Hello home recording folks. I have a stereo track, guitar and vocals, a folk thing. I want to be able to build a song around it, but the tempo is all over the place. Is there a program that can do this for me? or do I have to take the song bar for bar and adjust it to the grip, sometimes using time stretching.. Please let me know if there's an easier way. I don't have the session, only a stereo track with guitar and vocals recorded without a metronome and the tempo is all over the place. Thanks.
How to straighten a song tempo?
- Thread starter LToro
- Start date
rob aylestone
Moderator
Cubase has time stretch and tempo mapping built in. It's not the easiest thing to do until you've got the hang of it, but it works pretty well. If the time stretching is drastic, then there is a change to the audio quality, but mild adjustments seem pretty transparent. Success depends on the rhythmic content, however - and that means it may, or may not track properly.
Steenamaroo
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Hi Ltoro.
What software do you currently use?
I do this all the time in ProTools. It has a tool called elastic audio which puts an anchor on every transient.
That makes it really easy to line the anchors up with the grid.
I think it has an automated version, but I prefer to do it manually.
I should point out that the stretched track is always sacrificial in my case. I use it as a reference for building a mix, but it always ends up getting deleted and re-recorded once the mix is in place.
What software do you currently use?
I do this all the time in ProTools. It has a tool called elastic audio which puts an anchor on every transient.
That makes it really easy to line the anchors up with the grid.
I think it has an automated version, but I prefer to do it manually.
I should point out that the stretched track is always sacrificial in my case. I use it as a reference for building a mix, but it always ends up getting deleted and re-recorded once the mix is in place.
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R
RAMI
Guest
Not to hijack the thread, but actually it's sort of related....It happens occasionally that I finish a song, or a few tracks of a song, and then realize I want it to be faster or slower. But no matter how little change I make to the speed, whether it's a 2 track of the whole song, or even doing individually for each track, I always get artifacts, like an occasional farting bass drum hit or just some other wonky shit. Is it possible to change a song tempo cleanly?
Steenamaroo
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Steenamaroo
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I've never succeeded. I wanted to change a final mix by 1 bpm because I was making a slideshow for it and 1bpm made the difference.
Say it was a 59 bpm song and 60bpm would keep the picture transitions to nice round numbers in seconds, on the beat.
It sounded like ass.
You can get away with a lot more on individual (especially mono) tracks.
Steenamaroo
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Ah, that's a shame.
If it's just one song and you have a tempo in mind, I wouldn't mind doing it for you.
I'm pretty sure RAMI uses reaper and it sounds like he has the tools available to him.
You could check it out, maybe.
I am just learning about this, I am one those analog guys so... I think you can get less artifacts If you applied the effect in smaller chunks.
Hey thanks a lot Steenamaroo. Very kind of you. I'll hit you up if I need this done to the track!
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
So...just out of curiosity....when you simply listen to the song, is the fluctuating tempo very obvious, or are you mainly realizing the tempo varies because you are looking at it against the DAW timing track?
I'm all about using clicks/metronomes when recording....however, if the tracks are already done and don't *sound* bad timing-wise, you might consider leaving them alone and simply using them as you guide for any other tracks you need to record.
Like RAMI said....time-stretching is not a guaranteed process, and you can get a lot of artifacts and make things sound funny....so then you have to decide on what's more important, perfect timing or good sound.
Just think about both, and if you do time-stretch, have copies of the original so you can revert back.
I'm all about using clicks/metronomes when recording....however, if the tracks are already done and don't *sound* bad timing-wise, you might consider leaving them alone and simply using them as you guide for any other tracks you need to record.
Like RAMI said....time-stretching is not a guaranteed process, and you can get a lot of artifacts and make things sound funny....so then you have to decide on what's more important, perfect timing or good sound.
Just think about both, and if you do time-stretch, have copies of the original so you can revert back.
mjbphotos
Moderator
I've never succeeded. I wanted to change a final mix by 1 bpm because I was making a slideshow for it and 1bpm made the difference.
Say it was a 59 bpm song and 60bpm would keep the picture transitions to nice round numbers in seconds, on the beat.
It sounded like ass.
You can get away with a lot more on individual (especially mono) tracks.
Have you tried it in Reaper? I've only used the time stretching thing a few times, and never used it for a final mix.
Steenamaroo
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No, I only use ProTools.
Good point dude! But yeah the timing is all over the place, sometimes slowing down nine bit per minutes or speeding up as much.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
See....that's what happens when you mix alcohol and prescription pain meds....counting and tapping your foot at the same time becomes difficult.
Steenamaroo
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Hey, Ltoro, Keep in mind there are two options here.
1: Manipulate the recording to match a fixed tempo.
2: Create a dynamic tempo map to match to recording.
Both options mean song and grid match.
Just thought I'd mention this because sometimes fluctuations in tempo are intentional, right?
For sure! I love for things to be live and organic. In this case the singer doesn't want to re do the take and he wants it to be perfect, so..