Replacing an mp3 for a wav in Ableton

[Javier Rodriguez]

Hi guys, just wondering if you could help me with something.

Basically I found a really cool mp3 and I started making a tune with it, more for fun but it developed onto being something really good (imo at least) and now I have the CD with the sample I made my song with. Is there an easy way of making ableton use the wav version ripped from the cd (which should be exactly the same as the mp3 as the latter was ripped from exactly the same CD as the one I have) rather than the mp3?

I am sure there must be an easy way of doing this but I can't seem to find it.

[savyurrecords]

Yes it should work fine. However there can be some issues as with all things.

This depends on if you used just a loop or two from the original song or if you used the entire song. If it is just a loop (a small section of audio) one just needs to find a similar loop in the wav and cut it to the same length. If you are using the entire song as a whole it will take a bit of work (possibly) to make sure that they are warped the same, which if it is a electronic based track should. The best thing to do is create a track next to the one with the MP3 in it. Then load the wav on the next track. Now just listen to those to tracks and get to work making them even up.

[Javier Rodriguez]

thanks for the response.

basically what i did was cut up the mp3 lots, using different parts from the mp3 as a sample rather than as using it a tune itself if you see what i mean. i used different parts from the song rather than just a loop or two so ideally i want the project to look at the wav rather than mp3 so audio quality improves. your suggestions would work fine for a simple loop or two but for this project where there is heavy use of the sample throughout different parts of the song i dont think it will work.

so as mentioned above i want the ableton project too look at the wav rather than the mp3 as the source of the sample.

[cotdagoo]

Probably won't be as easy as you're hoping.. but if you did any warping (to use loops/clips I'll assume yes) you should have a .ASD file corresponding to your mp3.

ie: file1.mp3 has a .ASD named file1.mp3.asd

what you can do is copy the .ASD to a new file and then rename that copy to the same structure as your .wav

ie: file2.wav, you rename the .ASD to file2.wav.asd - and now when you load up the .WAV in Live, it'll associate that .ASD with the .WAV and show all your warp markers from the mp3 so you can easily cut out parts.


The other idea/option that I'm not sure will work (have tested/used the above example before) - is that Live automatically decodes mp3s to WAV on the fly when dragged into a project and saves the decoded .WAV in Live's "decoding cache". Chances are there's already a .WAV generated for your mp3.. What I'm not sure about, is whether replacing the decoded .WAV with your higher quality 'rip' from the cd into Live's 'decoding cache' will actually work..

Of course, if you've consolidated any parts of the mp3, they will be played from a separate .WAV located in your project folder and the idea of replacing the .WAV in the decoding cache would be half-baked.

[pepezabala]

you can basically replace the audiofile in a clip by dragging and dropping an audiofile into the clip-property winder, right onto the drawn waveform. this should do the trick. warping, loopmarkers, startflag etc should remain at their respective places. you will have to do that for each and every clip that uses the mp3-file.

[invol]

You can also try this.

Make sure the wav and mp3 are the exact same length.

Then File Menu --> Manage Files
The File Management Browser will open on the right.
Then Manage Set
Then Under Manage and Replace Files --> View Files --> Then hit the hotswap button and find the wav in the browser on the left.

You may have to do some cleanup afterwards, so I would do a Save As... before you do anything.

Cheers,
Brian

[djredwood]

Absolutely spot on, Brian. It's the best solution and one the Ableton intended.

[florian_bl]

I have used Brian's solution very often in the previous years. Make sure that the audio content of the new WAV file is exactly the same as in the MP3, then you won't even notice that it got replaced (besides of a better sound quality).

If the MP3 has a 200 ms gap of silence in the beginning, edit the WAV file so that it has the 200 ms of silence too. Give them the same end by adding or cutting time. If both files have the same length in milliseconds, then Ableton Live should perfectly replace them in every clip in your session.