Humanizing audio?

[ghosttrax]

Hi all,

 

Is it possible to randomize the volume of an audio file like you you can humanize velocities in the piano roll?

If not, have you got any work arounds to achieve this?

 

Cheers in advance ..

[Jope]

There are many ways, but if not done with instinct, you won't like the results. The easiest way is to draw a bizarre volume curve. Or you can sidechain-compress the track with some random noises on the sidechain input. But keep in mind such random volume affects the whole signal and does not distinguish single notes, while MIDI velocities affect their assigned notes only.

[ghosttrax]

Yeah i realise this. I was hoping there would be a way to randomize it quickly as I'm only doing it on drum parts.

[Larry Mal]

I'm sort of intrigued by why you would want to humanize the drums- especially if they are a recording that had been played by an actual human. I would think that would be enough "humanizing" for you. If you wanted a change in volume that the drummer didn't provide I would think that an automation curve would be enough for you.

 

It's usually considered that the drums need to be of a somewhat consistent quality, depending on what is happening with the song anyway. That's what they teach you with drums, not to vary either the timing or the relative volume of the part you are playing unless done with a specific purpose. That is to say, you would be considered a very poor drummer if you played with fluctuating volumes in the beat, it's confusing to the listeners and the other musicians who need you to anchor them into what their role is.

 

Of course, this happens all the time, but a crescendo or decrescendo is a specific musical part of a song, and what you seem to be wanting is a set parameter for random volume fluctuations in a human based performance of a drum part, which would have that anyway.

 

Maybe I don't understand what it is you are looking for here musically. I'd be happy to help if you can make it more clear, anyway.

[Larry Mal]

Or is it that you recorded the audio from a MIDI based drum part and now want to add the humanize part of it? Do you not have the MIDI to work with?