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Slow down audio file to match project tempo


PBenz

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Hello,

 

I've been given some horn tracks that were somehow recorded at a faster tempo then the project where I need to import them, so they are in time but just need to be slowed down. Isn't there some quick & easy way to do this? I don't so much need exact steps - just point me in the right direction. I've been searching and trying different things but I just can't seem to find the right approach. If I have to resort to adding flex time markers and manually moving things around, so be it but I have a hunch that there's a faster way.

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Switch on Flex, then align the first note so it's dead on, then align the last note by dragging the upper right corner so its dead on. Repeat for all tracks. If they are played decently, it shouldn't take longer than writing a forum post, so that qualifies as quick and easy I guess.

 

Option-dragging the lower end would write the stretch into a new audio file and it gets worse from then on, so avoid that.

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Thanks very much, but it looks like I'm going to have to cut up the files by hand - nothing seems to work. But I didn't know that I could time-stretch a region just by dragging the right edge (option+drag creates a loop for me, but I think that's because flex is enabled for the track). So for each region, I can line up the first note then resize the region to line up the rest. That'll work!
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Switch on Flex, then align the first note so it's dead on, then align the last note by dragging the upper right corner so its dead on. Repeat for all tracks. If they are played decently, it shouldn't take longer than writing a forum post, so that qualifies as quick and easy I guess.

 

Option-dragging the lower end would write the stretch into a new audio file and it gets worse from then on, so avoid that.

 

i do this all the time (small stretches, anyway) and works fine (for me, where i use it).

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It works fine, yes. But consider this - you stretch it, a new file will get written, with some artifacts which usually are small enough to ignore. Then you think "Maybe a tad more." Now the already stretched file will be stretched again, with yet more artifacts. Then you think "Oh, that's too much, a wee bit less will be perfect". By now you're in the 4th generation of the file, and all errors add up. Not cool. If you use Flex instead, all changes are referring to the original source file, so errors can't accumulate.
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Christian I would like to confirm I understand you correctly. When you say to line up the first note, you mean by dragging the region itself, not a flex time marker for the first note, correct? Same for the dragging of the upper corner to line up the last note - I'm dragging the upper corner of the region itself, right? This works but things are still off so maybe it wasn't played so cleanly after all. For that first track I had to slice it up and manipulate each region.

 

I just now discovered there are 9 other tracks that were all recorded to the wrong tempo. Ugh. :(

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It works fine, yes. But consider this - you stretch it, a new file will get written, with some artifacts which usually are small enough to ignore. Then you think "Maybe a tad more." Now the already stretched file will be stretched again, with yet more artifacts. Then you think "Oh, that's too much, a wee bit less will be perfect". By now you're in the 4th generation of the file, and all errors add up. Not cool. If you use Flex instead, all changes are referring to the original source file, so errors can't accumulate.

 

i use this (a lot) in small, hit&run ways, and

a: always have a backup,

b: never use it if it doesn't sound ok, and

c: can always undo the last thing i did.

 

so, it's a fix IF it works... like all fixes. i have great respect you, fizzfilth, your help on this forum is extraordinary. but that doesn't mean i wouldn't use this method sometimes.

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dragging the region itself, not a flex time marker for the first note, correct?

Yes.

 

Same for the dragging of the upper corner to line up the last note - I'm dragging the upper corner of the region itself, right?

Yes, and since you're in Flex mode, the first note will stay put and the Region will stretch to at least hit the first and last notes properly. What happens in between - ask your horn player...

 

things are still off so maybe it wasn't played so cleanly after all.

May well be. I'm currently flexing 200 vocal tracks for a virtual choir and while each of them performed to the same guide track, you wouldn't believe how malleable the respective pocket can get....

First I position each single track including video so it mostly matches, then go to town with Flex on the details, from biggest to smallest, and that isn't even touching pitch at all which is the next step...

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