Hi!
EDM producers probably always tune the kick and snare, considering it a mistake when you don't tune kick and snare...

...and how about pop and electro pop?
And if you tune drums in pop, do you have some notes range for the kick? like you tune the kick a note between e.g. E1 (41Hz) and C2 (65Hz) ?

thanks!

 

Tuning the Techno Kick Drum

If you create your own kick with a synthesizer, the fundamental pitch is determined by which key you press on the keyboard or which MIDI note you use to trigger the sound generator. To generate decent punch in a club, the fundamental pitch should be in the frequency range between 40 and 65 Hz. This rules out the key of D, for example, which is either around 37 Hz or 74 Hz. Ideal pitches would be F-sharp (46 Hz), G (49 Hz), or G-sharp (52 Hz).

 

i tune kick, clap, snare and even drum loops!

 

This comment shows wisdom far beyond genre-specificity listen to this man.

 

And to answer OP's question: yes.

EDIT: my favorite method for tuning drums is a bit tedious, but ALWAYS yields good results. Open Kontakt to new empty instrument. Under mapping editor, drag your drum sample (let's just say it's a snare) and widen the yellow region so you can play notes super high/low on your midi, or musical typing works fine. Then play basic scales of your snare (e.g. C Major scale) and fine-tune it alongside a piano as you go. It helps if your piano is digital because you never have to tune an electric piano!!

Of course, you can also use simple EQ tricks to tune a sound, specifically with sharp resonant Q values.

 

If you change a bass percussion instruments pitch, you also change it's size. Additionally you also change the relationship with the other instruments most of all with the bass. If you move the bass one octave up and then you move the bassdrum one octave up you'll find the bassdrum at ~100Hz. So the question arises: What's happening below this frequency now?
I can not see a reason for this.

To my experience in pop music it is in the most cases advisable to use acoustic percussion. There are exceptions which are mostly found in the years of 2008/2009 until ~2014 where the "hands-up" genre had a very big influence on pop music.

 

Last edited: May 17, 2025 at 9:14 PM

Guys,

With what plugin do you guys tune your kicks & snares ect..

Thank you

 

You can use any EQ to determine the frequency and therefore the note/pitch of any sound, however I don't usually go as in depth as getting every percussion sample to be exactly the right frequency.

I just use key detection software like mixedinkey to scan my drum sounds, and I'll use samples that fall into the right key, so they're harmonically fitting with each other.

Some producers have argued that as drums are transient sounds, and you can't generally *really* hear the pitch of some of them that it's not that important to get them in pitch, but they would be wrong

 

I read that. Still, there's nothing I won't tune, including cymbals and percussion, although it's quite often certain colour/timbre that I'm after and not just pitch purity.