Harmonic Mixing Chart

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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JamesFB
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:58 pm

Harmonic Mixing Chart

Post by JamesFB » Sat Feb 08, 2014 2:04 am

I made this chart to use for help with natural harmonic mixing. The Camelot system, though a good reference, doesn't take into account differences in tempo; this chart accounts for just this by showing you exactly how much a track, in cents, drifts when you push the tempo up and down...

So, if you want to mix between styles, and even just bounce around tempos within a particular style, a reference such as this should help keep everything sounding "natural" when leaving pitch correct software off, as well as allowing you to perfectly adjust the pitch of unwarped tracks (or insisting on adjusting the pitch of a warped track) when the lead track is pitched up or down from its neutral tempo.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-SD8E ... sp=sharing

Formulas were written & computed in Excel...
First graph, it's: =SUM(2^(T$2/12)-1) (where T$2 is the semi-tone shift)
For the second, it's: =PRODUCT(LOG(SUM(1,SUM(SUM(($U6,T$5),-$U6)/$U6)/100),2),1200,100) (where $U6 is tempo and T$5 is tempo shift)
Last edited by JamesFB on Sat Feb 08, 2014 8:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

mossby
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 2:48 am

Re: Harmonic Mixing Chart

Post by mossby » Sat Feb 08, 2014 3:38 am

Can you provide a short synopsis / link for what this is or how it's used? Seems up my alley, but this is my first encounter.

JamesFB
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:58 pm

Re: Harmonic Mixing Chart

Post by JamesFB » Sat Feb 08, 2014 4:57 am

Sure... I'll probably also be making a more printable version tonight, and I should host it through my web server instead of gmail...

For now...

In Ableton, when DJing, I've found it's imperative to leave tracks on "vinyl" mode to retain their proper shape. Same goes with any audio software... any sort of pitch-correction affects the quality of a signal.

So to avoid this, one must respect how the pitch of tracks, when warped and linked to a master tempo, will be altered. This chart is to indicate to you exactly how many cents a change in pitch will occur, relative to the change in tempo.

When I mix, I often throw in beatless tracks... so, if I have a lead track warped to 125 from 124, I know, according to the maths displayed on the chart, that I should increase the beatless track by 14 cents... this is pre-supposing that the lead track and the beatless track would have a natural harmony... which, when threatened by a pitch shift due to a warped tempo change, can now easy by accounted for and corrected...


Hope this makes sense. Cheers. :-)

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