So guys, anyone with good tips how to sync not so well played (tempo vice) recorded or played in instruments?
You know the drill: Bass, acoustic guitar, drums, maybe piano and so forth that are slightly not on the beat?
How do you guys deal with these probs to get the playing sound tight?
And to make it clear: No midi- recorded with a mic or played line in to a wav file...
Any suggestions..?

 

^^^ Co-sign, by far the best/easiest method I know about.

 

u redo the track after having learned to follow the beat

 

As far as being straightforward and being able to get it done quickly and easily, Ableton is probably the best solution if you have access to it. I'm not sure how much experience you have with these things, but it is important to note that there is no way to do what you want to do without affecting the original sound of the audio at all. If you only have to fiddle with it a little bit, you probably wont be able to notice any difference, but if the tempo is a mess you might want to consider recording it again with the drummer listening to a metronome through some headphones. It is also a little more difficult with recordings of live instruments because there is generally a lot more going on throughout the spectrum than, say, a drum machine that stays predictable and perfectly within the same pitch. Ableton does a darn good job though, and if you're close to what you need already, I doubt you will be able to tell any change at all outside the tempo correction.

Cheers!

 

You're completely right, but everywhere you go online and ask about this they answer with "ableton warp", so I thought it's like that for a reason. Anyway, I think you can do (exactly) the same like the ableton vid above with Flex Time yes...

btw, have you watched that vid I posted? He doesn't warp in a 'traditional' manner with 6000 warp markers, he just uses 2 or 3 if I remember correct, is that 'trick' also possible with Flex Time? That would be (a) great (timesaver) as I am an Logic user!

 

The thing is, if you have the drum track played to the T but the other instruments are rushing or dragging, how'd you guys deal with to make , say a 4 string bass match the kick drum not to mention other instruments like a guitar strumming etc.
Again without making holes to the original material.
Continuous material matched to the accents and beat(s).

 

Warp in Live/Cubase/ProTools. Flex in Logic.

Cut, stretch, move and crossfade in any other (older?) DAWs that doesn't have Warp or Flex.

 

With my ears

 

Metronome.

Other than that get a pair of headphones for recording. You need something for reference. Even the best drummer's in the world stray from tempo because your internal clock runs on your heartbeat and blood pressure. So for 98% of people out there trying to freestyle an exact tempo is unrealistic and you'll waste far more time trying than using a more traditional technique.

 

If they are all the same steady tempos, just not in sync, you line them all up by looking at the wave files and dragging all the downbeats so they line up on the timeline with timeline set to bars and beats. This is where you probably want to disable snapping. If you keep focusing down to line up the right parts of the file, and do test listens, you should be able to get them together. Make sure to lock it in time when you find the right spot and save right away. If things are wandering off on their own, doing "russian dragons" (speeding up, slowing down) all you can do is get in there and cut paste and drag sections, or individual notes to line up with the one you want to be the "clock". 9 times out of 10, as a real drummer, I play to a click or a drum machine or loop. Honestly, not all drummers do that very well. But some songs want to breathe a little, time wise. Depends on the song and the performer. I have done real sessions that went better when they stopped making people adjust their playing to machinery, but usually a producer or artist wants me to work with a click. And doing drums and bass tracks myself at different times, a click or loop or drum machine or some kind of clock is the only way you can work. One more tip, if you get everthing lined up, put a stem on the beginning so if you have to move the files somewhere else, they have a built in reference point.

 

Algae has a good point. If you mean just matching things up best thing is to zoom in as much as possible and depending on time signature it's not too bad. Most times the downbeat will always be slight louder [just human nature] drums are much easier since aligning snare hits is as easy as it comes.