methods - tuning drums

ExExExquisite Ghost

ExExExquisite Ghost

thisthatthisthisthatthis.
ive hear a bit about this and tried a few times

what sort of methodology do you guys have?
maybe some examples?
what sort sound idea do you have in mind?
what harmonies?
 
compressor, a tad bit of reverb and I mess with the knobs to get the drums sitting right at the low end and dying down the energy it uses on the high end to produce a more powerful drum
 
robel g said:
compressor, a tad bit of reverb and I mess with the knobs to get the drums sitting right at the low end and dying down the energy it uses on the high end to produce a more powerful drum
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What does that have to do with tunimg the drums.
You just **** with the pitch
 
ExExExquisite Ghost said:
what harmonies?
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You dont play harmonies with drums. As breal says, its just a matter of pitching until they sound right, not to any particular notes. This is especially important if you're layering several drum sounds...
 
Sanguis Mortuum said:
You dont play harmonies with drums. As breal says, its just a matter of pitching until they sound right, not to any particular notes. This is especially important if you're layering several drum sounds...
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well im pretty sure you do
like is it pretty pretty much to the tonic?
i've heard some examples in other music of people saying they do that, and im curious if anyone has something to say or does another thing
 
unless a drum sound has a very pronounced tone where it almost amounts to being a "note", you do not typically "tune" drums melodically.

With a live drum kit, the drummer "tunes" the drums for tension to get the type of sound desired (not for "pitch")... otherwise he would have to retune the drums for each song in a live set or have 12 different snares and 12 different kicks, etc, etc


the "pitch" of a drum (live or electronic) is not generally an issue.


I make music on a daily basis as my profession and I do not even think about "tuning" drum samples in any general typical situation. I do not know any professional who tunes the average drum to a pitch.


I would not even worry about it unless the drum has an overwhelming "tone".


Typically, you just tune the drums for the "feel"... not to the "tonic" or anything "scale" based.
 
dvyce said:
I make music on a daily basis as my profession and I do not even think about "tuning" drum samples in any general typical situation. I do not know any professional who tunes the average drum to a pitch.
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You've never tried to combine a certain instrumental break with a drum break, had it rhythmically matched up, but still found something lacking? And then you pitched the drum break up or down a half-step and everything came together?

Not to say that you tune to an absolute pitch of 220 or 440 or whatnot. But you mean to say, that every single drum, if tuned to proper tension, sounds good with absolutely any other sound?

EDIT: And I should point out that I'm talking about samples. There's a lot of bleed from other instruments that can invade the typical drum break. If you want transparency, you're going to have to absorb those bleeds.
 
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Hosey said:
You've never tried to combine a certain instrumental break with a drum break, had it rhythmically matched up, but still found something lacking? And then you pitched the drum break up or down a half-step and everything came together?

Not to say that you tune to an absolute pitch of 220 or 440 or whatnot. But you mean to say, that every single drum, if tuned to proper tension, sounds good with absolutely any other sound?

EDIT: And I should point out that I'm talking about samples. There's a lot of bleed from other instruments that can invade the typical drum break. If you want transparency, you're going to have to absorb those bleeds.
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I would especially not generally change the pitch of a sampled drum break/loop because applying a pitch shift without changing the tempo would cause artifacts that I consider unacceptable... And, yes, even a half step shift.

If I did change the pitch of a drum, I would do it in a sampler or some other way where I can change the pitch by changing the speed... Like speeding up or slowing a tape or record.

And, like I said, I would do it for the sound character... Not to march a pitch.

Unless, like I said, there is a distinctive tone that makes the drum more "note like".

And if you are talking about bleed of music onto the drum beat as part of your sample... That has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the drums. That is a completely differnt issue entirely.
 
I always layer the drum samples with a synth sample that is in key. This takes a lot of work with envelopes and filters to sound right but when you actually get it your drums sound "in tune".
 
Murdrak said:
I always layer the drum samples with a synth sample that is in key. This takes a lot of work with envelopes and filters to sound right but when you actually get it your drums sound "in tune".
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hey man

got any examples
 
load up an ossicloscope play the drum sample and look at the scope to see what frequency its hitting at, then pitch up or down accordingly. it helps if you have a chart with the frequencys of each note.
 
i dont know a lot about tuning drums but i thought u tuned drums not only to get the right sound that u are lookin for but so that each drum is in tune with the entire drum set. so if all the drums in a set are tuned together when u hit the snare u wont here a sound vibrate from a tom or something. idk if that makes sense to anyone.

and u tune drums to get a tighter snare sound for example. idk if this is the right answer but this is what i thought to believe the reason.
 
I do pitch invidual drums up and down, especially typical 808 kicks, so that they go along with the melody. Most of the time, I don't find it necessary.
 
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