I wrote this as a response to a question i got about how i tune my samples so i can compose over them... i figured it may help some cats out.............
all the synths i know of are perfectly in tune. On the mpc, to go up a step on the chromatic scale(to go up half a note) you use increments of 10 when pitching a sample up/down.
So for example if you have a perfectly tuned sample in the key of C and its pitch is at 0, to move it to c# you would pitch it up to 10, key of D 20, etc.. etc...
ALot of times(not always)when you lift a sample off vinyl its either sharp or flat(because of the recording and the record player) which means that it doesn’t fit within the chromatic scale(out of tune ,sharp or flat). Now some cats sit there and de-tune every composed instrament or bassline note to the pitch out of tune sample.
THis is tedioius and pointless,
Using my ear I just get the sample in tune to the nearest root key that i want it in. Sometimes i will have to pitch the sample to a strange number 27 one the mpc. Sense the sample is out of tune its not gonna fall perfectly on the 10, 20, 30 ,40 chormatic scale when you try to get it in-tune. But once you find were the tuning pitch number of the sample is, you still follow the same rule by moving it up or down increments of 10.
So say I have a sample from vinyl, to get it in tune to the key of C I have to pitch the sample to 13 on the mpc. If I want to move it up to C# then I pitch it to 23, Key of D 33…Etc.. etc.. Once you get the sample in-tune move it up and down in increments of 10
Now to tune the sample I use my ear, sense im a musician I can hear when something is out of tune pretty quickly and fix it. But if your not there yet you can just use a synth voice(hardware or software), play the note on the synth(piano, chours, whatever) and pitch the sample up/down until it sounds in-tune with the synth.
Sense synths are perfectly in tune you would have tuned the sample, by matching it with the synth.
Once this is done you don’t have to worry about pitching your other synths to the sample sense its already in tune. You can just play in the key of the samples with your synths and It will be in-tune with the sample…
All this should be done before you chop or manuplate the sample, u can do it to the entire song in cool edit if u want(so everything you chop for the song will be in-tune)
I use this on all my tracks that I sample(cause even when I sample I compose over it) for examples you can check out some of the tracks on my website and see what im talking about.
Class..
all the synths i know of are perfectly in tune. On the mpc, to go up a step on the chromatic scale(to go up half a note) you use increments of 10 when pitching a sample up/down.
So for example if you have a perfectly tuned sample in the key of C and its pitch is at 0, to move it to c# you would pitch it up to 10, key of D 20, etc.. etc...
ALot of times(not always)when you lift a sample off vinyl its either sharp or flat(because of the recording and the record player) which means that it doesn’t fit within the chromatic scale(out of tune ,sharp or flat). Now some cats sit there and de-tune every composed instrament or bassline note to the pitch out of tune sample.
THis is tedioius and pointless,
Using my ear I just get the sample in tune to the nearest root key that i want it in. Sometimes i will have to pitch the sample to a strange number 27 one the mpc. Sense the sample is out of tune its not gonna fall perfectly on the 10, 20, 30 ,40 chormatic scale when you try to get it in-tune. But once you find were the tuning pitch number of the sample is, you still follow the same rule by moving it up or down increments of 10.
So say I have a sample from vinyl, to get it in tune to the key of C I have to pitch the sample to 13 on the mpc. If I want to move it up to C# then I pitch it to 23, Key of D 33…Etc.. etc.. Once you get the sample in-tune move it up and down in increments of 10
Now to tune the sample I use my ear, sense im a musician I can hear when something is out of tune pretty quickly and fix it. But if your not there yet you can just use a synth voice(hardware or software), play the note on the synth(piano, chours, whatever) and pitch the sample up/down until it sounds in-tune with the synth.
Sense synths are perfectly in tune you would have tuned the sample, by matching it with the synth.
Once this is done you don’t have to worry about pitching your other synths to the sample sense its already in tune. You can just play in the key of the samples with your synths and It will be in-tune with the sample…
All this should be done before you chop or manuplate the sample, u can do it to the entire song in cool edit if u want(so everything you chop for the song will be in-tune)
I use this on all my tracks that I sample(cause even when I sample I compose over it) for examples you can check out some of the tracks on my website and see what im talking about.
Class..
