What is the best way to key my music…manually not with software. i have MIK but I want to learn to do it by ear. I’ve looked online and on here and keep reading articles about the root note but still confused. looking for a little know how from the community.
For 95% of popular music, the key of the song is the first chord of the verse/chorus/drop/what-have-you. So set a 1-bar loop on that first beat, and then sweep through all the notes in a scale on an instrument or in software until you’ve found the note that matches what you’re looping. In most cases, that note is going to be the key of the song.
^ What he said. Mind you, that will only determine what the Root note of the key is, but not whether it’s a Major or Minor key.
Buy a few books on basic music foundation, or take up learning an instrument. Having this secondary skill won’t only improve your ear for music, it will significantly increase your understanding of the structure of music and give you new mixing possibilities.
Easiest way to do it, for free? Go download Rekordbox and let it analyze your tracks. It will tell you what key it’s in as well. Also, even if its slightly off, if you use it to analyze all your tracks they’ll all be off by the same so you can still successfully mix in key.
Damn maybe I should’ve read the thread first. Whatever though, it’s way too early (that’s my excuse anyway). So I guess the answer to his question is “listen attentively to everything you hear in life and go get a theory book and CD to listen to what each key is supposed to sound like”?
This is exactly what i was looking for ^^^ thank you @Underwaterrobots !!
And to everyone else, thank you too. I have read some of the “music theory for dummies” book i have but wanted some actual more…hmmm…ears-on learning?? I guess lol. This books ok but i feel like there is probably better out there…is there any book that someone would reccommend beyond this? (introductory nothing to fancy)