KICK AND BASS IN KEY???

Hey Ryan,

The best way to hear whether your kick has an obvious key is to change it's pitch, so transpose it up or down. Then, you'll hear any resonances or deep bass tones shift up and down. If you listen to the bassline whilst doing this, perhaps transposing the bassline up an octave temporarily so it's not masking the tones in the kick, or using a higher frequency synth part in your track if you have one instead of the bassline, then you'll be able to hear the tuning of each part and make sure they're harmonious.

Some kicks have much more of a sense of key, with a longer sustained tone or distinctive resonance, whereas other kicks can consist more of a wider band of frequencies all hitting at the same time. If you look on a spectral analyser (the Spectrum insert or turn on the analyser on the Channel EQ) whilst mixing your kick and bassline, it may help to provide more clarity about what's going on in the mix.....

Although, you'll want to make sure the kick isn't clashing with the bassline by pitch adjusting, you can also do a lot with EQ alone, reducing any unwanted peaks and making sure the kick and bassline work well together - some people find this much easier to adjust by sight than by ear (using a spectrum analyser), especially as the lower frequencies are harder to hear.

r