Drum tuning

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happy juice
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ive heard recently that its important for drums to be in tune. im assuming that applies to electronic drum sounds as much as it does to acoustic drums, so can anyone shed some light on what it involves? do all the drums in a tune need to be the same note, or just any of the notes you are using in the tune? 909-style kicks dont really have a pitch cos they just go piaow (but really fast) so how do you make sure they are in tune?

cheers :)
 
Hello mate .....

Just play around with the pitch of the sample until they sound right man ......

Play it by ear. Drum sounds dont always have there own "note" like a piano - where the frequency of the note you are playing is the loudest so you perceive that note. They have lots of different frequencies all at once - totally different timbre .....

Play with the pitch / fine pitch controls on whatever sampler you use or if synthesizing sounds then, err ....., play with the pitch / fine pitch .....

see you soon !
 
For this I just mess with the pitch in Battery till it sounds right, if there is a problem that is. I guess the idea is that the sound of percussive note, its root and its harmonics, integrate more harmoniously with the rest of music. Perhaps tuning them to a 4th or 5th would be ok, but I think that the best thing to do is bear the idea in mind when u are making a tune, and listen hard for any sonic conflicts. It should sound 'right' and if you are more conscious that the tuning of the drums is important then you will probably spot more easily if they are wrong. Although I guess many people will always make from scratch the percussion especially for the different keys they use.

There was a good thread on Isratrance forum about this a while back, I'll try to find it.
 
Kick drums do have a pitch alright. Set an ADSR modulating the pitch of a sine wave where it sweeps really quickly with fastest attack and very fast decay. The sustain part of the ADSR defines the note of the "boom".

Peace.
 
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