How to: Speeding up and fixing guitar recordings

[johnny4113]

Hello (I use Cubase AI),
I'd love some ideas from you.
I have some recording difficulties.
Either the guitar phrase is too fast and I have to play it slower or I can't get the tempo right for some HIGHLY syncopated things I composed somehow only God knows.
Paying another guitar player is not actually an option because of money.
Though it would be better to get everything right at first record, how can I record slowly and speed up (any tricks?) or how can I fix the tempo (any tricks? Crossfade? Time stretch?)
Thanks in advance!

[Roman Empire]

Can Audiowarp not do this for you? I only know the full Cubase package, where such is fully integrated, but reading the advertising material on Steinbergs home makes it look like you should be able to do it with that.
I´d check the manual, if I was you, in the section about this or maybe find vids on youtube showing what can be done.

[Roman Empire]

Can Audiowarp (aka timestretching) not do this for you? I only know the full Cubase package, where such is fully integrated, but reading the advertising material on Steinbergs homepage about AI makes it look like you should be able to do it with that.
I´d check the manual, if I was you, in the section about this or maybe find vids on youtube showing what can be done.

[Kinh]

Why dont ya try to slice the audio then quantize as midi notes. Timestretching is NOT a good idea. It never works wit guitar, only melodic sound. To get the fade right, adjust release of each slice. Shit, dis is how I do it on funk and it works. I do it even wit pro guitarists cause yo gots the option of locking to the groove template too. Ya just gotsta slice at every transient. You dig?

[Roman Empire]

Not knowing the quality of Audiowarp in CB AI that well, I can´t say if timestretch won´t work well with that, but generally it´s a matter of the timestretch engine whether if it´ll sound good or not. In other words, I´d encourage you to try all mentioned options, including what "Kinh" is suggesting, to see what suits you best.

[enroe]

Why don't you try to slice the audio and then quantize as midi notes.

... To get the fade right, adjust release of each slice. Shit, thiis is how
I do it on funk and it works. I do it even wit pro guitarists cause yo gots
the option of locking to the groove template too. Ya just gotsta slice
at every transient. You dig?

Yes, in a way you create your own sample-set.

IMO this is the only way you can get a tight guitar-phrase AND
you are still flexible for little timing- or tempo-changes.

[johnny4113]

Can Audiowarp not do this for you? I only know the full Cubase package, where such is fully integrated, but reading the advertising material on Steinbergs home makes it look like you should be able to do it with that.
I´d check the manual, if I was you, in the section about this or maybe find vids on youtube showing what can be done.

Hello, firstly, I apologize not answering before, I didn't receive any notifications so I thought my post was just ignored.
No, there is not Audio Warp in my version of Cubase, only in Artist and the upgrade is REALLY EXPENSIVE.

[johnny4113]

Not knowing the quality of Audiowarp in CB AI that well, I can´t say if timestretch won´t work well with that, but generally it´s a matter of the timestretch engine whether if it´ll sound good or not. In other words, I´d encourage you to try all mentioned options, including what "Kinh" is suggesting, to see what suits you best.

Slice at every transient?? You mean slice all the notes separately? And then just press Q for quantizing? But what do I do with the notes that did not have lenght enough to reach the next one if not time stretching?

[johnny4113]

Yes, Ok... I just need to understand better this concept...
I slice the notes and then? What do I do with each note separately? If I quantize the are going to be either on top of the other (then I just crossfade) or far apart (then I don't know since time stretching can really make the sound HORRIBLE)...

[Roman Empire]

Can Audiowarp not do this for you? I only know the full Cubase package, where such is fully integrated, but reading the advertising material on Steinbergs home makes it look like you should be able to do it with that.
I´d check the manual, if I was you, in the section about this or maybe find vids on youtube showing what can be done.

Hello, firstly, I apologize not answering before, I didn't receive any notifications so I thought my post was just ignored.
No, there is not Audio Warp in my version of Cubase, only in Artist and the upgrade is REALLY EXPENSIVE.

Sorry I must have made a mistake there! Well, Melodyne costs 100 EUR in the cheapest version and should be able to do the trick. Maybe worth it to get a demo of it and see if its quality is convincing to you?
For the slicing method, I´d wait for others to reply or see what there is on youtube about this.

Edit: Perhaps melodyne isn´t the best for this although still worth trying. Perhaps it´s too solo-instrument-melody oriented.
Nevertheless, there should be some HQ pitch shifter you could use by for instance recording your guitar at the best speed for you, and then afterwards set Cubase back to the speed of the project, change the speed of the recording to be in sync with the project, and then pitch it down with the pitch shifter. There will definetely be some artifacts because it´s done in real time, but still good to know if it´s ok for you.