Easiest way to figure out the key of an accapella. Example inside.

Yumid

New member
Remixing this vocal demo and was just wondering what the easiest way or approach to figuring out the key is?

My first step is going to be making a chord progression under the accapella and I could just trial and error until I find something that sounds right but I feel like it would save a lot of time to establish a starting point and try to figure out my chord progression from there rather than doing it all from scratch and guessing by hitting random keys off the start.

Song I'm remixing is called Lako. Its the first one on her soundcloud. The accapellas by themselves are available a bit further down the list. But the Lako (unplugged) version has the guitar in it so it might help in determining key.

https://soundcloud.com/elliespi
 
My way of doing it: Play the piano and work out a scale that fits the song. Usually goes pretty quickly to figure it out.

For me it's sounds like Cminor, but I'm a beginner and could be very wrong :P

I would also like to know how the pros do it?
 
Why not just listen to the original, figure out the chords, and use that information to determine the key of the tune? Or ask the singer for the key of the tune?
 
key is Ab major

progression is interesting but not spectacularly out there

Ab ///Cm ///Ab ///Cm /// ||
I ///iii ///I ///iii ///
Ab ///Cm ///Ab ///Cm ///Fm ///Db ///Ab / Eb /Ab ///
I ///iii ///I ///iii ///vi ///IV ///I / V /I ///
Ab ///Cm ///Ab ///Cm ///Fm ///Db ///Ab / Eb /Ab ///
I ///iii ///I ///iii ///vi ///IV ///I / V /I ///
Fm ///Db ///Ab ///Eb ///Fm ///Db ///Ab ///Eb ///
vi ///IV ///I ///V ///vi ///IV ///I ///V ///
Ab ///Fm ///Ab ///Fm ///
I ///vi ///I ///vi ///
Ab ///Cm ///Ab ///Cm ///Fm ///Db ///Ab / Eb /Ab ///
I ///iii ///I ///iii ///vi ///IV ///I / V /I ///
Fm ///Db ///Ab ///Eb ///Fm ///Db ///Ab ///Eb ///
vi ///IV ///I ///V ///vi ///IV ///I ///V ///
Ab ///Fm ///Ab ///Fm ///
I ///vi ///I ///vi ///
Ab ///Db ///Fm ///Eb ///
I ///IV ///vi ///V ///
Fm ///Db ///Ab ///Eb ///Fm ///Db ///Ab ///Eb ///
vi ///IV ///I ///V ///vi ///IV ///I ///V ///
Ab ///Cm ///Fm ///Db ///Ab ///Cm ///Fm ///Db ///
I ///iii ///vi ///IV ///I ///iii ///vi ///IV ///
Ab ///
I ///

Ab ~ Ab-C-Eb
Cm ~ C-Eb-G
Fm ~ F-Ab-C
Db ~ Db-F-Ab
Eb ~ Eb-G-Bb

vi-IV-I-V is a variation on the I-V-vi-IV famous as the four chords many songs
 
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