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-- Changing tempo in the middle of a track?
Changing tempo in the middle of a track?
I haven't put much time into finding out how do do this, but maybe some of you have?
I'm wondering how to change the tempo in the middle of a track?
EX:
You start a track at 137BPM and after a breakdown, you want it to go down to 70BPM and increase up to 137BPM again. Without changing the melody ofcourse!!
It's been done in a lot of tracks. ex: Coast 2 coast - Searching (original Mix)
Any ideas anyone??
Thanx,
:::: peace through beats ::::
I haven't heard 'searching', but changing the tempo isn't really a good idea!
Now, if you absolutely want to do that, there are ways. I don't know what sequencer you are using, but, for example, in Cubase, you'd have to use the master track to set up your tempo changes.
However, as I'd be willing to bet (without even hearing the track), coast 2 coast never actually changed the tempo. What they probably did was just adjust the note lengths. If you're at 140 bpm, keep your track at 140, but make each quarter note a half note, each eigth note a quarter note, etc. That'll get you to 70 bpm.
I see what you mean, but how can I smoothly increase the track from 70 to 140 ??
I use Reason 2 and Cubase 5.1 (And a notecomposer called Musicator)
In cubase, click "Project -> Tempo track". The effect you want is easy enough to do.
i don't know, but i think i remember mauro doing this in some song...i would think that all you would need to do is make a melody, and then pitch bend it down to the desired bpm and the back up...i don't know really though...
Sorry, I didn't realize that you wanted to change the tempo gradually. Yes, that would be quite difficult using the method I described 
If you have fruity, would it not be possible to automate the tempo???
That might work, not sure...
Yes, it IS possible to automate track Tempo in Fruity, just like u can do to anything else. But just make sure that bfore u go playing with that, u set its initial tempo as default, so your track tempo wont go on the loose if u dont match the exact initial tempo after the automated process. Right-click it and turn on the option "start events in this position", or u can draw your automation line and click on the menu option "draw actual position" (or something like that, cant remember exactly), and just make the variation u want on that point whithout affecting the rest of the track.
Cant help with other sequencers, but the way to go should be pretty much the same...
Once i heard a very cool bangin track in some rave here, that after its energy peak, its tempo began to go down gradually and some strings rising and elements being added, until it stoped into a beautiful chilling breakdown, and then it rised again with full energy and the new elements rearranged after that (dont know which song is that), and it was so awesome (not to mention creative)! 
Searching does utilize a tempo change rather than note changes, it's easy to tell because the percussion elements are affected as well not just melody notes.
You can also do this in the mastering process later on.
Like in WaveLab 4 for example:
Select the area you want to use, go to Process -> Pitch Bend and apply as much pitch bend as you feel like. The pitch goes down along with the tempo of the track.
I'm sure other programs have similar functions too.
Well, but this will make the song pitch to decrease as well and change the melody and the notes lenght... Although its a cool effect, its not the case of the song he mentioned, where just the tempo is tweaked, not the pitch
Pitch shifting is a bad idea, it's not the same as a tempo change.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DC- Pitch shifting is a bad idea, it's not the same as a tempo change. |
I appreciate all the replies =) But still I'm a little confused. Are there any quality software that has a good tempo change function? When I try with Cool Pro and Cubase, the wav sounds like shit when I change the tempo (preserving the pitch)
I guess MIDI is the best format to work with when you want a tempo change. If anyone of you have experience with this, let me know.
Thanx =)
Dont use any tempo changing effect AFTER your song is done. U really has to do it in your project, before exporting, or u will get crap sounds.
Its just like working with images. When u ar in your project, u can move and edit your layers freely, but once u merge everything into a single file, u cant move each element anymore, unless u do some cutting-fixing.
With sounds its the same.
When u are working in your project, your synths are programed to generate a given sound at a given note, with given lenght, and it wont change with tempo, the tempo will only affect the space of time between each note.
But when u export it, everything becomes a single merged wav shape, and when u change the speed of a wav shape, its pitch changes as well. What these plugins that change tempo without changing pitch does, is a kind of cutting in each sound element it encounters in the song, and add-remove some silence time between them, but its never 100% acurate, especialy if u work on a complex file with lots of synths and percussion, so, u HAVE to to your tempo changes still in your project, never do it after.
Just automate it as u like.
MIDI are exceptions to this just because they are not wave files, they are files containing info on how notes play, in how much tempo, in which pitch, and so on, and the computer interprets it and generates the sound output real-time, just like when u are working on a project. So, if u change tempo in a MIDI file, its just reconstructed with this new setting. There are some more sound formats that works like this... But that doest help, since MIDI sucks, except for exporting notes info.
Hope this can help u
Ask if u didnt understand something
I know I have to do it before I merge the track into wav. But, often I use wav samples that I can't "refix" (effects, drums, etc...)
So, basicly. Never change the tempo of an wav-file. right? 
I guess I have to explore a bit using MIDI.
Thanx =)
| quote: |
| I know I have to do it before I merge the track into wav. But, often I use wav samples that I can't "refix" (effects, drums, etc...) So, basicly. Never change the tempo of an wav-file. right? |
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