Aligning groove between two tracks

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theophilus
Posts: 531
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:54 pm

Aligning groove between two tracks

Post by theophilus » Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:08 pm

So, this might be an edge case (so maybe why I can't find it and/or it's not supported), or it may be something basic I just never got, but looking for a way to do this.

Basically, I got some stems from our work band that... well, several people are recording parts against (supposed to be) the official youtube video, and we mix them later. I got two sets of stems that seem to be from different references - different bpms, so they don't mix.

This is the second one i've gotten with timing issues. For drums/bass, I just warp it against the beat, which works pretty well, and the beat is the reference so it works pretty well.

However, now, there is a guitar chord rhythm, which isn't on the beat, but is mostly synced to the vocals. What i'd like to do is get one of these on the beats (via warping) where they belong, and line the other track up against that reference. But i'd need to see both tracks for this to work. I'd love to preserve some of the existing timing and not destroy it completely if possible :)

What are my other options? Melodyne has the option to show multiple waveforms and let you adjust the timing of one while showing the others, but warping feels more natural for some reason, so i'd love to do it there if possible.
Considered doing this with an oscope but good multichannel scopes seem to not be that common either (i'd like ideally to be able to see them next to each other, not just on top of each other)...
Or, if there is a way to extract the groove from one track and impose on the other one - i don't know if they are close enough for this to even conceptually work, but maybe someone has done it.

(in general - i really wish there was somewhere, in second window or elsewhere, which I could have multiple 'bottom bars' of several tracks onscreen at once)

Thanks!

pottering
Posts: 1802
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 4:41 am

Re: Aligning groove between two tracks

Post by pottering » Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:15 am

There is a literal Extract Grooves feature.

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/using ... ng-grooves
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theophilus
Posts: 531
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:54 pm

Re: Aligning groove between two tracks

Post by theophilus » Wed Apr 21, 2021 4:22 pm

Maybe groove would work... my problem is that the two sources are way far off... eg it’s not that the vocal & guitar strum are both at the 2.2 beat but one is slightly off, it’s that the vocal is over at 3 and I need to back it up to exactly 2.2 + the offset of the strum. I suppose it could work if i got them close first.

What I’d really like us something that would let me eyeball the two tracks, so I can choose which part of each I’m lining up... is it possible any way to show two tracks together in a window where you can edit the warp markers on one of them?

Thanks...

properLofi
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2021 7:35 pm

Re: Aligning groove between two tracks

Post by properLofi » Sun Apr 25, 2021 1:21 pm

This sounds like someone recorded at the wrong sample rate. I’m guessing there’s a 44.1 / 48 kHz problem. If so you “should” be able to calculate the % difference in tempo and Warp or time-stretch back to tempo.

Personally, I’d work out which one is correct and get the offender to fix the issue and re-record otherwise it’ll happen every time.

theophilus
Posts: 531
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:54 pm

Re: Aligning groove between two tracks

Post by theophilus » Thu Apr 29, 2021 9:53 pm

Could be something like that. Unfortunately, not easy to get re-recordings.
This particular case is casual anyways, but it seems like a generally useful thing to have, to be able to line up two tracks and warp one to another reference. I suppose I could actually do it just as audio editing since it's possible to have two tracks next to each other in the arrangement window, I just thought warping might be more correct in this case.

Thanks....

madlab
Posts: 1389
Joined: Fri May 02, 2003 6:38 am
Location: France

Re: Aligning groove between two tracks

Post by madlab » Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:13 pm

properLofi wrote:
Sun Apr 25, 2021 1:21 pm
This sounds like someone recorded at the wrong sample rate. I’m guessing there’s a 44.1 / 48 kHz problem. If so you “should” be able to calculate the % difference in tempo and Warp or time-stretch back to tempo.

Personally, I’d work out which one is correct and get the offender to fix the issue and re-record otherwise it’ll happen every time.
In Live AFAIK, it isn't a problem, you can mix and match different formats, sample rates, resolutions, it's just heavier on the cpu.
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