How to tune Drums...

[jaeproduced]

Is there a Rack Extension or VST that I can use to make sure my drums are in right key?

[deeplink]

SPAN Vst is free and has a spectrum analyser that can tell you want note the peak of the fundamental is.

I'm sure there are others.

[Neo]

You could also import your *.wav into Grain

Capture.JPG (44.29 KiB) Viewed 746 times

[huggermugger]

it's called "The Ear". It's free. You even get two for the price of one.

[Billy+]

Is there a Rack Extension or VST that I can use to make sure my drums are in right key?

No

Nothing can tell you if your drums are in the "right key" some devices as suggested above can give you some analysis about the frequencies but only you can know if the drums sound good for the audio around them.

Use your ears and worry less about if it's "correct"

• Rule #1 if it sounds right it is right.

[selig]

Rant:
Many drums (even electronic) have a slight pitch ‘dive’, making it difficult to judge pitch through strictly technical means. In those cases, you may be worse off if you DON’T use your ears. I like to remind folks that their listeners don’t have anything more than their ears to judge your songs. And if YOU can’t tell if s drums is “in tune”, will any of your listeners?
I do think there are cases to be aware of drum tuning, but even then it doesn’t always mean the drums should be in tune with your song. for one thing, songs don’t always stay on one tonal center/key, so at some point your ‘tuned’ drums may no longer be in tune. For another, there are so many examples of great songs where the drums were either tuned by ear or just tined to sound their best regardless of key. In my personal studio experience, there have been very few times the drums were considered to need to be tuned to the track. In some cases, tuning to the song may take the drum too far away from it’s most impactful tuning, so as always ‘it depends’…
My comments should not be seen as trying to convince anyone to do things any differently than they do now, I’m simply sharing my experience for what it’s worth.

[jaeproduced]

Cool guys thanks for the comments....

[jaeproduced]

Cool guys thanks for the comments....

[motuscott]

Been trying to tune drumbs for fifty odd years, the tubular acoustic ones.
It's not about matching pitches, it's about a sound, I believe Rudy Von Gelder would agree

[guitfnky]

easy as pie. sounds good too.

[stephensmattlee]

Usually I’ll pitch them up an octave to better hear the pitch and if it clashes with the key of the music. Agree with the pitch bend you usually get with percussive sounds though so can make it challenging depending on the sound. Definitely best to use your years and see what sounds best.

[motuscott]

Dude needs to trim his ear. Nothing to be ashamed of, we all get old and hairier
Tattoo dude required me to wax my anus for upcoming Curve tattoo
Still it's Selig, I feel I owe him