How To: Recording in Free-Time

[tommyzai]

When recording in free-time (w/o set tempo, time signature, etc.) what's the best way to add measures afterwards? Would I need to go in and add markers for the start of each measure or is there another way?

Thank you!

[BertKoor]

Analog tape did not have bar markers. There was a 3-digit counter which was not so precise. And yet we could get the work done. So...

But if you have to, one way is add a repeating click track / simple beat, and just mess with the tempo track until it fits good enough for your goal.

[lfm]

If you want to align the recorded to grid there are ways to do that, as you mentioned,

In Cubase it was called Warp if I remember correct.
- you dragged timeline position of grid to any point you like

StudioOne was pretty cool way of doing it, but don't remember name.

But procedure was something like this
- a recorded midi clip is locked so not affected if tempo changes
- then you could align grid to that locked clip
- you have to estimate "this is 4 bars" and similar to drag the right grid bar to that spot
- so you get the tempo changes calculated for you so it aligns to your wishes
- then you can unlock the midi clip and it will align

But as BertKoor meant, you can do it all without any grid.
- just listen to what you did and do next recording live
- but to program anything, like a beat if you record a guitar or something is a mess, I presume

[tommyzai]

Yeah, it almost seems like recording feely is either all or nothing. If the grid and all are completely ignored, it's like tape, but marking out measures might be a timely mess . . . but marking sections wouldn't be that difficult, i.e., Intro, verse 1, chorus, bridge, etc.

[Danilo Villanova]

record a "scratch track" with a guitar or whatever instrument with the tempo and vibe; then, create tempo map from transient detection or whatever bs is called in your DAW. You now have a grid and a metronome that follows your freely and musically recorded mojo.

[tommyzai]

record a "scratch track" with a guitar or whatever instrument with the tempo and vibe; then, create tempo map from transient detection or whatever BS is called in your DAW. You now have a grid and a metronome that follows your freely and musically recorded mojo.

I was just about to give up. Now I have hope. Thanks, I'll look into it.

[tommyzai]

I think I will start by recording a live drum beat

[jancivil]

Here's a way to do it per se, no transient detection or that. I don't think finding a transient for every musical event that should have a match in the timeline is elegant, or worth a shit frankly.

Way back in 2009 Cubase 5 came out with something called Time Warp. Before that, because I don't want to guess a BPM before I do anything, and probably won't get it right, I totally avoided a bars and beats grid and set the timeline display to timecode. At 30fps it looks like it's 'in three' but I trained myself to not look at it or care. I'm amazed that things I did were as 'in time' as they were with that M.O. It was quite a mess. Time Warp was liberating, it meant a new lease on life for me.

With Time Warp 'on', you adjust the timeline to the music, not vice versa. You can set your project up to follow a piece of audio by finding first the downbeats, then if you want to get deeper musical points within a bar. This is using the tracks in linear time with Time Warp in the same kind of mode. Time Warp in 'musical events follow' will warp the timing of your tracks in 'musical time', conversely.

Here there is a spot I might want to comport with 'beat 4', so I drag the node at '4' to a note that was hitting early:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/npujen9j ... fwjls&dl=0

[gentleclockdivider]

I really don't get what all the fuss is about
You just play something in , let's say a rhytm for a couple of bars , or just a meter , cowbell !
This is the backbone of your song ( clicktrack ) , then define start-end point
Adjust the tempo of your daw ( no timestrecthing ! ) untill the nr of beats-bars line up with your audio file (you decide that) , so it loops correctly
This could be any bpm or a multiple of it or the half of it etc...

[dan_flash]

You could have a look at Blockheads - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5fWPBOdr ... th=Mjg2NjY

[ozinga]

I do not know what you have but Logic has Free Tempo Recording feature. It creates the map right after you finish your free recording. Which works mostly well if you do not have any drastic tempo changes.
Cubase has Automatic Tempo Map Creation based on free recorded audio so no need to delve in to free warping etc. which again works quite well.

[thecontrolcentre]

Live 12 has Tempo Following, which should do what you're describing ...
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... ive-11-FAQ

What is Tempo Following?
With Tempo Following, Live adjusts the Project tempo in real-time to match the tempo of an incoming audio signal. Live will follow any fluctuating tempo changes from musicians or any other rhythmic sounds. You can use Tempo Following by activating the Tempo Follower.

Live has Beat Seeker too, a M4L device ...
https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/beatseeker/

BeatSeeker is a responsive Max for Live device that adapts Live’s tempo to stay in time with a drummer or other rhythmic audio. It lets bands maintain their natural groove when performing with Live.

[jancivil]

Cubase has Automatic Tempo Map Creation based on free recorded audio so no need to delve in to free warping etc. which again works quite well.

Here's a pretty good video that applies.


He's first done manual warp and established the barlines for a certain amount of the file.
He has opined that it's better to do it manually and come to grips with Time Warp first (I agree). Automatic detection uses the Time Warp, after all.

In sum he states "You really have to go through it and see if the warp markers are in the correct locations." (Then with his tempo map finished, he has Cubase correct it. And says he doesn't want it for that track.)

So this being the (verifiable) case, I'd rather not bother with the machine's estimations.
For the detection of beats I don't know what informs it except for transients, but it's not going to be quite satisfactory to me. The more variance from clock time the more work there will be here, full stop.

So my curiosity on the correction aspect piqued, I tested it on something of mine where it's all been decided. I didn't know if it did MIDI, found that it does.

How I have it:

what it is.png

What Cubase thinks it is:

supposed correction.png

it's decided to display it in 1/4, it can't be bothered with the fact of the varying time sigs, so that's objectively what it has at quarter note resolution. It's early in a couple of places.

As to "so no need to delve in" - your call as to what you're happy with but it's objectively not a true statement for me here and probably won't be in general. The track in his video he had to "delve in" as well. He didn't like it putting a marker at every 8th note, and I had to 'divide by two' as well (the more it did the more error). Now, I think it did a pretty good job but I don't have a real use for it.

"free warping" is a feature of Audio Warp which is manipulating the audio in sample editor. I don't know anything about it except that it's not warping the timeline.

that MIDI part was drum replacement, so the timeline was first of all done from a two-file