OT: Tuning Percusion Instruments

[I've posted this thread in the techniques forum but was hoping for a little exposure here]

I've always considered myself a fairly musical person though i'm fairly new to making music with computers. I've learned to play a number of instruments by ear and am fairly adept at tuning them.

However, the other day i saw a video demonstration of someone working in Reason, tuning various percusion intruments to the base line of the song. Much to my chagrin, i could not indentify when, how or why these samples were out of tune.

What was particlularly upsetting was the author making mention of '... how much better it sounds ... noticeable difference ...' the changes he was making.

My question(s) is this: is it common practice to tune hand claps, drums etc to the rest of the song in order for them to 'fit' or 'blend' in with the rest of the song? If so, does this person have a much better ear than i or is there a certain amount of experience/science to this that can be learned over time?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated,

C

ORIGINAL: SpiderHasLegs

[I've posted this thread in the techniques forum but was hoping for a little exposure here]

I've always considered myself a fairly musical person though i'm fairly new to making music with computers. I've learned to play a number of instruments by ear and am fairly adept at tuning them.

However, the other day i saw a video demonstration of someone working in Reason, tuning various percusion intruments to the base line of the song. Much to my chagrin, i could not indentify when, how or why these samples were out of tune.

What was particlularly upsetting was the author making mention of '... how much better it sounds ... noticeable difference ...' the changes he was making.

My question(s) is this: is it common practice to tune hand claps, drums etc to the rest of the song in order for them to 'fit' or 'blend' in with the rest of the song? If so, does this person have a much better ear than i or is there a certain amount of experience/science to this that can be learned over time?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated,

C

I can't speak to the merits of the particular Reason video you saw, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

If you have confidence in your own ear, experience, gut and monitoring environment, then just go with your instincts. You gotta take a lot of this advice and tutorials (including my own ) with an extremely large grain of salt.

That said, tuning a live band's trapset is frequently critical, especially if it hasn't been done in a while or it's been tuned in a haphazard fashion, or they've been gigging for 6 months ( it's... WHOOMPING when it should be KER-WHAMPPING). But unlike dealing with a sampled drumset (e.g. Reason) the problems that you record in a live environment, don't go away very easily. They remain with you as problems in the mix, and the mic spill effects the other instruments.

Sampled drums, as in Reason, are a very different story. You can change things much more easily after the fact. Yeah, you can play around with the fundamental of the bass and toms, etc, which can be effective, depending on the musical style. Still I gotta say I can't remember ever re-tuning a handclap )

But be wary of wasting your time nuancing something that really doesn't need it-- you can spend forever tweaking mediocre performances. If you're not hearing a difference, then work with those aspects of the music that you really DO hear a difference.

Regards,

Joe Tabby

Danwilms, Joetabby, Clik,

Thanks very much for your input on the issue. It seems, if i've understood your responses correctly, that it is somewhat of an art [not surprisingly] and by definition is open to interpretation, taste and subjectivity.

I suppose i was more intimidated than anything, considering i'm pretty new to the scene, and was thinking about pickung up my ball and glove and going home :) And by being a newbie, may have tendencies to obsess over things that are moot/trivial to you more experienced folk.

Thanks again,

C

matt rascal,

Hope my original post wasn't too vague.

The point i was trying to get accross is that once the rhythm section was laid out in Reason [which can apply to Sonar or any other DAW] the percussion samples ie; hi-hats, claps snare etc. were 'tuned' to be in the same 'key', dare i say, as the bass line.

The user in the video to which i refer, would adjust the tuning of the samples, as most DAW's allow, by tones and cents until the sample's 'sounded right'.

C

I suppose i was more intimidated than anything, considering i'm pretty new to the scene, and was thinking about pickung up my ball and glove and going home :)

Sorry -- newbies are NOT allowed to leave!