. It's more so perfecting the pitch and nothing is better than using your ear which is the only real way to tune your drums IMO. Best way is to play with the pitch of your drums while your main melody is playing so you can reference the sound. A spectrum analyzer just shows you what ranges your sound is sonically occupying (Low, Mid, High) rick
matrx10503
New member
Depends on what you mean by "tune". Do you mean as in "tweak" the sound of the drum, like adding reverb, delay, general eq'ing (thinning/fulling/pumping/limiting/compressing)?
What result are you trying to achieve? maybe is a better question for us to give feedback to and for.
If you talking about the drum being the wrong note (music theory-wise) and is clashing with the scale/key of the other instruments/track. It depends on which program...you should be able to just use your ears and adjust/shift/change the pitch of the drum note to be in the same key as the rest. Some programs have pitch knob, and some you can piano roll layout and move the note up/down to be in the right key.
What result are you trying to achieve? maybe is a better question for us to give feedback to and for.
If you talking about the drum being the wrong note (music theory-wise) and is clashing with the scale/key of the other instruments/track. It depends on which program...you should be able to just use your ears and adjust/shift/change the pitch of the drum note to be in the same key as the rest. Some programs have pitch knob, and some you can piano roll layout and move the note up/down to be in the right key.
steffeeh
New member
Pick a sample with a pitch not too far away from the key of your song (or it will only end up sounding hollow, at least if you need to pitch it up), if you have trouble finding one, see if you can find any sample with no pronounced pitch in the lowend.
Easiest way imo to tune the kick is to grab a synth and set it to a default sinewave, pitch it down a few octaves and play a bass note on the key that you want, and reference it while you pitch the kickdrum.
Then when you hear it's in key, grab an EQ and tame it so it sounds natural in its new key. I find that in 90 % of the cases where I tune a kick, I grab a sheet of the frequencies of the different notes, and do a narrow boost on the key that I have in my track, alongside cutting with a narrow bandwidth any harmonic close to the boost that may be in the way.
Again, if you pick a sample with no pronounced key, just tune it until it feels right (usually not much at all), and shape the tone yourself with boosting/cutting on the EQ.
Lastly, highpassing any rumble can clear out the kick and boost the key signature in it (but don't go too far or it will sound hollow and unstable).
Easiest way imo to tune the kick is to grab a synth and set it to a default sinewave, pitch it down a few octaves and play a bass note on the key that you want, and reference it while you pitch the kickdrum.
Then when you hear it's in key, grab an EQ and tame it so it sounds natural in its new key. I find that in 90 % of the cases where I tune a kick, I grab a sheet of the frequencies of the different notes, and do a narrow boost on the key that I have in my track, alongside cutting with a narrow bandwidth any harmonic close to the boost that may be in the way.
Again, if you pick a sample with no pronounced key, just tune it until it feels right (usually not much at all), and shape the tone yourself with boosting/cutting on the EQ.
Lastly, highpassing any rumble can clear out the kick and boost the key signature in it (but don't go too far or it will sound hollow and unstable).
Last edited:
rideforvankay
rideforvankay.com
Put it on the piano roll in your DAW and choose the pitch you think sounds best with the other elements of your track! This is how I do it.