Ok i searched for this and didnt find much so bare with me here. I am a sample based producer. I like to take my sample, chop it up, add drums, layer accordingly, filter out the low end and then add my bassline to give the track a real groove. the only problem is, I have a very very hard time being able to tell whether or not the bassline is in key with the sample or not. I know there are programs out there like melodyne but i want to be able to rely on my ears, which for whatever reason i am not. I know this is a very vague question, but does anyone out there have tips for being able to tell the key of a sample after it has been chopped and the pitch has been adjusted? thanks in advance.
basslines
- Thread starter RCbeats
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Honestly...best way is to teach your ears to know..
So if you know something is in Amin, you can teach your ear to recognize that sound....and do the same with the others...there's really no quick and easy way, unless you use programs like Melodyne.
So if you know something is in Amin, you can teach your ear to recognize that sound....and do the same with the others...there's really no quick and easy way, unless you use programs like Melodyne.
Yeah it just takes a good ear and time to develop that skill of playing or writing basslines by ear, knowing all the scales and notes does help a lot but you really need to be able to mentally hear notes in your mind...for example, I started out playing sax, the first scale I had to learn was a basic C scale...I learned that scale so well that today I can hum a "C" in front of a guitar tuner and almost be dead on. Eventually I could mentally hear all the notes of that scale in my mind. That helped a lot when I started playing bass guitar, I had the hardest time reading notes because sax music is in treble clef, and bass guitar is written in bass clef...even though a "C" is a "C", on sheet music they're in different places.
You can do it though, sooner or later it will become second nature and you'll find yourself listening to music and knowing the notes by the letter.
You can do it though, sooner or later it will become second nature and you'll find yourself listening to music and knowing the notes by the letter.
just find the root note on the down beat and play with every note in that scale until it sounds good. That's what I do. Also if you have a sample filtered so the low end punches leave it as is. 9 times outta 10 if the low end is punching you don't need to add a bassline.
Melodyne is a great program but it's not going to cure any bass problems, it has a Direct Note Access feature but you still have to rely on your ears. It's all about what sounds right (like everyone is saying). Here's what you do...drink some Henn until you feel a slight buzz, then go for it, do your bassline and play around with it until it sounds right, don't wear your ears out, work on it in pieces, take a break and come back after you've had a chance to forget the song (so to speak...), it still amazes me how your mind can hear what it wants to hear then you come back later (on some fresh ears), and you hear whats really in your song...lmao! If it still sounds good, you've done it, if not play around with it some more, take a break and check it again.
Here's a helpful tip...even though you are changing the bassline and creating your own, 99% of the time you wont be changing the key of the original song that you chopped. So you'll be basically using the same notes as the original but in a different pattern. Just find and use the notes in the original track but with your pattern.
Here's a helpful tip...even though you are changing the bassline and creating your own, 99% of the time you wont be changing the key of the original song that you chopped. So you'll be basically using the same notes as the original but in a different pattern. Just find and use the notes in the original track but with your pattern.
UNORTHODOX
Father Timeless
This was my response, or figuring out every note played in the sample and using all of those to figure out the key of the sample so you can free range on the bass
wrightboy
Formally Finnigan
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 7
this is what i do.
If you find yourself having trouble training you ear and want to fast track the creation process melodyne is so quick...all you do is transfer the phrase and every note played will come up on a piano roll interface, then just peep the lowest notes and those are gonna be the ones that are safe to play...its not as cool as having a trained ear but nobody will care how you did it if the beat is hot...Melodyne has to be the best plugin I've bought it makes things like finding scales of samples and tuning kicks super quick.
Step Soprano
ILLIEN
ill o.g.
learning the scales is the ideal answer... no fuckin question. Poor man's answer, and the answer to auto tuning any dude who wishes he was Tpain? Mixed In Key, best 60 bucks you'll spend.
Relevant.
"An important aspect of RZA's unique production prowess comes not from something he's learned but from something he was born with — an innate ability to trust his own instincts. “If you go listen, I may have a slight off-beatness to my music, and I realize it's me,” he says. “Forever may have been more quality than 36 Chambers, but it still never met the quality of what Dr. Dre's doing…I still never had that wide-EQ produced quality. I got the same SSL they got, the same big speakers, the same system. I just don't hear it how they hear it. I hear it how I hear it.
“Method Man will vouch for this and Tru Masta will vouch; if you come to my studio session, if you touch one fader after I mix everything, you'll be like, ‘That's not on beat.’ The only thing keeping it on beat are the levels of where everything is at. You got like 15 things making one sound. I take all these different elements and make it one tone, but if you move anything, it falls apart like a card-house.”
Although some producers will tell you that the rhythm section has to lock together, RZA sees it differently. “Most producers want their bass to hit with their kick,” RZA demonstrates with an impromptu beatbox, “but I don't think you need to. The bass can be wherever the **** it wants to be, as long as it has a space of operation. Sometimes my bass note isn't even the same key as my kick note. A long time ago I realized music isn't only a note and a melody and a harmony, it's also a pulse.”
“A lot of people are straight 1, 2, 3, 4,” Inspectah Deck chimes in. “They're so formatted, they think the snare has to come here. With this dude, the snare may come in on an off-beat, but when it come in, it come in with a smack. It come in and announce itself. That's the difference between him and a lot of other producers. That's why we sound the best when we rhyme with him.”"
"An important aspect of RZA's unique production prowess comes not from something he's learned but from something he was born with — an innate ability to trust his own instincts. “If you go listen, I may have a slight off-beatness to my music, and I realize it's me,” he says. “Forever may have been more quality than 36 Chambers, but it still never met the quality of what Dr. Dre's doing…I still never had that wide-EQ produced quality. I got the same SSL they got, the same big speakers, the same system. I just don't hear it how they hear it. I hear it how I hear it.
“Method Man will vouch for this and Tru Masta will vouch; if you come to my studio session, if you touch one fader after I mix everything, you'll be like, ‘That's not on beat.’ The only thing keeping it on beat are the levels of where everything is at. You got like 15 things making one sound. I take all these different elements and make it one tone, but if you move anything, it falls apart like a card-house.”
Although some producers will tell you that the rhythm section has to lock together, RZA sees it differently. “Most producers want their bass to hit with their kick,” RZA demonstrates with an impromptu beatbox, “but I don't think you need to. The bass can be wherever the **** it wants to be, as long as it has a space of operation. Sometimes my bass note isn't even the same key as my kick note. A long time ago I realized music isn't only a note and a melody and a harmony, it's also a pulse.”
“A lot of people are straight 1, 2, 3, 4,” Inspectah Deck chimes in. “They're so formatted, they think the snare has to come here. With this dude, the snare may come in on an off-beat, but when it come in, it come in with a smack. It come in and announce itself. That's the difference between him and a lot of other producers. That's why we sound the best when we rhyme with him.”"