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Kick Drum Analysis
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Analog Archangel
Started Topics :
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36
Posted : Jan 27, 2014 22:15:12
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Hello all of you lovely people 
Basically right now I'm synthesizing kick drums, I have the kicks laid out in my DAW and I have attached Voxengo SPAN to analyze the frequencies of the kicks, I've been looking around the web on what peaks to be looking at exactly in the analyzer, but I can't find anything on which peak to be paying attention to in finding the note of the kick drum this is what I want.
So right now, I have the first and highest peak hitting 50hz on the dot, but this one does not matter right? IS it the last peak before it ends the one that determines the frequency (note) of the kick?
The last peak is hitting around 445hz, so if we calculate this I would get A.
So which peak determines the note? Thanks in advance... |
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faxinadu
Faxi Nadu / Elmooht
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Posted : Jan 27, 2014 22:20
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not necessarily, a kick is a short sound and that peak can be so short as to be perceived by the ear together with the other frequencies of the kick. unless it is a totally sterile sine with a pitch drop, that kick will be in reality a-tonal.
secondly, don't trust those damn analyzers 
The Way Back
https://faxinadu.bandcamp.com/album/the-way-back |
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Djones
IsraTrance Senior Member
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Posted : Jan 27, 2014 22:26
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You always go to the lowest peak to determine its note imo.
The low part is responsible for the oomph in your kick and that oomph you want to tune with the rest of your track.
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Analog Archangel
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Posted : Jan 27, 2014 22:35
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Quote:
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On 2014-01-27 22:26, Djones wrote:
You always go to the lowest peak to determine its note imo.
The low part is responsible for the oomph in your kick and that oomph you want to tune with the rest of your track.
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Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for 
and yes, I can't always trust them and I won't always, but using ears and an analyzer...imo, the more the better just to be sure of myself. |
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Xetni
Started Topics :
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68
Posted : Jan 27, 2014 23:28
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What are you synthesizing with? For example if I use Sytrus and set the pitch sustain, I can hold the note and look at span to see where the peak will stay at the end of the pitch bend, that is the fundamental and you tune this according to your bass. |
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Analog Archangel
Started Topics :
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Posted : Jan 27, 2014 23:47
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On 2014-01-27 23:28, Xetni wrote:
What are you synthesizing with? For example if I use Sytrus and set the pitch sustain, I can hold the note and look at span to see where the peak will stay at the end of the pitch bend, that is the fundamental and you tune this according to your bass.
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Soundforge, I just loop a 4/4 beat with kicks on solo and when I'm analyzing I just get SPAN to hold when it peaks. I don't use Fruity Loops so I cannot use sytrus but I get what you mean, that also works
now, Djones was saying the lowest peak, and you're saying the last drop off peak which is what I thought... :S |
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Xetni
Started Topics :
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68
Posted : Jan 27, 2014 23:51
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Isn't it a bit difficult to get a kick that will fit your track in Soundforge? Because you don't hear it at the same time as the rest of the track.
Yeah let me explain - a psy kick is basically a pitch bent sine wave starting from anywhere 3 - 9 khz or anything you prefer, and goes down to the bass region. Some kicks can sustain for some miliseconds at a certain note (maybe root of bassline or something else harmonically related), others will just drop clean straight down into the sub area, where the decay will fade out and it doesn't end at a particular note.
Both types of kicks can work well and give a different groove, depends how you synthesize them.
In my case I am talking about that if you are making a tuned kick that will end at a certain note ( even if it holds just for 5-10 ms, doesn't matter), then you can find the fundamental by holding sustain on the synth and it will hold at the lowest point of the pitch bend.
But if you are making this in soundforge then SPAN likely won't work because there might not even be a sustain and it is likely just a clean bend so you cannot find the fundamental. In this case you have to tune by ear.
Hope it's not too complicated. |
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Analog Archangel
Started Topics :
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Posted : Jan 28, 2014 00:22
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Touché bro, but there are tricks to this I believe.
You basically need to have the kick sample sent to one side of the stereo of SPAN, then you are going to need a basic sine wave from any synthesizer sent to the other stereo side of SPAN, this is possible because you can group channel in SPAN, set the FFT at a higher resolution, loop & playback kicks, while simultaneously playing the sine wave with your synthesizer, this will make it easier to find the note that the kick drum is currently sitting at because you're analyzing a basic sine wave that has no harmonics.
While I do agree that it is difficult to use kicks made with soundforge to fit, I don't really have any other options and I refuse to use someone elses because it's not something that I created.
My biggest problem though is changing the pitch of the kick drum to fit with the root note that I wanna use and the way work is I like to pick the root note first before I do anything else, and I know this may sound stupid but it works best for me.
Btw, I could hear the kicks at the same time as the sounds in my daw, the way I have my mixer setup allows me to, so I'm not worried at all. |
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Djones
IsraTrance Senior Member
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Posted : Jan 28, 2014 00:35
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frisbeehead
IsraTrance Junior Member
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1352
Posted : Jan 28, 2014 03:35
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is it not possible to create a pure sine tone in sound forge? then you'd pitch up a few octaves, bring it down to 0 (where the frequency you choose is) and there you go... or am I missing something here?
same thing on the synths, you pick a note, provided decay time on the pitch mod isn't longer then the amp envelope, it will land on such note
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frisbeehead
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : Jan 28, 2014 03:36
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Quote:
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On 2014-01-27 22:20, faxinadu wrote:
secondly, don't trust those damn analyzers
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why not? |
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faxinadu
Faxi Nadu / Elmooht
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3394
Posted : Jan 28, 2014 07:25
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Diagnosed Hippie
IsraTrance Junior Member
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75
Posted : Jan 28, 2014 08:04
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I'v use span ind every production of mine, not just too tune my kick but also too tune other percussion like bells and congas for example.. It's pretty reliable, one of the best if you ask me..! For the kick just look after the highest peak in the range from 30hz to 60hz then you should be good.. |
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Analog Archangel
Started Topics :
4
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Posted : Jan 28, 2014 08:25
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Quote:
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On 2014-01-28 03:35, frisbeehead wrote:
is it not possible to create a pure sine tone in sound forge? then you'd pitch up a few octaves, bring it down to 0 (where the frequency you choose is) and there you go... or am I missing something here?
same thing on the synths, you pick a note, provided decay time on the pitch mod isn't longer then the amp envelope, it will land on such note
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Yes it is possible in Sound forge, just create the sine, pitch shift and bump it up by 12 semitones which is 1 octave and there ya go, I guess I could try this..Thanks it's an idea
@Djones, have you tried using this plugin? I've never heard of it, thanks Is it possible to create some old school Goa kicks in here? |
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Analog Archangel
Started Topics :
4
Posts :
36
Posted : Jan 28, 2014 08:27
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Quote:
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On 2014-01-28 08:04, Diagnosed Hippie wrote:
I'v use span ind every production of mine, not just too tune my kick but also too tune other percussion like bells and congas for example.. It's pretty reliable, one of the best if you ask me..! For the kick just look after the highest peak in the range from 30hz to 60hz then you should be good..
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Now you're saying look at the highest peak, while others are saying lowest, or the drop off peak can't we all agree on one? Haha |
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