How Anal are you with key in production...

[serbia]

Good evening,

Curious as to how anal people are when it comes to key...

e.g i'm writing a track in e minor, bass line, kick etc all in key, but i have a synth 1 shot i've pulled from a loop and it sounds rubbish when transposed down from F to f sharp. As it's taken from a loop i dont think i have any other options to put it in to f sharp.

So how far does one go when producing with making sure stuff is in key. Do you make sure all your perc is in key or do you just go by ear?

And when it comes to beatport etc. how do the algorithms detect key, does it mean absolutely everything in a track is in key or do the algorithms for beatport/traktor etc just read "parts" of a song?

All thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

[Tarekith]

Just by ear, I never even pay attention to the key stuff in beatport tracks.

[Angstrom]

I generally go with it if it sounds right. Often a tricky note cluster(if it sounds right) will turn out to be some complex accidental inversion if I bother to work it out afterwards. If it works harmonically (sounds OK) it can stay in there.

However, I really hate a totally out of key sample. There's plenty of room for an inverted sus4 flat 9 which brings tension, but random accidentally atonal blarts . No, just no. It sounds like the "musician" has no ears.

For your specific example, I'm confused.
I guess you mean the sample has an apparent root note of F, and you are transposing it UP (not down) to F#, and it sounds odd in your E minor track. Which is understandable because F# is the second note in the scale of E minor, seconds aren't noted for their relaxing qualities. If the sample contains F minor, then why not pitch it down to E? If it's F major you'd be better off pitching it up to G, the relative major of E min.

I'm obviously missing something.

[david.barker]

There are scale and chord plugs to use with your sounds.

To make your music sound better and more importantly in key,lol

Ears are very good too,as you can easily pick up duff notes and such,ha,ha

[BoddAH]

Call me square but I'm pretty anal when it comes to key.

I find the mathematical relationships behind musical harmony to be a thing of almost divine beauty. If you know a thing or two about music theory, there's enough stuff you can mess with to make your music interesting without having to sound like you randomly threw some notes together.

When you use off-key notes or even chord alterations, it should always be intentional.

[djadonis206]

It doesn't hurt to know but don't rely on it to make music.

[yur2die4]

Theory and harmonic relations are great to understand and a great way to interpret wtf is going on with music and what it is doing to Us. The mechanics.

But the truth is, it is sort of a reverse engineering.

The music happened first, and then the theory.

You can do anything.

Let the listener figure out why it works if they want to