F.A.Q Warping PART DEUX

[supster]

Ok:

Since warping full tracks seems to be the main hangup people have with this program, and the same questions keep coming up somebody needs to write up the FAQ and host it permenantly. I've decided that idiot will be me.

So I'm going to use information in the existing thread (make your font size larger if you dont see it, its definitely in here), screenshots, some movies I have on my hardrive (if bandwidth will permit), and other resources if need be. so

- answers will be taken from forum contributors. everyone's 'nickname' will be credited. i'll send a small pm to notifiy, if you want your psuedonym to have privacy i will respect taht

- i will do grammatical corrections and editing for flow and clarity

- i'll keep it updated on a fairly frequent basis

- it should take a couple of days at most, i'll start on it tonite when i get home

- i'll make drafts available from this thread so people can look and help me proofread / add / correct whatever

So:

Are there any QUESTIONS which you think should be asked - and answered - that you havent seen covered?

Please ask them either here or in the other main FAQ thread and we're try and get them answered to make it into the FAQ. Thanks
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[hambone1]

Damn... you're either committed or a fool (or both), and must have more spare time than I've got.

You could call it Deejay Kindergarten.

And get sponsorship from Ableton and Fisher-Price!

[supster]

Damn... you're either committed or a fool (or both), and must have more spare time than I've got.

You could call it Deejay Kindergarten.

lol

no, it wont take much time at all. i learned alot from this forum over the past couple of years, least i can do.

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[GK]

lets start with something not so basic....
at the following waveform of a 'kick' ... where normally does the PEAK happen and i can discover it?.. [you cant hear EXACTLY the spot]
is there any visual way of interpreting the waveform on this?

[GK]

i think its the most loops one man can hear within 2 days...
i went over to get some sleep , and i was just ready to synchronise my breath with the clock ticking...
it's a nightmare...

[supster]

lets start with something not so basic....
at the following waveform of a 'kick' ... where normally does the PEAK happen and i can discover it?.. [you cant hear EXACTLY the spot]
is there any visual way of interpreting the waveform on this?

good question actually: this is one of the key things that can cause problems if you dont have it right.

the best way to know for sure is to always have an unchanging audible reference under your warping activities. always.

something that does not change from track to track; that is consistant enough to cut through the sound and not fool your ear in any way. ive tried a lot of methods and decided a clear kick was enough.

others use the metronome, some use loops including snare and hi-hats, some use full tracks

do your warping under headphones, and if your marker placement in relation to the transient is wrong (re: your diagram) you should immediately know:

it will sound 'off' ... you will hear 'flamming': a clattering or phasing type sound depending on how far from the true mark you are.
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[GK]

and if your marker placement in relation to the transient is wrong

i dont think there's an (easy) way to detect this...
that's cause when zooming so much in the diagram,the playing line passes very very quickly so you can't actually know WHERE IS THE PEAK, the milliseconds that should match from one track to another

[supster]

when zooming so much in the diagram,the playing line passes very very quickly so you can't actually know WHERE IS THE PEAK, the milliseconds that should match from one track to another

GK: warping is a step by step process. you start with step one, then once you have that first step solid, you move on to step 2.

Step 1: make sure your first yellow warp marker 1.1.1 ... is set close to where it needs to be.

this means zooming in, with the track stopped. ie. you dont do this step while the track is playing.

note: do not stress on this too much. you can change it. the most important thing is to get it as close as possible.

Step 2: without starting the track ... look to the right of this first marker. is there a place where you think that your second measure, 2.1.1.. should be?

it should be pretty obvious. its the fifth beat from the beginning of the track usually. so drag the grey marker that says 2.1.1 (DO NOT MAKE THIS A YELLOW WARP MARKER!) ...

... drag this marker so it sits near the transient that looks like the transient you chose in Step 1.

Step 3: grab the brackets in your clip view and loop this first bar. make sure the left side of the bracket is on 1.1.1 ... and the right side is on 2.2.2

Step 4: now play this loop, and your unchanging reference sound (kick, loop, metronome, whatever).

make sure "follow" is off ... so your screen is not scrolling. simply clicking the screen anywhere in your loop will usually do (use common sense: if you scrub it will fuck the whole thing up .. okayy ..)

Step 5: listen. does it sound "off"? so adjust the two markers carefully until this loop is nice and clear and sounds right against your reference

congratualations: now you know where the proper place to place your transients is

as a side benefit, if you look to the left in your "original bpm" box, this value is getting very close to where the original bpm of the track is
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[hambone1]

If you want to put pics in the forum, please use thumbnails, or smaller pics. Then we don't have to all wait for them to download if we're not interested, and they don't make it necessary to scroll left and right just to read posts.

http://imageshack.us/

is free and easy... kinda like my last girlfriend...

[ben_blue]

is there anyone else who simply has no problem warping, or finds it easy as pie?

just curious - not trying to sound arrogant.

maybe cus ive been doing it since Ableton 1.0.

it depends a lot on what your background and experience is, just liek everything i suppose.

ok that helped , not at all....

ben

[GK]

supster , this helped a lot ! thanks again !
All the tunes are in place now , just worried what i'll hear when i mix them at the end of the song... Maybe then we should write part II - tempo shifting management
do you just pull the markers that are not in place , or you make them yellow warp markers?

@everyone : please dont fill in the pages with off-topic arrogant posts danke

[hambone1]

Warping is a skill. Even with autowarp. It's not a talent. Anyone can do it.

However, just like any skill, it takes practice and experience to be good at it, and those with dedication and commitment will have no problem with it.

So many helpful people have posted comprehensive and useful warping tutorials on this forum. If you can't master this fundamental skill, I don't know how you can possibly hope to understand the rest of Live.

I'm glad it's not always easy. It keeps out the lazy auto-deejay types who want to give up their Walmart jobs "to be like Sasha."

[GK]

hambone , ok , we got the point , stop posting this **** on this topic please...!

[Sloth_uk]

I have a simple question for someone (obviously simple to me when i actually know) When you are setting 1.1.1 do you set it at the first noise, or do you set it at the first beat eg Kick? I have alot of tunes that start with a nice intro, but if i start at the beginning of this I cant seem to get them warped right. When I start on the first kick it works but I lose the intro that i'd like to keep.

[GK]

i've been thinking about this too
maybe the answer is here :

2) Determine where 1.1.1 will be. You may have to listen to the groove to determine this. If the beginning of the track makes it difficult to determine where the 1.1.1 is, you can set 1.1.1 at a logical place later in the track (where the kick comes in, for instance, or at the track's 17.1.1). Now you can look back to the beginning and find where you really want to place the 1.1.1, perhaps at -16 or -32. Set 1.1.1 here and confirm that 1.1.1 is where it should be by listening to the music

My question is really about badly ripped vinyls , temposhifting all the time.
I'm following supster's mini-guide from the older FAQ topic , but the problem is , i think , when i move the markers in the middle of the track,the previous ones lose their correct place..
i'm trying to beatmark a Wally Lopez single , House park...