drum samples - transposing?

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DJ Ransom

Guest
hi i was wondering if it's necessary to transpose drum sample sounds, ie kick/snare drum, hihats, etc, so that they are in the same key as the actual song....also, how do u do this (if u can't tell what key their in, in the first place)....i have cubase, acid, and soundforge....any help appreciated...
 
no, percussions/drums are different, they are not "tuned" like notes in a melody. Hope this help. Drums are not on a key
 
Not wishing to be pedantic, but...

Actually, er, they are.
Kick sounds in trance are often tuned to C i have been told in some haze at a doof. But - i may be wrong. Use your ear. The bass line is the closest to the kick, and they should be a minor third (C-Eflat) a forth (C-F) or a fifth (C-G) apart. Or any other combo, like a flat second (C-Dflat). Just tune the semitone and micro tone pitching of the sample up or down as required.
Snare sounds could be seen like a plucked guitar string sound, and thus should relate to sounds in a similar category in your song, aswell as to the kick frequency.
To find out what a kick or snare sound sounds like, play it then play a note on your synth - eventually u will find what tuning it is.
Have fun with it, but don't try to play melodies with kicks or snares!:) But do use a coupla snares if u like.
Highhats can be tuned and used subtly to play 3note funky-triangle patterns.
These ideas are as i see it for trance music but could be applied to any style.
Chakra frequencies relate to kick snare and hat notes/ frequencies, beginning from lowest chakras to higher chakras. That idea might be a load of bollocks tho' bro!
:>
 
Re: Not wishing to be pedantic, but...

i-clan said:
...but don't try to play melodies with kicks or snares...
Click to expand...

:) that's what I mean hehe... yeah it's true that in goa trance the kick is looong and pulsatic, can be described as a note somewhere.

otherwise if you talk about a rock drumkit I dont think we can call these notes :D
 
actually.. yoy know what?
back int he days when rebirth 1.0 came out, I made a tune called "mouse" where ONLY THE TR808 was used. A dirty distorsion (Set to max) made those drums sound like notes, and the whole song was very interesting. those TOMS percussions were making the melody.

hehe fun :)
 
the stuff i'm producing is, funky/vocal house.....if the drums/percussion are meant to be in the same key, how do i transpose them to the correct key, if i don't know what they are in the first place.....i've heard the old way of playing around with a keyboard till u find a note that matches, but i'm not too good with that....are there ways of getting around this???
 
Mr Ransom,

I suggest you don't bother changing the pitch of your drums unless they actually sound wrong.

Even if they are 'out of tune' it might still sound cool. Sometimes I deliberately make my percussion out of tune so that the music sounds a bit more sinister.

In theory there are two types of percussion, tuned percussion (e.g. bongos) and un-tuned percussion (e.g. snares). In reality, I don't think there's any dividing line - some sounds have more 'tuned' content than others. I guess it depends on how much of the 'primary' frequency you can hear, and how loud the harmonics are - but I'm not a physics expect :)

Most synthesized kick drums do not sound tuned, because they rapidly change in pitch at the start of the note and continue to fall in pitch more subtley as it fades away. However they sometimes sound more tuned because they settle on a single, low pitch. It just depends how the artist has 'designed' the sound.

Also remember that the human ear is not very good at deciphering lower frequencies - so we might not be able to differentiate a tuned and a more 'un-tuned' kick. If you apply distortion to the kick (e.g. as they did in hardcore records) the difference is more obvious, because there is more treble content in the sound.

For a very percussive sound, check out my own tune: Perilous ;) It's fairly dark progressive house / techno.

Later mate
Bongo Fiend
 
Try cooledit 2000 by syntrillium.com or soundforge (link ?) to mess with your samples.

I myself, as I-Clan mentioned, tune my samples for my trance-tracks.
Particulary Bongos, congas, claps, rimshots and bassdrums must be in the right tune, and if you implement some extra synthesizer sounds as part of the groove, make sure they lay in harmony with the bass and the rest of the groove.
It takes time but in trance, atmosphere and harmony is essential.
 
dj Chris and heavy Bongo u guys are the bom! really dig the vibe of your posts. Good stuff to make the music keen clean. Keep on trackin'.
HB descriptions of 'tuned content' of percussive samples is an extremely eloquent piece of writing.
And djC's suggestion of Cooledit is yes yes yes, now i remember! I went thru a phase of cooleditpro usage for a bit. Then forgot about it. Gotta get back to it. Results are going to be posted on a dinky little site imma gonna put up for this purpose! Taporama composarosa megastokage
 
DJ Ransom,
I just noticed that you said "the stuff I'm producing is funky/vocal house"

In that case, I suggest you don't bother transposing your percussion, unless of course it sounds wrong to you.

It can make a tune sound a bit bland if everything is strictly in the same key. I certainly wouldn't recommend tuning all your percussion to the key note.

Having a few percussion sounds which are tuned to non-obvious notes may give your track a funkier, more progressive sound.

I agree with DJ Chriss that "harmony is essential" in trance, but strict classical harmony isn't the only type of harmony. Having said that, a lot of (particularly more commercial) trance is based largely on very simple (IMHO relatively boring) classical harmony.

Of course, I'm slightly biased towards a tougher, more progressive sound :) All music has its place.

Take it easy
 
Yes.. well, I make UK clubtrance, and I often put my percussions I funky harmonics, but that still mean that you have to tune them.

Some of the synthsounds I use have a pitch effect created by an LFO, you know what I'm talking about.
If you tune your bongos/congas/rimshots in an area little below regular tune it can sound really cool.
 
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