Recording at a slower speed without changing pitch

[BillW]

I know this can be done - but I'm trying to figure out the best way.

Issue - My Chicago cover is sounding very good with the new horns. But I can't play as fast as Terry Kath did no matter how long I practice. So a bit of digital magic is in order.

Here is how I did this once for a Santana cover: I recorded it with a slower tempo in a separate project, then rendered it as a WAV file, then imported it and changed it to match the tempo without changing the pitch. Not sure I have the steps right (memory fades) but I know I did it outside the project and brought it back in. Maybe I sped it up before bringing it back in. That probably makes more sense.

For the Chicago cover I'd like to do it inside the project if possible - so I can make sure it blends in nicely with all the other instruments. And no doubt I'll do this in small sections (maybe as small as two bars each - there are a huge number of 32nd note sections).

But wouldn't I have to slow down ALL the clips in that section? I really can't see how to do this optimally. And I worry at some point I end up messing with the timing.

I realize I'll probably just have to experiment and I'm sure I'll quickly find a "brute force" method that works. But given the large number of "snippets" I have to learn and record, I rather be sure I'm not missing a quicker or at least more efficient method.

Maybe make another copy of the project at a much slower tempo? Record the guitar there - then speed up those clips - maybe join them into larger clips first -then render each and import?

Appreciate if anyone has any experience in doing stuff like this if you'd share your ideas. If not - no problem. I know I'll get it done one way or the other, and I'm sure happy I Mixcraft will let me do it without having to "dumb down" the solos!

[BillW]

Not surprised that no one offered any comments here. A very specific situation that I doubt too many people (if any) encountered.

My "solution" in this particular case was to give up (in a way). The very fast 32nd note segments are a rather small part of the song - though pretty nice. So I decided to simply midi them instead. Which makes me want a better guitar VST than is standard - but I've spent enough on Chris Hein Horns. Maybe there is a freebie out there that is better- a clean jazz style guitar sound (on the stock things it sounds too much like a keyboard.)

[banzailoco]

I have no experience in this.

Apparently Audacity has and effects that can do this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K93nBTqOyd0

Here a video on how to adjust pitch, tempo ... in Mixcraft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shJL2joNeqc

^_^ v

[banzailoco]

Another method.
In Audacity they change the speed then pitch. About 0 to 20 in speed. The same in pitch but opposite value.

Ex: Speed 17, Pitch -17.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEN_X8u ... 159.671269

The same could be done in Mixcraft by adjusting the Tempo. Add a marker where you want to speed up your clip then add another marker to return to project tempo.

[Mark Bliss]

Bill, I recall messing with this way back in Mixcraft 5 or 6 I think it was, and I have been racking my brain trying to remember the details of what I found, and I am largely drawing a blank.

Something to try-
Mix down a copy of your project, and time stretch the track to a slower speed.
Record your guitar track.

The trick now is to get the recorded track back to normal project speed without messing u the synch-
I seem to recall using markers somehow for reference points, and time "shrinking" the new recording back to match where I started. Then mixing down that track and importing that into the original project.

Whew! What a pain that is!
There's got to be a simpler way. Enhancement hint........

Might be easiest to do in an audio editor and import the recording. Unfortunately, unless theres something I am forgetting...... (Entirely possible!)

[BillW]

Thanks for the responses guys. Like I said, I did do this about a year ago - it was sort of brute force / double work but I liked the result. Generally, as stated here - it essentially involved mixing down at least some of the project tracks - then importing that into another project, then time stretching the whole thing - then record the guitar. Then time compress - mixdown just the guitar, import to the original.

I gave up only because as I started to learn the part in question, I saw I couldn't play it well until it was down to half speed. And at that turtle pace, I lost all the dynamics and "feel" in my head and I was just playing notes anyway.

So over lunch I took the midi that I was using to learn, tied to to the Jazz Guitar setting - and then tried several presets in GTR 3 until I found one I liked. No need to go out to look for a better guitar VSTi either - sounds just fine.

Again - thanks.

[aj113]

This is easy, I do it often.

Assuming you're playing to a click:

Hit record and play the part at half speed to the click. (You'll have to play it without hearing the other tracks because obviously they'll be playing back at normal speed.)

Edit your take so that it is an exact even number of bars, using the snap to bar tool. Then time stretch the clip to half the size.

Then just move the clip to the correct location in the track.

[BillW]

aj:
Your method is easy, but I like to hear the other instruments while I'm playing - so making a copy of the project at a slower tempo probably works best. Then adjust back, render that track and import to the project.

A VERY low priority enhancement would be to adjust the tempo by percent for the whole project - not just the clips. If the tempo of the project was constant obviously it can be done now. But the song I'm working on has tempo changes in a few places.

And time changes too - early Chicago experimented with that kind of thing as well as unusual if not discordant harmonies. I assume they learned that while students at DePaul's music school. Trivia: Walt Parazaider - their sax player - interned at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra )

I "dumbed down" part of the solo and I'm learning that at slower speed - so I'm going to give this a shot anyway. I don't want to be typing and entering the entire song.

[aj113]

I've requested a variable playback speed more than once but alas it has not been adopted. I'm surprised that more people don't request it, I would have thought that it would be one of the more widely used features.

[comedians]

Hi Bill

I have done this on odd occasions with the external audio editor I have used since it's inception,http://www.goldwave.ca/.
Goldwave has a time stretch effect they call Time Warp which is very easy to use & has a selection of presets for various speeds & pitch.

In Time Warp I take the track down from 100% to say 85%, with preserve pitch selected.
Save and import into a new Mixcraft project. Record your piece then take the new stem to Goldwave and time warp (using preserve pitch) at 115% then put back into your original project.
I suppose you can do the same in Mixcraft but I found it easier to use Goldwave.

Been a while since I last did this but I think I got the sequence correct.