playing to tracks, and pitch / tuning

[Soledad]

One of my favourite pastimes is playing along to tracks. But somewhere between the studio floor and my mp3 there has been a pitch shift. I'd say almost every time and never consistent even on one album. So I get in tune, and every track is out.
On fretless I could adjust but it's bad practice anyway I think as it messes with muscle memory. On the fretted it's a nightmare.

What's to be done? 

[BigRedX]

For anything recorded in the pre-digital age, if the tempo didn't feel right when it came to mastering, then the individual tracks would be vari-speeded to give the right feel with no regard for what it would do to the pitch.

[jrixn1]

You could use the pitch shift function of software like Reaper or Audacity (or another one). I think Audacity can detect the frequency of the file and then you can correct that to the nearest "real" frequency.

[Delberthot]

This is what I use:

http://onlinetonegenerator.com/pitch-shifter.html

Especially handy if you have to learn a song in a different key to the original or if you are learning Footloose which isn't quite Bb but should be in A and has probably been sped up from the original

[Paul S]

Very useful - thank you.

[Soledad]

1 hour ago, Delberthot said:

This is what I use:

That looks very handy, usually I'm only looking to shift +/- halftone, just in tune to me. If I was transposing a song I'd normally learn it in source key then transpose how I want, so this is just to tweak to be in tune.

SO, help please - I'm generally using Spotify as source - does this require files on a local drive? Basically what do I plug together and how??

[thebrig]

Just tried the Online Pitch Shifter and although the "Maintain Tempo" box is ticked, it speeds up and slows down whenever you move the slider

[Little Dragon]

Spoiler

 

Someone once told me you can adjust the pitch and tempo on Youtube. Burgered if I can work out how mind!

[Reggaebass]

6 minutes ago, Little Dragon said:

  Hide contents

 

Someone once told me you can adjust the pitch and tempo on Youtube. Burgered if I can work out how mind!

I occasionally use the playback speed , but I haven’t seen any settings for the pitch 🙂

[Soledad]

How about I come at it from the other end - i mean pitch shift the bass? Is that possible. I'll look into it - it must be a very common issue, virtually no track is on pitch to std tune 440A, they are all over the place, just by a painful amount, like 73% of a semi...!!

I can't be alone in this, if anyone knows a neat simple way, I'd love to hear.

[OzMike]

I use the paid version of Anytune  on my iPad and allows you to tune the mp3 / wav up or done an octave in fractions of a semitone , and also stores this setting per tune. If you have a Mac or iPad IMO this app is the best for working out bass parts and learning / practicing songs.

[Soledad]

43 minutes ago, OzMike said:

I use the paid version of Anytune

This sounds very promising - i'm going from Spotify playlists on my iPhone to a playback. I'll investigate Anytune - may need the bigger UI of a pad but sounds exactly what I need - also it's not the odd track I want to tweak. I often just run a dozen quite random tracks and aim to get into them quick. I think it's good practice to force me to play styles and lines that are outside my 'habit'.

[skidder652003]

1 hour ago, Soledad said:

How about I come at it from the other end - i mean pitch shift the bass? Is that possible. I'll look into it - it must be a very common issue, virtually no track is on pitch to std tune 440A, they are all over the place, just by a painful amount, like 73% of a semi...!!

I can't be alone in this, if anyone knows a neat simple way, I'd love to hear.

fnnaaarr!

[Soledad]

45 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

fnnaaarr!

que??

[pete.young]

2 hours ago, Soledad said:

How about I come at it from the other end - i mean pitch shift the bass? Is that possible. I'll look into it - it must be a very common issue, virtually no track is on pitch to std tune 440A, they are all over the place, just by a painful amount, like 73% of a semi...!!

I can't be alone in this, if anyone knows a neat simple way, I'd love to hear.

Why not just retune the bass? What am I missing?

[Soledad]

15 minutes ago, pete.young said:

Why not just retune the bass? What am I missing?

I use this to play a tracklist, could be quite a few tracks and I use it as a challenge to go straight in and play tracks I don't know, so for me it's practice that forces me across styles, chord progressions, pick to fingers etc. Re-tuning seems the obvious option but if you try living with that every single track, it is an absolute pain = and it breaks the non-stop flow.

[skidder652003]

2 hours ago, Soledad said:

que??

https://ukcomics.fandom.com/wiki/Finbarr_Saunders

[xgsjx]

23 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Well, I’ve had several songs in a set with a variety of tunings errors. Easier to retune the song once and permanently rather than keep changing the tuning of the bass.

Capo?

You could detune to the lowest & then capo as per song pitch. 

[Soledad]

1 hour ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Ha ha. I can’t work out if you’re joking or not. I hope you are.

I'm inclined to guess that Hiram is closely associated with a Rickenbacker, in which case being in tune is not an issue

But just to be sure, it's the parts of a halftone that hurt, if the shifts were exact halftones I'd be OK. 

Doea anyone actually use a capo on a bass... is it even legal?

[Stub Mandrel]

34 minutes ago, Soledad said:

Doea anyone actually use a capo on a bass... is it even legal?

Only in private.

It can be brilliant, letting pedal strings ring at the 5th or 7th fret without the open boom can sound great, fuller and deeper than a guitar.

[xgsjx]

Capos are only for acoustic guitars. Even electric guitars should refrain from using them & just man up & learn the chords. 

Playing in a worship band that’s female lead, there’s very few songs played in the original key, which can make the song sound nothing like the original. 

[xgsjx]

Oh, I rememeber this bloke using a capo on bass...