Ableton Forum

I have a quicktime video of a woman running. It is a 3 second loop. I have a piece of audio that has a drum beat to it. I pulled both into Apple Soundtrack and I timestretch the audio so the drumbeat matches her footsteps - (I have to make her footstep and the music sync in time.)Now I have 2 loops at 2 different times - so I need to loop the audio and video and neither can really be touched or the loops dont loop - so basically I need to fit the audio (once the tempo is adjustted) into the video time without changing the tempo.

I dont think this is possible but I thought I would ask.



thanks

So if your video lasts 3 seconds then make you're 2/4/8 bar loop, the same length of time.

Or am I really missing something about what you are asking?

I think I am explaining it poorly, sorry. My video is 3 seconds. I simply need to take my audio loop, time stretch it to match the video tempo (the girl running). When thats done lets say the audio went to 5 seconds long. Ok so now I need to take that audio and make it 3 seconds long without disrupting the tempo.

So in the end I have to timestretch audio to match a tempo AND a time length....but dont all software programs stretch length BY speeding or slowing the tempo??

I'm sorry if I misunderstand what you're saying, but surely if you've made the audio match the tempo, the video is 3 seconds long, and the resulting audio is now 5 seconds, just chop off the last 2 seconds of audio.

edit: after re-reading your initial post I think I understand a little better. basically if you are looping the video and audio, you need an audio loop that is the same length as the video as well as being in time with it. By timestretching the audio to match the pacing of the video, the audio is now too long.
Unless the video and audio can loop at different lengths and still stay synched then what you are trying to do is impossible (at least from my understanding of what you want to happen, which could be wrong.).

hope that helps, and doesn't confuse things further

Steve

That can't be done. If you want to make both clips (the audio clip and the video clip) the same length you'll need to find the lowest common denominator (I think...). That is - the lowest time length that both clips will go into exactly while at the correct matched tempo

ie - video clip = 2 seconds
audio clip = 3 seconds

Lowest common denominator = 6 seconds

This way, you'll have 2 clips with the same "tempo", and the same loop length, but not necessarily the same number of bars/measures.

I'd recomend using the lowest WHOLE measure number, so that your audio loop continually loops, and does not get cut short (at bar 3, for example...)

I'm sure someone can explain it better - but that's the gist of it.

I find it amusing that a question about time-stretching has been labled as OT in the Ableton forum. Is this a reflection of what this forum is turning into, or am I reading too much into this?

Excuse me for not being any help with your query.

Use the warp markers in Ableton?

I still can't wrap my head around the question

If the video clip will loop properly, and is 3 sec long,

I don't see how once an audio clip has been made to match it,

that it will not also be 3 sec long (or at least the first 3 seconds of it will be all that you need, as noted above)

Anyways, length and tempo - that's exactly what warping does...

sounds to me like you are confusing "tempo" and "length".

djgroovy has the solution.... warp markers.

Isn't that what Live is all about? Matching the beat of one thing up to the beat of another thing

2 things can have the same tempo but not have beats match (like your footfalls versus drum beats). Live fixes this quickly and easily.

check the wiki under video, and double read vinkalman's guide to warping perhaps?

yeah warp markers could work if the tempo is close enough after I have made it 3 seconds long...I could just adjust with the warp markers. The issue though for me is that:

Video is 3 seconds long
Audio loop is 5 seconds long and tempo is too slow so..



Step 1 - I timestetch it to make the loop exactly 3 seconds.
Step 2 - Now the tempo is so far out of whack that warp markers wont really help

Am I wrong. I mean I have never used warp markers for anything more than touching up...if I play off beat I can move it...suttle movements...snapping things back into time....but taking something from 80 BPM to 130 BPM with warp markers....is that possible??

Maybe you should timestretch it to 6 seconds and then in the clip properties lenght halve the value (or is it double?).
That way the timestretching wont be so extreme.

Set the warp mode to complex for better results and then fine tune with the markers.

try doing some simple math with it and see if you can sync properly:

First convert the rhythm of her footfalls to BMP...

Let's say that you time her average footfalls to be 2.25 every second as an example (approximate). Well, 2.25 * 60 (seconds in a minute) = 135 BPM

Match your tempo of your audio track to 135 BPM, and select 3 seconds worth of audio by doing the reverse math (135/60 = 2.25 * 3 = 6.75 (or in beat-speak, 6 bars and then 3/4 bar (6.3.1).

Now use warp markers to fine tune. Unless she has a very strange gait, the kicks (hopefully on the one) should match her foot fall, right?

Or maybe I don't get what you are asking.

sounds similar to matching two different time signatures and waiting for "the one" of both rhythms to line up. therefore duplicate both video and audio enough times so that the 'one' matches again. first you need to count 'beats'. for example say there are 5 footfalls in the video, and four beats in the audio. duplicate the video 4 times and the audio 5 times and the 'one' will match again, and that's your final file. i'm guessing too that you'll need to trim a bit off the beginning or end of the original video file so that the footfalls are in time.

just thought of this too: if you're using live 6 import the video, set warp markers on the footfalls and set the video track as the master tempo. your audio loop (if warped correctly) will now speed up and slow down to match the footfalls. this in conjunction with the above method should get you there (that is if i'm understanding the problem correctly).

its easy to change tempo from 80 to 130bpm (or visa versa).

This is the number 1 basic feature of Live.

it saves you from having to do mathy time-stretch editing of loops and instead use your eyes and ears.

http://vinkalmann.com/index.php?option= ... 6&Itemid=2

Now, syncing video and audio is a bit more complex, but there's a lot of tutorials on the wiki:

http://wikivid.com/index.php/Ableton_Live see sections on looping and warping

Astral Fridge Magnet wrote:I find it amusing that a question about time-stretching has been labled as OT in the Ableton forum. Is this a reflection of what this forum is turning into, or am I reading too much into this?

Excuse me for not being any help with your query.

i find it amuzing to use a >Topic< to write sth is off >Topic< in a general discussion area