Tuning Bass to match sample phenomenon, help!

Savagesavoie

New member
Yo, so every now and again I encounter this crazy situation that I can't make sense of. I'll have sampled a song and start to play bass to it when I notice it's out of tune. So I simply tune it to match. Usually this works fine whether I'm using a live bass or synth bass. But then sometimes I find it is just completely impossible to get bass to match a sample. It makes no sense to me. It happened to me a few weeks ago and I've been trying to get it right ever since. I've even taken it to a professional musician with a great ear and he can't get it in tune either!! Is this a phenomenon???!!! Has anybody else encountered this?? I can get it really close but never perfect or good enough for me to settle on. Anyone?
 
It's a technique for figuring out root notes in songs. Do this:

1. Open up a graphic EQ on master bus in your mixer
2. Start playing your sample
3. You'll see a wide bell peak in the bass sector as the song is playing
4. Go here
5. Based on where the peaks are located (frequency-wise) try to figure out what the bass notes are

It doesn't work all the time but might be a useful trick to try out to help you narrow down the notes exactly.
 
damn son that's smart, I'ma try it out. The thing is I know what notes I need I just can't get them to be in tune. But I'll check it out.
It's a technique for figuring out root notes in songs. Do this:

1. Open up a graphic EQ on master bus in your mixer
2. Start playing your sample
3. You'll see a wide bell peak in the bass sector as the song is playing
4. Go here
5. Based on where the peaks are located (frequency-wise) try to figure out what the bass notes are

It doesn't work all the time but might be a useful trick to try out to help you narrow down the notes exactly.
 
If you are sure that you know the correct key, and you are playing the "right" notes, but things still sound slightly (or greatly) out-of-tune, _and_, extremely importantly, your instrument or instruments are in-tune (!), then it is likely the _sample_ that needs to be tuned, not the other way around. It could be off by a few cents either way that creates a chorusing effect, or it could be way out of standard tuning...

Any number of things could happen, depending on how/what you're sampling (for example, wow and flutter from tape or vinyl, vinyl or cd's played back at the wrong pitch, digital transfers from various formats and/or sample rate conversions that change pitch or timing slightly, not paying attention to tuning when spreading samples out on a keyboard, etc., etc.). Try pitching your sample up to an A440/concert-pitch tuned bass, rather than tuning the bass to the sample, and see if that works.

GJ
 
okay, I see what your saying. I guess I'll play the sample to an A 440 tone and try and match them by ear? This could work. Thanks a lot
If you are sure that you know the correct key, and you are playing the "right" notes, but things still sound slightly (or greatly) out-of-tune, _and_, extremely importantly, your instrument or instruments are in-tune (!), then it is likely the _sample_ that needs to be tuned, not the other way around. It could be off by a few cents either way that creates a chorusing effect, or it could be way out of standard tuning...

Any number of things could happen, depending on how/what you're sampling (for example, wow and flutter from tape or vinyl, vinyl or cd's played back at the wrong pitch, digital transfers from various formats and/or sample rate conversions that change pitch or timing slightly, not paying attention to tuning when spreading samples out on a keyboard, etc., etc.). Try pitching your sample up to an A440/concert-pitch tuned bass, rather than tuning the bass to the sample, and see if that works.

GJ
 
good tips there

I used to work with PRO-Q and it has the PIANO-KEYS to show you which note what HZ is

but even if you have something like that you can use an EQ and find it by oneself like 50hz is A, 75 hz could be something like D , 100 HZ A again, and so

so you identify where these notes sit on frequencies and you find out if your bass is on tune or you maybe just don't trust because of no good reason
 
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