How do unpitched percussion instruments not have a pitch and how does whatever noise they produce not potentially create dissonance with the music they complement? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Surely if you measured their sound they would have a pitch technically...

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[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

Unpitched percussion instruments do have a pitch. Basically like everything else other than a sine wave generator, their sound is complex.

If you look at the fourier transform view of the signal, you’ll see a peak. Generally speaking that peak is the tone the thing makes.

This is why one recommended step in something like Ableton Live is to put a shaping filter on the drums, and then tweak the peak of that filter up and down until the drums either match or complement the tones of the notes.

this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024

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