Hello my friends, I have a problem that I dono how to solve.

Since 1990's I play guitar live with a band.
In this situation we start a song playing slow (80bpm i.e.) and as the music goes on we speed up the time, organically and together.
When we get to the chorus we are already at 90 bpm and then, after the energy explosion, we get back to 80bpm.

Now a days I compose/record alone all the tracks: guitar, keys, drums and bass on FL Studio.

What I am doing in some cases is an automation of the BPM from 80 to 90 during the pre-chorus and the results are not so good like I wish it could be.

Questions:

1) this kind of automation could reduce/distort the quality of the samples/VSTs on the final render?

2) is there another way to simulate this organic speed up and down of the bpm?

3) How do you do this? Or do you produce just songs with static bpm?

PS.: These songs are not made to be mixed by a DJ in a club, because it would very evil...

 

I need ideas, guys, help me.

 

Hey sacy,
if i understand correctly you don't want any warping or anything to your audio, you just want to change the grid, right?
so no, it shouldn't produce any artifacts in the final export.
btw, i know us to be from the same country so boa sorte

 

So BPM for the rhythm is ok. If the drummer in your case beats the rhythm or drum track at 80 beats and the solo then at 90, that's good and important for orientation. But the guitar should be played by feel and the vocals should be sung by ear. The bass is oriented to the drums.
Most of the analog stuff from back then sounds much better, even today, compared to the digital stuff.

Audio Speed Changer Pro 1.5.5.168 x86 --> Sisterside

Audio Speed Changer Pro allows you to speed up audio files without changing the pitch. It is primarily intended for accelerating audio books as well as podcasts, but can be surely used with any other sound track or file. Batch processing feature and convenient user interface make Audio Speed Changer Pro a valuable tool for book listeners and authors who want to save time.

The Best Timestretch and Pitchshifting Software & Plugins
www.loopmasters.com/articles/4628-The-Best-Timestretch-and-Pitchshifting-Software-Plugins

Speed Up or Slow Down Songs
https://audiotrimmer.com/audio-speed-changer/

Record speed up/slow down simulation plugin?
https://www.reddit.com/r/makinghiph...peed_upslow_down_simulation_plugin/?rdt=47726

 

Last edited: Oct 12, 2024

Here's what I did on a track I recorded where the outro would slow down until it was about half the original tempo:
Set up the measures at a constant BPM throughout the measures themselves, so that when BPM changes, it changes in discontinuous steps right at the start of a new one and not in a continuous slope that would make BPM variable inside each measure. It will end up looking like a staircase. To me, this made it easier to make sure I wasn't swinging wildly while recording the tracks.
Afterwards, activate the metronome and record over it.

 

Last edited: Oct 12, 2024

Thank you very much. This is a solution I didnt try yet. I gonna do this today to test

 

always harder to explain/understand than give ideas lol hopefully I have understood what you mean:

thats because you are making the BPM variation/automation when you have already rendered to wave files?
if so...thats pretty obvious

you have to make the BPM automations WHILE you still have all tracks PLAYIN IN MIDI,
so you should act this way:

1 first of all make the structure of the track with ALL THE BPM automations, make the BPM track as FIRST thing, before recording anything, when the project is empty. That will be your guide

2 record/program your VST instruments while hearing the CLICK from the BPM automation track...

2b record your live performance (guitars, vocals, drums, whatever) while hearing the CLICK from the BPM automation track...

3 RENDER to wave only AS LAST STEP...and you will get perfect audio quality

 

Maybe this isn't practical, but why worry about BPM at all? Meaning, just play and record the first instrument for the entire song, speeding up and slowing down as you like. Then while listening back to this, record the second instrument, etc. This of course is how it was often done in the age of multitrack tape, though true, sometimes the whole band played together. But overdubs were necessarily done this way. Harder doing it one instrument at a time, rather than as a band together, but might work.

 

Setting up a tempo map inside your DAW project is not difficult. You just need to know where the changes are. If the player wants a click track/metronome, that will just follow the tempo map anyway. It would still result in less to fix than without the metronome because they will still play tighter to it, than without. A gradual change in bpm can be tricky, but a cut and dry tempo change should be easier to continue playing over, on beat with the click.

 

I hope it ends up working out for you.

 

Thank you, man. English Joel Santana style.
Obrigado, irmão. Eu achava que poderia causa artefatos na renderização

 

Thank you for the reply, sorry the bad english.
I am doing the automation before render.

It's hard to record vocal and piano with the automation on the bpm, but it seans the only way to go

 

I really like your answer. I was doing the drum track first with the automation on bpm.
I think i could play the piano, interpreting the song with emotion and the dynamics, than use it as a guide

 

exactly, your right. I'ts hard to follow the gradual change on tempo. But, I did a cut/dry tempo change, but, you know, when its below or above 10% of the original bpm, sounds strange to me

 

Live gigging has never been spot on with bpm it will drift! but if you need it to be perfect it needs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantization_(music)

 

This is also a good rule of thumb when time stretching samples using your DAW's algorithms. I know you can do all this stuff in FL because a few people I know do it. But for recording and editing external (non-midi) audio sources, I would make whatever music was needed in FL, bounce it to stems, import them and then record all the non-midi audio alongside them in something like REAPER. Mixing in a linear DAW is pretty much standard practice anyway. Even for FL users. This kind of task would be a piece of cake.

 

its impossible to follow the gradual tempo change, but when recordin in studio since 1980 we have to work with the "click track" eheheh

keep in mind:

1 do not write a STRIGHT LINE on the automation track. The tempo automation dont have to be a REGULAR LINE from x to y, even if in a short space like 2-3 bars, MAKE IT "natural". Up, down a bit, then up UP. then down a littel bit then again UP UP, then flat for 1 second and go on...until you reach the CHORUS or the point in which you have stable tempo

here's how a tempo track look like when I work with orchestral musi, thats in 1-2 bars, and i'ts "recorded like an instrument", I mean that I recorded the tempo automation with a midi controller (maybe a modulation wheel on a keyboard or something):


2 do not make STEPS, steps are the worst thing if you are looking for "emotional" and natural playing

this kind of automation can work in certain situations, but its
WRONG when looking for natural effect: