Friday Tip: Tempo Changes for Already Mixed Songs - Reloaded
09/08/2019
WHY TEMPO CHANGES?
In the days before click tracks, music had tempo changes. However, with good musicians, these weren't random. After analyzing dozens of songs, many (actually, most) of them would speed up slightly during the end of a chorus or verse, or during a solo, and then drop back down again.
For example, many people feel James Brown had one of the tightest rhythm sections ever-which is true, but not because they were a metronome. There were premeditated, conscious tempo changes throughout the song (e.g., speeding up during the run up to the phrase papa's got a brand new bag, in the song of the same name, then dropping back down again-only to speed up to the next climax). Furthermore, the entire song sped up linearly over the course of the song.
Note that you didn't hear these kinds of changes as something obvious, you felt them. They added to the tension and release inherent in any music, which is a key element (along with dynamics) in eliciting an emotional response from listeners.
THE PROBLEM WITH TEMPO CHANGES
It was easy to have natural tempo changes when musicians played together in a room. These days, it's difficult for solo artists to plan out in advance when changes are going to happen. Also, if you use effects with tempo sync, not all of them follow tempo changes elegantly (and some can't follow tempo changes at all). Let's face it-it's a lot easier to record to a click track, and have a constant tempo. However
THE STUDIO ONE SOLUTION
Fortunately, Studio One makes it easy to add tempo changes to a finished mix-so you can complete your song, and then add subtle tempo changes where appropriate. This also lets you compare a version without tempo changes, and one with tempo changes. You may not hear a difference, but you'll feel it.
As mentioned in last year's tip, for the highest possible fidelity choose Options > Advanced > Audio, and check Use cache for timestretched audio files. Next, open a new project, and bring in the mixed file. Important: you need to embed a tempo, otherwise it's not possible to change the tempo. So, open the Inspector, and enter a tempo under File Tempo. It doesn't have to match the original song tempo because we're making relative, not absolute, changes. Also choose Tempo = Timestretch, and Timestretch = Sound - Elastique Pro Formant.
MANIPULATING THE TEMPO TRACK
Working with the tempo track is now as easy as working with automation: click and drag to create ramps, and bend straight lines into curves if desired. You can set high and low tempo limits within the tempo track; the minimum difference between high and low Tempo Track values is 20 BPM, however you can change the tempo track height to increase the resolution. The bottom lines it that it's possible to create very detailed tempo changes, quickly and easily.
So what does it sound like? Here are two examples. The first is a hard-rock cover version of Walking on the Moon (originally recorded by The Police, and written by Sting).
The differences are fairly significant, starting with a low of 135 BPM, going up to 141 BPM, and dropping down as low as 134 BPM.
https://youtu.be/ivXWaWW9e74
Here's another example, a slower song called My Butterfly. It covers an even greater relative range, because it goes from a low of 90 to a high of 96 BPM. You may be able to hear the speedup in the solo, not just feel it, now that you know it's there.
https://youtu.be/dgkhB9eo1dw
Note that when possible, there's a constant tempo at the beginning and end. It doesn't matter so much with songs, but with dance mixes, I can add tempo changes in the track as long as there's a constant tempo on the intro and outro so DJs don't go crazy when they're trying to do beat-matching.
So is it worth making these kinds of changes? All I know is that the songs I do with tempo changes get a better response than songs without tempo changes. Maybe it's coincidence but I don't think so.
LINK: | https://blog.presonus.com/index.php/2019/08/09/friday-tip-tempo-change... |
See more stories from presonus |
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet and Veritone Reach Agreement to Distribute, Transact and Monetize Media Archives
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with URSA Broadcast G2
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
25/04/2024
Perfect Weather Forecast for American Tobacco Events Tonight and Saturday
The American Tobacco Campus will be hopping with activity tonight and this weekend with two fun events! Durham Night Market At last! The Durham Night Market i...
25/04/2024
Qurate Launches The Big Dish on The Roku Channel
WEST CHESTER, Pa. Video commerce provider Qurate Retail Group has launched The Big Dish, a new culinary-themed FAST channel on The Roku Channel....
25/04/2024
HPA Opens Submissions for 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards
LOS ANGELES The Hollywood Professional Association has announced that submissions for the 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards are now being accepted. This re...
25/04/2024
DV Earns MRC Accreditation for CTV Viewability
NEW YORK The digital media measurement and analytics firm DoubleVerify has announced that it has received Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for Video Vie...
25/04/2024
DAZN FAST Channels to Launch on Tubi
SAN FRANCISCO Fox Corp.'s ad-supported streaming service Tubi has announced a licensing agreement with the sports platform DAZN that will see DAZN Ringside ...
25/04/2024
IAB Makes Three Appointments to Its Leadership Team
NEW YORK In the runup to the 2024 IAB NewFronts, the IAB has announced three key appointments to its leadership team....
25/04/2024
Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.4 with new Motion Design Mode, Unreal VCam for Android, and more
Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.4 with new Motion Design Mode, Unreal VCam f...
25/04/2024
Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux
Content Creation, Production, Distribution Is In a State of Flux Andy Marken April 24, 2024 0 Comments My empathy is creeping towards what I would de...
25/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting Company to Air Carolina Panthers Games on Triangle's Strongest Broadcast Signal
The Carolina Panthers and Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC) announced they have...
25/04/2024
Berklee Student Riko Sasaski Named 2024 Yamaha Young Performing Artist
Berklee Student Riko Sasaski Named 2024 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The accomplished saxophonist secured a spot among the elite winners of this year's ...
25/04/2024
Local News Close-Up: St. Louis Born and Bred
Stations everywhere take pride in having a main anchor who comes from the market they represent. That applies in St. Louis, too, but it also pertains to general...
25/04/2024
Edward Moody Joins WBTW Myrtle Beach Anchor Team
Edward Moody is joining the WBTW Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, anchor crew, and will anchor the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts alongside Trish Williford. He comes f...
25/04/2024
MTV Moving VMAs To New UBS Arena in New York
MTV said the 2024 Video Music Awards will return to New York and take place at the new UBS Arena....
25/04/2024
Offbeat Comedy The Outlaws' Returns to Prime Video Next Month
Season three of comedy The Outlaws premieres on Prime Video May 31. Stephen Merchant co-created the show, and stars. There are five episodes....
25/04/2024
Bidders Interested in Buying Bounce, Says Scripps CEO Adam Symson
The E.W. Scripps Co. is evaluating offers for Bounce, its multicast channel for African-American viewers, according to a report from CNBC....
25/04/2024
Paramount Plus Renews Dora'
Paramount Plus has ordered a second season for Dora, the animated preschool show based on Dora the Explorer. The show, featuring Dora on a rainforest adventure ...
25/04/2024
AI-assisted optronics: an unprecedented European project to increase combat perception capabilities
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn The European Commission signed the Grant Agreeme...
24/04/2024
UKTV's pay TV channel Alibi joins forces with S4C and All3Media International for new legal crime drama series Mudtown
Cast set to star include Erin Richards and Tom Cullen Wednesday 24 April 2024 ...
24/04/2024
K-Hip-Hop's Biggest Names Take Center Stage on KrOWN X HAN 2024'
This month marked the return of Spotify's HAN, our collaborative program that brings the unique sounds and culture of Korean hip-hop to the world through ex...
24/04/2024
RADAR Italy Returns With 6 Artists Transforming the Country's Music Landscape
As Spotify's program to spotlight rising talent from around the world, RADAR...
24/04/2024
Spotify Partners With Les Flammes Music Awards To Celebrate French Rap
Spotify is once again teaming up with Les Flammes, the only music awards dedicated to rap, R&B, Afrobeats, and popular culture in France. Spotify helped create...
24/04/2024
Taylor Swift's THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT' Becomes Spotify's Most-Streamed Album in One Week
Records smashed. History made. It's been just five days since Taylor Swift u...
24/04/2024
SBS marks Earth Day as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first Australian show to have its carbon footprint validated through SSA
SBS marks Earth Day as The Cook Up with Adam Liaw becomes first Australian show ...
24/04/2024
Save money every day with SBS's Ricardo Gonalves and Peggy Giakoumelos on new Cost of Living Secrets podcast
Save money every day with SBS's Ricardo Gon alves and Peggy Giakoumelos on n...
24/04/2024
Authentic Perspectives
The first feature film from writer-director Shaun Seneviratne, Ben and Suzanne: A Reunion in 4 Parts depicts the struggle between love and duty as Ben (Sathya S...
24/04/2024
Melanie Georgieva Joins Panalux as Long Form Sales Director
LONDON, England (24 April 2024) Panalux, a leading rental provider of lighting and power solutions for the motion-picture industry and part of Panavision'...
24/04/2024
Deutsche Telekom Powers New MagentaTV Service With Broadpeak's Cloud DVR Solution
April 24, 2024 -- Deutsche Telekom Powers New MagentaTV Service With Broadpea...
24/04/2024
Mundo Hispano Digital Launches MundoNow Connect
ATLANTA Mundo Hispano Digital has launched a new advertising product, MundoNow Connect, that is designed to help advertisers reach Hispanic audiences on connect...
24/04/2024
Epic Games Releases Unreal Engine 5.4
Epic Games has released a major new version of Unreal Engine, which has become a mainstay in virtual production, that includes new features and improvements to ...
24/04/2024
NAB Show Welcomes Creators to Las Vegas
The National Association of Broadcasters welcomed the industry to its annual extravaganza last month in Las Vegas. The sights and sounds were similar to previou...
24/04/2024
Chptr, Gray Television Launch on Video Obituary Platform
NEW YORK Chptr and Gray Television have announced that they are introducing a new video solution for funeral homes and communities that will allow funeral direc...
24/04/2024
Adobe Charts the Future of Creativity and AI at MAX London
Adobe Charts the Future of Creativity and AI at MAX London Brie Clayton April 24, 2024 0 Comments Adobe is taking MAX, the world's largest creativ...
24/04/2024
Curtis LeGeyt, NAB President and CEO, Extends Contract
National Association of Broadcasters president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt has agreed to a contract extension that keeps him at the trade association's helm throu...
24/04/2024
Jo Ann Ross Steps Down as Ad Sales Chairman at Paramount
Jo Ann Ross, the long-running queen of television advertising sales, is stepping down from her role as chairman of Paramount Advertising at the end of the month...
24/04/2024
Scripps Names James Galindo as Station Manager in Bakersfield
E.W. Scripps said it named James Galindo as station manager for KERO, the ABC affiliate in Bakersfield, California....
24/04/2024
Amazon Prime Video's Fallout' Tops TVision Power Score Rankings
Amazon Prime Video's Fallout topped TVision's Power Score rankings of shows on connected TV for the week of April 15....
24/04/2024
DoubleVerify Gets MRC Stamp for CTV Viewability Metrics
DoubleVerify said that it received accreditation from the Media Rating Council for its measurement of video viewable impressions and related metrics for connect...
24/04/2024
PlayBox Neo Highlights Latest Advances in Smart Media Pla...
PlayBox Neo reports a successful and well attended 2024 NAB Show, held in mid April at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Now in its 101st year, the event attract...
24/04/2024
MPEG-5 LCEVC Showcase at NAB 2024 demonstrates ecosystem...
MPEG-5 LCEVC ecosystem support continues to grow and includes TVs and set-top boxes, gearing up for the deployment of TV3.0 in Brazil New, never-before-seen ...
24/04/2024
Black Box and NOVO at Integrate Middle East 2024 Featurin...
At Integrate Middle East 2024 in Booth AR-F45, where the company is exhibiting along with its partner NOVO, Black Box will feature IP-based KVM and AV solution...
24/04/2024
NEP Belgium Taps manifold CLOUD in Virtual OB Setup for Live Sports
FRANKFURT, Germany Software solutions provider manifold technologies has announced that its manifold CLOUD was selected by NEP Belgium to provide a signal proce...
24/04/2024
Integral Ad Science Achieves MRC Accreditation
NEW YORK Integral Ad Science has announced that it has earned Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for its sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) filtration f...
24/04/2024
Plex Launches NFL Channel
LOS GATOS, Calif. Streaming media company Plex has announced a partnership with the National Football League that will add the NFL Channel, the NFLs 24/7 free l...
24/04/2024
NAB Extends Contract for President & CEO Curtis LeGeyt
WASHINGTON, D.C. NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him at the helm of NAB through 2029, according to NAB Joi...
24/04/2024
GlobalM, scoopa Form Strategic Partnership To Enable Speedy Content Distribution
GENEVA, Switzerland Software-defined video network (SDVN) platform specialist GlobalM and broadcast-quality content distribution expert scoopa have formed a str...
24/04/2024
Screen Australia celebrates Australian projects bound for Cannes Film Festival 2024
24 04 2024 - Media release Screen Australia celebrates Australian projects bound...
24/04/2024
Berklee Online to Hold 2024 Berklee Onsite Music Conference May 31-June 1
Berklee Online to Hold 2024 Berklee Onsite Music Conference May 31-June 1 The in-person conference is open to Berklee Online students and the music community ...