pitching samples up messes with the key (no exact key)

[crew14]

I know Countless hip hip record have had sped up samples.

As far as i know, the most common method they (producers) sped up samples is by pitching them up in their sampler.

I have tried this, but i have found by pitching up samples, it messes with the key.

For eg: a sample is in the key of C, i pitch it up And it's neither a D nor E, how is a singer supposed to sing (the hook) over this, if the sample is not on an actual note?

Is there a certain method on pitching up samples to a certain note? I can't tell just by listening to a sample what key it is in, i have to struggle to find that out, so is their an easy why on how i could say pitch up a C sample, exactly to a D or and E? I'm guessing this is what producers do, if they want their singers, and other added instruments to remain in tune and in key.

By pitching up using the cents value, i really have no indication on what note im pitching sample too, but is this how the majority of producers do it?

Btw, i'm just using these notes as examples.....

[Greens]

Im not familiar with hardwear samplers, but with softwear samplers their are functions which let you transpose up samples in semitones and cents, prehaps you could try this.

Secondly you could put the sample in something like melodyne/autotune and shift the note to a desired pitch without it even being sped up.

Hope that helps

[Greens]

I think their are 100 cents to a semitone, or it might be in a tone.................but they are definately directly linked.

[KevWest]

100 cents to a semi tone a semi tone is one half step on the scale

[crew14]

icic, but what happens if im pitching up a sample only 75 cents or 175 cents?

how would the singer be able to sing in key to that? or get session musicians to play in key?

other producers must have face this issue?

[KevWest]

match the pitch. u can detune any instrument and a singer should be able to sing on any tone even if it is a real note it shouldnt be hard

[electric]

most samplers can pitch in semitones. i use mpc which has a nice tuning transposition feature so you can listen to any sample and arrange over the 16 pads in acsending or decending order. however a lot of times you may find a sample that is not 100% in key anyway(in fact this happens all the time) ....use your EARS! some samples are impossible to be in perfect tune by nature because they may contain several intstruments that collide a bit with each other. however you can ususally come so close its not noticeable. top notch producers best weapons are their ears. they know when they hear a sound that will be useful and they can also tell as they manipulate sounds in an arrangement when they are working together (ie in tune).

also - one of the best things about hiphop is that you hear tons of "blu notes" in many arrangements. that is- notes that lie in between the standard scale. this is one of the reasons hiphop can sound so good. (or bad if done poorly) blues/ jazz musicians play notes off scale all the time.

best of luck.

electric

[Methlab]

yeah..use your ears..but blue notes are passing notes that are still in a 12 tone scale, you can tune to those easier then what he is talking about.

[Tidewater]

Impossible. Humans can only sing in perfect pitch.

Here.. let me find a... there.

You need to get the sample tuned, anything else is asking for a mess.


M

[funkynuts]

perhaps he,s referring to quarter tones that you,ll find guitar and horn players use in blues and jazz rather than what we would call the blue notes which as you quite rightly say are part of the standard 12 tone chromatic scale.
Then again maybe i,m wrong

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Tidewater

Impossible. Humans can only sing in perfect pitch.

Here.. let me find a... there.

You need to get the sample tuned, anything else is asking for a mess.


M

watch the american idol auditions and youll think differently

[satellitelot]

Originally Posted by xabiton

watch the american idol auditions and youll think differently

you mean, watch american idol and you'll think differently

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by satellitelot

you mean, watch american idol and you'll think differently

lol naw some of them can sing. This season actually has some good people on there tho my girl Lisa Tucker got elminated and I stopped watchin

[Kiwiburger]

Impossible. Humans can only sing in perfect pitch.

Funny man.

Humans can sing any pitch, so you can pitchshift anywhere you like if it sounds good. The concept of 'perfect pitch' is flawed anyway, because the defininition of A = 440 hz is a relatively modern standard. Orchestras in the past used to use very different pitch standards. Digital tuners usually let you tweak the base pitch, because it's not a given that you will be using A = 440.

If you are working with a grand piano or something not easily re-tuneable, you will tune to that as your reference.

In the days of tape machines, pitch could vary all over the place. Varispeed was used creatively, just like digital pitch shifting is used now.