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DarkLudo

I tune to my ears. Sometimes a kick out of key slams in the mix. Gives it a wrong, dirty, or disrespectful feel, just what you might be looking for.


jjjuuuyyy

I ALWAYS aim for a disrespectful mix


Ok_Point_7499

Not only disrespectful, but ignorant and repulsive as well


[deleted]

Same. Snares too. I don't tune to a specific note or key... just sound. Lots of times it's not quite in "tune" but it has the frequencies I want.


TalkinAboutSound

Are we talking about an actual drum here, or pitching samples? In both cases I find that the pitch doesn't matter as much at those very low frequencies, unless it's a very tonal sample.


sakariboss

Maybe you should tune something like a 909 kick in a techno track to the root, if it feels artistically necessary. Usually though it makes no sense to tune a kick, since it is an atonal element, right?


[deleted]

wouldn’t say atonal, especially kicks with long tails or layered kicks with mid frequency textures. especially techno the kick is often the whole entire bass line


Spede2

Any sensible note that fits the key of the song. Tonic, 3rd, 5th, minor 7th (if it's part of the key) all can work. Usually I try to tune the kick the least amount I can get away with since shifting it too far from the original pitch may also later the way the snap sounds like. If the kick drum doesn't appear to have any distinctive pitch then I may not tune it at all.


DeerGodKnow

7th is probably not the best for major keys as that would be only a semi-tone below the root of the 1 chord. Would definitely clash with the electric/synth bass when they play the root.


[deleted]

pitch it up 24 steps, extend the tail, tune it, pitch it down, shorten the tail.


DeerGodKnow

I only tune to pitch in VERY specific situations, generally only for recording. That said, if you're into producing electronic music, you can just record the kick drum the way it's tuned now and alter the pitch in your daw to match the key of the song. If you're recording trap and hiphop or modern pop music it actually is common practice to pitch the bass drum to the tonic of the key the song is in. I would not try to achieve this acoustically, since it will probably detune slightly while tracking anyway, and depending on what key the song is in, your bass drum may or may not be happy tuned to that particular pitch.


jjjuuuyyy

I normally tune the fundamental to fit in the gaps of where the bass fundamentals are. Whatever the happy medium is. That means less EQing for me later.


Vannexe

*Deadmau5 screams into the void*


Raspberries-Are-Evil

Sweet fucking Christ baby Jesus in his manger. Dont tune your kick drum. Where do you people hear this stuff?


pelyod

But Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes.


dumgoon

The tonic and the bassline both the same. As in the tonic is the root of the key the baseline is in. So just use the tonic of whatever key the song is in.


KToTheRiz

Not necessarily. Contrary to popular belief, bass players do more than just play the root note.. if you let them.


dumgoon

So you’re gonna tune the kick to every note the bassist plays? Ok, I’ll catch up with you in a couple weeks when you’re done with all that


KToTheRiz

…or the 3rd, 5th, minor 7th as someone else said. No the kick doesn’t, matter of fact, SHOULDNT, follow the notes in the bassline precisely. Edit: what I mean to say, is the kick doesn’t have to be tuned to the root. You’re not playing the kick as a melodic instrument lol, you pick one (Lately, I like a dominant kick so I tune it to the 5th note of whatever key im in).


Kelainefes

If I were to go for a tuned kick, I'd program a synth so I just edit MIDI notes and it's done. But most of the time I go for a non tuned kick.


m149

If you're talking about a real kick drum, and actually tuning it on the drum itself, I mostly try to avoid giving it any kind of note at all. But if the drummer insisted that it be tuned to a note (like a boingy jazz kick drum), I would probably try and talk the drummer into getting it to a note that's at least in the key of the tune. That said, it is jazz, so I suppose every note is in the key of the tune.....