Kicks from sample packs not in correct key?!

Sk1nZ

Sk1nZ

Ableton Addict
Spent some time going through 4 sample packs that a friend has and i cant work out why some kicks are nowhere near the key they say they are in.

About 50% of the samples i checked are not hitting the peak frequency and some are nowhere near the correct frequency. I found 11 out of 12 kicks labelled E were all hitting in G except for one.

Any ideas why so many samples are not in the correct key? the packs came from 2 different people

When making a track am i correct in saying its vital to keep the kick in the same key as your track for the best results?

Thanks
 
I suppose they have quickly labeled the kicks by ear, rather than looking on all kinds of analyzers to determine the correct pitch - that takes too much time for a designer.

It's good to have the kick in the same key as the track - or in a very logical key within the same scale (let's say the key of G for instance if the scale is C).
However, how vital this is depends on the sample itself, some kicks are very pronounced in a certain key and can sound bad if they're not tuned right, while others have a more even pitch going downwards steadily, meaning they have little or almost no pronounced pitch at all.
But even though your kick sample may have no pronounced pitch at all, it's still good to shape and process it so it has at least a little more weight towards the right key (through an EQ bump on the right frequency for instance), so it cooperates better with the bassline.
 
ever thought that perhaps your controller has accidentally shifted the pitch up 3 semitones? i.e. the problem is with your gear not the sample packs?
 
good point with the EQ bump, il keep that in mind. Is there any reason for choosing G if the scale is C?

Im not playing them through anything, they are simply dragged and dropped into ableton and using 2 different spectral analyzers i checked out what key they are in
 
G is part of the C chord; it is also the root of the dominant chord, G major

Moving 1-5-1-5-1-5-1- etc is a common use of timpani (kettledrums) in orchestral music from the time of Haydn and Mozart, so its use in pop music is firmly entrenched in the musical idioms which we are all familiar with if only through advertising

the spectrum analyser may not be giving you correct note information, but reacting to overtones that are more prominent than the root of the kick
 
ok thanks for clearing that up, so aslong as its part of the chord it should sit well in the track? If the tracks in Dmin then a kick in F or A should work well?

Yeah that could be a reason, i know some samples are way off as they peak nowhere near the correct frequency, il try uploading some examples soon
 
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better to use D or A and leave the 3rd out of the equation unless you are trying for a specific effect
 
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