Detecting the pitch of kicks

[enossified]

Try soloing the kick against a sine wave source, sweep the pitch of the sine until it matches the kick then route the sine into a tuner.

Or use your ears.

[selig]

To add more techniques to the pile:
Use a high Q parametric EQ boost and sweep until you find the most (loudest) energy (use metering), and that is the frequency of the kick.

I of course use ColoringEQ because it's already tuned to semitones, so you immediately know the pitch of the kick, and because adding saturation makes it even easier to hear the pitch. Plus it has a peak hold meter, which allows you to find the highest level quickly.

[Billy+]

What part of the kick are we all talking about here?

The initial Attack
The body Sustained portion
Or the Decaying tail?

IMG_2122.PNG (49.36 KiB) Viewed 771 times

[aeox]

What part of the kick are we all talking about here?

The initial Attack
The body Sustained portion
Or the Decaying tail?

The fundamental frequency of the kick


The initial attack(or click) doesn't matter at all from my test. It's too short to make a tone.


The starting pitch of the kick is not as important as the ending pitch of the kick. How fast the pitch decays is important but as long as it decays to that fundamental lower pitch, it'll sound musical from my experiments. But you can take it a step further and try to make even the starting pitch harmonic as well, maybe 7 or 19 semitones higher or something. Adjusting the sus and decay to get the correct tonal balance of each portion.


The way I do it (which there is no right or wrong way as long as it sounds good) is by using one synth to create the fundamental and then doing a lot of processing /parallel processing on that kick. Creating overtones, eq, compression, etc. So the attack, body, and tail are all the same synth playing one note. All the higher harmonics being overtones of the fundamental.


If you're layering samples then I'd probably just make sure your fundamental is where you want it. The others are less crucial for a musical sound in the mix.

[Boombastix]

What part of the kick are we all talking about here?

The initial Attack
The body Sustained portion
Or the Decaying tail?

Lol, I don't think anyone really knows Also, looking at a spectrum with a moving average curve and low resolution in the lower register and think you can determine the note when the separation of each note is around 3-4Hz... And add to that the pitch is changing a lot during the kicks duration, that is about 0.2 sec. Well, yeah, lot's of witchcraft here

[Billy+]

I use this https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... -analyzer/

With a peak hold

And

IMG_1283.JPG (118.03 KiB) Viewed 730 times

To get a rough estimate

[Boombastix]

I use this https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... -analyzer/

With a peak hold

And IMG_1283.JPG

To get a rough estimate

So the 50 and 63Hz bar on that device can tell it was maybe a F# or a C or something in between, further convoluted by the display time averaging (maybe 0.5 sec) for a kick that lasts around 0.25 sec. How is that useful?

[aeox]

What part of the kick are we all talking about here?

The initial Attack
The body Sustained portion
Or the Decaying tail?

Lol, I don't think anyone really knows Also, looking at a spectrum with a moving average curve and low resolution in the lower register and think you can determine the note when the separation of each note is around 3-4Hz... And add to that the pitch is changing a lot during the kicks duration, that is about 0.2 sec. Well, yeah, lot's of witchcraft here

[Billy+]

Yeah, It's basically somewhere around there and it sounds fine so I'm keeping it.

[aeox]

Yeah, It's basically somewhere around there and it sounds fine so I'm keeping it.

If it works it works

I initially started tuning kicks because of certain genres that I've tried to make over the years almost required it. What I mean is that in order to achieve a certain sound, tuning your loudest instrument that is taking up a lot of room in the mix is generally a good practice(especially when it's coexisting with the bass synth in a edm style track.) Especially if you aren't trying to volume duck or dynamic eq everything. That's why I do it at least

[Billy+]

Do you prefer you kick to be above your bass sounds or below it in frequency?

[nooomy]

Do you prefer you kick to be above your bass sounds or below it in frequency?

It depends on what sounds best for you and what type of genre you are producing

[buddard]

I usually find it easier to hear the pitch of the kick by playing it one or two octaves above the original pitch. And after pitching it correctly I just transpose it back down to the original octave range.

A disadvantage is that the sample can get really short, but you can temporarily add a reverb with a long tail to hear it better.

[selig]

I usually find it easier to hear the pitch of the kick by playing it one or two octaves above the original pitch. And after pitching it correctly I just transpose it back down to the original octave range.

A disadvantage is that the sample can get really short, but you can temporarily add a reverb with a long tail to hear it better.

That's where the saturation (or limiting) technique helps, adding some sustain so you can better hear the pitch ring out.

But there is still the problem of pitch bend, which on some sounds (both electronic and acoustic) I've found to be too strong to determine any single/obvious note reference.

Meaning, sometimes you cannot determine one clean pitch for a kick, so you either compromise or find another sample - or do what I suggested in my first post which is to add your own fundamental at a specific pitch of your choosing.

[nooomy]

I have tried alot of way but this is probably the best way for me.

Im thinking i will do a video where i detect all the kicks in FSB

[BRIGGS]

It not that hard to tune the by ear, assuming you have an ear for this stuff.

[enossified]

It not that hard to tune the by ear, assuming you have a ear for this stuff.

Indeed. After all, drummers tune their drums by ear all the time.

[BRIGGS]

It not that hard to tune the by ear, assuming you have a ear for this stuff.

Indeed. After all, drummers tune their drums by ear all the time.

If you hang out with drummers long enough, you'll end up learning how to play the drums. And, if you're interested enough, some of them will show you the 'ins and outs'.