Subject:Changing the key of a song

Posted by: kirkdickinson

Date:3/16/2007 12:23:29 PM

I am a Vegas user, but didn't get a good response over there. Knowing that Vegas and Acid have common backgrounds and similar interfaces, I thought maybe some more musical types would be able to answer my question.

I knew that Vegas Video could change the pitch of audio or music.

I have a friend that has background music that she wants to use in church but needs the key changed. I can change the pitch to a more suitable pitch, but how can I change the key?

I know there has to be some equation for the difference in frequency between keys, but I don't know the equation or how that would even work with the pitch change settings in Vegas Video.

The other question is, does it really matter if the Pitch gets changed to fall on a normal key (in the A440 western tuning tradition) if there is no piano accompaniment? When I change the pitch in Vegas, all the pitches get changed relative to each other, so they stay in tune with each other even though they no longer fall on a recognized key pitch. Right??

Thanks,

Kirk

Subject:RE: Changing the key of a song

Reply by: AF_Eagle

Date:3/16/2007 1:16:11 PM

I'm not an expert, but the quick answer is it depends. If you are changing from a G Maj to an A Maj then you are essentiallly moving all the notes in a piece of music up (or down) to the new pitch. All the notes in a particular piece, if moved together, will still sound okay. What you can't do with a loop of complex music (i.e. containing more than one note) is change the loop (or chord) from Maj to Minor or Diminished, Augmented, Suspended or 7th, 9th etc. That requires moving some notes in a chord around while keeping others stationary. All ACID can do is change the pitch of the entire loop. A major loop remains a major loop, a minor one stays minor.

The answer to your second question is that as long as there are no other instruments trying to keep up with it, you can change it to something in between normal note ranges and it wont matter as long as all the music gets pitch corrected the same.

Cheers!

Subject:RE: Changing the key of a song

Reply by: kirkdickinson

Date:3/16/2007 3:13:26 PM

Thanks, I also got a pretty good answer over on the Vegas forum, but am a little dense in implementing it.

Kirk

Subject:RE: Changing the key of a song

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:3/21/2007 12:02:41 PM

Like AF Eagle said, ACID cannot change a particular note within a sample. It will transpose the whole shebang.

For example:

A melody in C Major:

C D E F E G C

could be transposed in ACID to F Major:

F G A Bb A C F


In addition, ACID only does what you tell it to. ACID does not analyze the frequency/pitch. You could tell ACID the sample you throw at it is in the key of C (Major), but could actually be F (Major). That's why it's important to know what you're doing when ACIDizing (the process of getting a sample ready for ACID to properly stretch to other keys and tempos).

I would probably change the key in ACID (taking into account of what I said before) and then render that out and use it in Vegas as is. If memory serves, Vegas takes a "what you hear is what you get approach," unless you use its compression/stretching tools, which might be a bit unwieldy in this situation. I would think it'd be better to just leave the track alone in Vegas.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: Changing the key of a song

Reply by: tinsmith

Date:4/29/2007 2:29:34 PM

Is it possible to change a song with an altered pitch to an MP3 or WAV & keep the pitch altered?

Subject:RE: Changing the key of a song

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:4/29/2007 2:37:10 PM

Yes. Render As ... to a new file.

Subject:RE: Changing the key of a song

Reply by: tinsmith

Date:4/30/2007 7:01:20 AM

Thanks...I'll give it a try tonight.

Subject:RE: Changing the key of a song

Reply by: tinsmith

Date:4/30/2007 6:24:40 PM

Thanks again.

It worked like a charm.