Warping a drifting track

[fastfx]

Hi,

I'm new to the warping side of things, have been watching some tutorials and am really loving it, just a quick question though.

I have a track (123bpm) that drifts in and out of time (when i play it in traktor pro is doesn't sit on the beatgrid much, it drifts on and off it quite a lot), so i decided to put it into ableton and warp it so that each bar is bang on the ableton warp grid.

My problem is that it has taken me so long to do just the first 50 bars of the track, and its 270 bars long, and with ableton being a great tool i figured i must be missing something here, am i doing it the really long way or is there a better/more efficient way of doing what i want.

I tried the 'warp from here (start at 123bpm)' under the menu but it didn't add any additional warp markers at all.

Thank you for any help and advice, i really appreciate your time.

Many thanks

Tom

[contakt321]

I wouldn't go nuts, what I would try first would be:

Warp in 2 bar increments for the first 8 or 16 bars (this is where it's going to overlap with other songs)
Warp in 16 or 32 bar increments for the rest of the song
Evaluate any parts of the song that you might mix in or out of - go back and warp those sections in 2 bar increments so it's super tight

It doesn't matter if the song drifts when it's playing on it's own, so I would focus on having rock solid timing at the parts where it will overlap, that way the mix will sound smooth with no weird drums sounding off/out of time.

[v0ins315]

It doesn't matter if the song drifts when it's playing on it's own, so I would focus on having rock solid timing at the parts where it will overlap, that way the mix will sound smooth with no weird drums sounding off/out of time.

Excellent idea.

I hate warping so much that I basically gave up on it for now. I'm happy spinning on cdjs though, I can mix tighter on those than I currently can with live (obv. I'm not doing it right..)

[fastfx]

That totally makes sense contakt, thanks. I will do that. Afterwards once i'm happy with the warpings, what is the best way to export the track? is it just 'export audio/video' from the file menu? or is there another way that needs to be done so that i export with the included warp settings?

Thanks for the help.

[contakt321]

That totally makes sense contakt, thanks. I will do that. Afterwards once i'm happy with the warpings, what is the best way to export the track? is it just 'export audio/video' from the file menu? or is there another way that needs to be done so that i export with the included warp settings?

Thanks for the help.

Are you going to DJ w/ Live or do you want to export and use w/ Serato/Traktor/CDJ?

If you are going to DJ w/ Live just go to clip view and click the save button (to save the warp markers, data, etc). I have a separate folder of all my warped songs. This way you just drag the song out of the folder and into Live when you need to play it.

If you want for Serato/Traktor/CDJ, just export as a Wave (standard audio file).

[fastfx]

I will be Dj'ing with it using Traktor Pro, so i guess exporting it as a wav file is the way to go. I've just finished warping my first track, one that i was having problems with in traktor, can't wait to see if it's ok now.

I just exported it, but for some reason the exported version is 0 seconds long. Any ideas?

[contakt321]

Highlight the entire length of the track, you exported 0 seconds.

When exporting, always double check the field that says from bar 0.0 to bar x.x and make sure it's correct.

[fastfx]

My fault, i didnt even have the track in the arrange view, i had it in the session view only. I put the clip in the arrangement and then did 'cmd L' to put a loop around it, then exported as audio.

[felipescalador12]

so how did it result??

[fastfx]

Fantastic. I put the track in traktor and it was perfect. I've successfully warped my first track!

[alex.the.forge]

one thing to watch out for - if it is an MP3 I would try converting it to WAV or AIFF BEFORE you put it into Live. I don't know why it is, but I have seen it many times do what you described when working with dodgy MP3s and then work fine with the WAV/AIFF.

it really shouldn't drift like that, Live 8's algorithm is pretty good at getting the beats in the right spot (although it does sometimes get the first beat wrong) but especially with electronic music if it drifts like that I'd try the wav/aif conversion outside Live

also, check the "Orig. BPM" under warp settings - if it is set to something like 121.99 or 122.01 and it's an electronic track that stays the same throughout then select the start warp marker and manually type in 122 or whatever whole number - that's another thing I see happen all the time

[fastfx]

Excellant advice. Many thanks.

[alex.the.forge]

Excellant advice. Many thanks.

no probs

BTW - I just checked your soundcloud - nice tunes man - especially like the tribally ones on your page!

[fastfx]

Thanks. Much appreciated.