


We have a few options here though, depending on a few specifics such as the DAW you use and your audio format. So, if you were to make two copies of an audio clip and slow one of them a little, the notes would get out of sync pretty quick. This is because lowering the pitch of already-rendered audio requires lengthening it, like setting a slower speed on a turntable. What should be clear from this description of the phase interference caused by detuning is that it only works when you have another sound that your detuned sound is detuned relative to - in other words, you need two sounds or oscillator voices!Īudio clips can be harder to detune than, say, the output of a synth or sampler, where you can just lower the pitch of one of the oscillators or voices by a matter of 5-10 cents (i.e. You can hear it at work on some sine waves here:īeating occurs when the sound waves from the original audio and slightly detuned copy interfere - adding together to sound louder and then later counteracting each other, quietening the overall signal, before adding together once again when the waves line up. Here's the loop, a jazzy rhodes electric piano riff, in its original form:ĭetuning one audio signal just a little away from a copy of the signal playing at the original pitch results in something called 'beating', which is where a tone gets periodically louder and quieter at a rate determined by the amount of detuning. I'll be using a loop from our LA Beats collection for demonstrating points in the discussion below, so check it out if you like what you're hearing! DAWs, samplers and synths all provide different methods for manipulating pitch, with the most challenging to modify being raw audio loops. What you need to do to detune a sound depends on how you're working with the audio that makes up your track. This time, I'd like to take a closer look at another excellent technique for adding that analog feeling into your digital productions: detuning. In my last tutorial, I showed you some top tips for injecting analog-style warmth into digital sounds.
