Do You 'Key' Your Kick Drums? Here's Why You Shouldn't!

James Wiltshire demonstrates wave mechanics   12-Aug-22

There has been much talk, particularly in dance music circles, about keying your drums to match the melodic content of your music. In this video James Wiltshire of F9 Audio and formerly of the Freemasons explains why that is not the best idea. Looking at the physical interactions of waves and showing some examples, he demonstrates the phase cancellation of similar waves  - displaying what happens when your kick drum is at the same frequency of your bass. Here's some more info: 

The idea that your kicks should always be in key with your tracks has been touted as a 'pro-tip' for some time now .. Unfortunately, those pesky fundamental laws of the universe mean this is actually a terrible idea for modern producers ... Within just 5 minutes of your time and we'll show you why ...

As always - Don't believe the hype. I made this video after getting emails asking what key some of our clap or hi hat samples were in - I realised this had gotten way out of hand - hopefully this will be the start of the end of this particular theory.

More videos from James on his youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/F9Audio

Visit F9 Audio for his high end sample collections: https://www.f9-audio.com/

About the author [midierror]: midierror makes nifty Max For Live devices, innovative music hardware, award winning sample packs and hosts a podcast speaking to people in the music world.