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How to create an effective beat grid in Ableton Live.
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| Beatflux |
If you�re wanting to program or mix your electronic tracks live with Ableton Live then you are going to need to create a beat grid for each song. The beat grid is a grid that maps out the timing of a song so that when you play two tracks together they will be beat match(you want beat matched).
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The first step is to grab your song so:
1. Click on one of the folder icons on the left and browse for your song.
2. Drag your track to either the session or arrangement view, it does not matter.
Your track will be analyzed so just wait for a few seconds�The track should no longer appear opaque and it will be at the bottom of the screen.
3. In the �Sample� box double click on �Warp� so that it clears any markers placed by the program.
4. Next, you want to find the first beat of the song with the magnifying glass. To use the magnifying glass you click and hold on the track and move the mouse up or down. To move the track from side to side, just click and hold and move the mouse side to side.
5. Once you think you have the first beat, take the highlighted number �1� marker and place it at the beginning of the beat.
6. Next you want to look for the second beat, and place the 1.2 marker(stands for 1st bar, 2nd beat) on the second beat.
7. Now check the 9.1 beat and adjust for inconsistencies. If the marker lines are ahead of the beat, then drag them to exactly the front of the beat, and vis versa.
8. Turn on the metronome which is the black and white circle button at the top and play the first 8 bars. If the clicks of the metronome match your song, then you are good to go.
9. Play the song by clicking above the markers and check every 16 to 32 bars for straying beats.
10. Once you have your track matched, click on the �save� button in the �Sample� box.
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If you can�t get the first couple of bars to match, it could be the song.
If there are any questions, let me know by replying in the thread.
Happy mixing! |
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| Floorfiller |
| you can do that...or you can just choose the right algorythm in Live to do all the work for you... |
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| Beatflux |
| quote: | Originally posted by Floorfiller
you can do that...or you can just choose the right algorythm in Live to do all the work for you... |
How?
Edit: As far as I know, there is no better way to warp tracks than to do it yourself. |
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| Ryan0751 |
There are actually umpteen different ways you can warp in Live. Some things work better for some people, etc.
A couple of things I've learned that might help you out:
1. Don't call it a beat grid, it's warping. Beat gridding is a Traktor term :)
2. In the BPM/tempo entry box for the clip, the value will likely be close to a specific BPM (127.2, 128.4), round the value and enter it (127, 128, etc.). Since nearly all EDM is produced at a rounded BPM value, this will help ableton to determine where to place warp markers.
3. Next, set the first warp marker on the first beat of your track. Get it as accurate as you can.
4. Now zoom all the way to the very last marker, and set that.
5. Return to the first marker... now, for EDM (which has a steady beat 99.999% of the time, unless you ripped it from vinyl, etc.) right click the first warp marker and select "warp straight from here". This will force (or suggest) to ableton to place warp markers at very consistent places.
6. As an extra step to ensure accuracy, create a 16 or 32 bar loop at the beginning of your new track. Clicking the loop and pressing "alt-up/down" will move the loop up or down to the next/previous 16/32 bars in the track. Now, open a simple clean kick drump loop. Play the kick drum at the same time as your track loop (it's easier to hear then the metronome). Listen to ensure accuracy, and move the loop up through to the end of the track, checking quickly that everything is in time. If you need to make adjustments, do so, but run through the track once more. |
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| agentdansmith |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ryan0751
There are actually umpteen different ways you can warp in Live. Some things work better for some people, etc.
A couple of things I've learned that might help you out:
1. Don't call it a beat grid, it's warping. Beat gridding is a Traktor term :)
2. In the BPM/tempo entry box for the clip, the value will likely be close to a specific BPM (127.2, 128.4), round the value and enter it (127, 128, etc.). Since nearly all EDM is produced at a rounded BPM value, this will help ableton to determine where to place warp markers.
3. Next, set the first warp marker on the first beat of your track. Get it as accurate as you can.
4. Now zoom all the way to the very last marker, and set that.
5. Return to the first marker... now, for EDM (which has a steady beat 99.999% of the time, unless you ripped it from vinyl, etc.) right click the first warp marker and select "warp straight from here". This will force (or suggest) to ableton to place warp markers at very consistent places.
6. As an extra step to ensure accuracy, create a 16 or 32 bar loop at the beginning of your new track. Clicking the loop and pressing "alt-up/down" will move the loop up or down to the next/previous 16/32 bars in the track. Now, open a simple clean kick drump loop. Play the kick drum at the same time as your track loop (it's easier to hear then the metronome). Listen to ensure accuracy, and move the loop up through to the end of the track, checking quickly that everything is in time. If you need to make adjustments, do so, but run through the track once more. |
This is exactly how I do it. |
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| Ryan0751 |
Oh yeah one more step:
7. CLICK SAVE ON THE CLIP OR YOUR CHANGES WILL BE LOST :) |
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| kadomony |
i just do mine manually and keep autowarp off.
set 1st beat. analyze bpm with mixmeister bpm detector or other such program. enter bpm in section bpm.
for cdr rips/320s/wavs i just check a few beats further along the tune and make a couple touch ups if necessary.
vinyl rips i check every 16 beats:
set 1st beat
set a loop marker 16 beats in length
press shift+up/down to move quickly 16 beats forward/backward and compare waveforms.
adjust as necessary.
takes a bit longer but at least i know it's right :D |
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| miamitranceman |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ryan0751
There are actually umpteen different ways you can warp in Live. Some things work better for some people, etc.
A couple of things I've learned that might help you out:
1. Don't call it a beat grid, it's warping. Beat gridding is a Traktor term :)
2. In the BPM/tempo entry box for the clip, the value will likely be close to a specific BPM (127.2, 128.4), round the value and enter it (127, 128, etc.). Since nearly all EDM is produced at a rounded BPM value, this will help ableton to determine where to place warp markers.
3. Next, set the first warp marker on the first beat of your track. Get it as accurate as you can.
4. Now zoom all the way to the very last marker, and set that.
5. Return to the first marker... now, for EDM (which has a steady beat 99.999% of the time, unless you ripped it from vinyl, etc.) right click the first warp marker and select "warp straight from here". This will force (or suggest) to ableton to place warp markers at very consistent places.
6. As an extra step to ensure accuracy, create a 16 or 32 bar loop at the beginning of your new track. Clicking the loop and pressing "alt-up/down" will move the loop up or down to the next/previous 16/32 bars in the track. Now, open a simple clean kick drump loop. Play the kick drum at the same time as your track loop (it's easier to hear then the metronome). Listen to ensure accuracy, and move the loop up through to the end of the track, checking quickly that everything is in time. If you need to make adjustments, do so, but run through the track once more. |
Pardon my Ableton newbness, but are these steps with auto warp on or off? The "set" buttons at start and end are grayed out for me and I'm not sure why.
Thanks |
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| Alex |
With Live 6 I just lay down a warp marker every 32 bars.
Works fine for me! I spose it's the advantage to not using stolen music :p
Also reminds me where my phrasing should take place, hehe. |
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| Fledz |
| Autowarp usually works fine for me. I only do it manually when I cut a sample, or I need to fix it up a bit. |
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