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Posted by keithos27 on Aug-18-2008 21:08:

Ableton Live - Warping tracks

How do you know which bars to set the warp markers on? Someone told me 1, 2, 4, 8, 17, and 50.

I've noticed that the wave form on the earlier bars is pretty easy to follow but once I get out to 17 or 50, for example, it's much harder to find where the song crosses the 0 axis (turns up).

Any good articles/tutorials on warping someone can recommend?

I'm trying mostly trance/progressive tracks. Some breaks here and there.

Posted by nefardec on Aug-19-2008 02:44:

lol you can do this on any bars or beats you want

just make it make sense

it's not rocket science

put 1 on the first beat, 1.2 on the second, etc etc

you can do as many as you need to.

Posted by keithos27 on Aug-22-2008 14:51:

I was wondering if anyone can help me out with this.

I'll first load the audio track. Once Ableton has analyzed the track I find where the first beat hits and place the first warp marker there. Then I'll adjust the analyzed BPM to the closest whole number (say if it's 133.99 I'll change it to 134). Then I'll go towards the end of the track and find some marker, double-click it to lock in and set that warp marker on the beat.

That works fine for some tracks and not for some others. For some once I lock in that last warp marker and I try and move it to the beginning of the beat it'll then change the analyzed BPM from 134 back to 133.99.

What's up with that?

Thanks,
Keith

Posted by Ryan0751 on Aug-22-2008 17:29:

Look on youtube for some examples.

For nearly ALL EDM tracks that are a consistent beat, you only want a SINGLE warp marker.

What I do:

1. Set a warp marker on the first beat. Right click on it, click "warp from here straight". Make sure you zoom in and get it really accurate.
2. Go to the end of the track, and align the beat markers (without turning them into warp markers!) to the beat.

The BPM should now show a nice round number, and it should look lined up.

I recommend that you find a reference kick to "test" your tracks against, rather than check against the metronome (which is hard to hear).

After doing steps 1 and 2, create a 32 bar loop at the beginning of the track. Start the track playing along with the reference kick, and listen. It should sound tight. Click on the loop bar, hit the up arrow to move the loop another 32 bars right. Listen, it should sound tight. Keep doing this until you've gotten to the end, if it still sounds tight, CLICK SAVE on the clip and move to the next track.

Posted by Beatflux on Aug-22-2008 19:15:

quote:
Originally posted by Ryan0751
Look on youtube for some examples.

For nearly ALL EDM tracks that are a consistent beat, you only want a SINGLE warp marker.

What I do:

1. Set a warp marker on the first beat. Right click on it, click "warp from here straight". Make sure you zoom in and get it really accurate.

Most of the time in trance I will start on the 1 beat, but sometimes due to instrumental intros or a first beat visually cluttered by an introductory sound, I'll use the 2nd or 3rd beat which can be more easily identified.

After getting the first beat down, which is in my opinion the hardest part, I check the 9th bar, somewhere in the middle, and the very last bar. If I'm feeling confident I'll just check the last bar for a minor adjustment.

I typically don't bother to check to see if the song matches up to a loop or the metronome, because I have it down pretty well. If you do need a reference, I would suggest the metronome because it's going to be more precise and I think it's easier to hear because it's more distinct. If you have to warp the reference loop it's going to be rather pointless.

Posted by Ryan0751 on Aug-22-2008 19:56:

The problem with the metronome versus a reference kick is that you can't hear flanging due to being just slightly off... if you're gonna use ableton to beatmatch for ya, it better be PERFECT

Posted by kadomony on Aug-23-2008 02:32:

what i do:
i have ableton auto-warping OFF always.

set 1st beat, 1st measure.
set 1st beat 2nd measure.
set bpm of the track to the closest half number (which is usually a whole number)

adjust loop bar in the waveform view so that it is on 1st beat, with a length of 16 beats and zoom in close enough to see the detail of the beat.

click the loop bar, hold shift and up to scan through the track quickly 16 beats at a time. this way, you can see if the track drifts. if it doesn't drift, you'll see the same waveform pattern holding steady on the beat with some minor changes in shape in your view.

if it does drift off of the beat marker that is in the center, adjust the last beat that the loop lands on to be on beat. usually, that'll pull everything else into alignment since the drift was caused by a regular timing offset in whatever program the track was rendered in.

in the case of vinyl rips. you may need to scan through and set your markers every 16 beats.

in the case of REALLY bad vinyl rips you may need to scan through with the loop set at 4 beats and adjust every 4 or less!

most wavs and 320's are steady though and only require setting of the 1st beat or an adjustment of one marker at the end and you're good.

Posted by Rebel Brown on Aug-24-2008 18:25:

www.abletonlivedj.com is a good resource for your Ableton needs, just make sure you search before you ask any questions.