The idea of using different takes first of all to get things closer into alignment is quite neat. I typically do four takes in Reaper and I will see how your technique works for aligning bass and rhythm guitar to a drum or click track. I suppose your expand and compress technique corresponds to the stretch marks system in Reaper (which I am never very successful with). If you find the time, a tutorial and aligning instruments would be most welcome. In the meantime, thanks very much for these tips, Arthur.
Reaper also has the same "grabbing" hand for stretching and contracting, I now see. Probably a lot less messy than using stretch marks. Thanks for these ideas Arthur.
That’s a great video idea! In the meantime, Try to avoid time stretching and compression as much as possible for drum tracks and rather rely on cutting and nudging - I like to capture a few single drum hits (particularly on the close mics) for each drum in case I need to replace any bad hits. For bass, guitar, etc., I’ve been in sessions where one take was perfectly fine for the aesthetic of the music. Other times, it’s best to track one or two bars at a time to get things as perfect as possible (more likely in technical genres and metal). Remember to always listen back every few bars to ensure you aren’t sucking the life out of the performance (or introducing artifacts) by over-correcting for timing issues. Hope that helps for now! Cheers, -Art
Thanks a lot Arthur. I have no intention of altering my drum track (as it my click track, if you like). I thought of using it as a reference track and aligning my guitars to that or inserting a click track as a guide.
Hey thanks for your video I am using vocal align in the test version atm and I’m wondering how I get my main guide track perfect to the bpm of my song. Voc align won’t do that right? So would you say I gotta Flex Time my main, bounce it and then use vocal align on all tracks to match to it ? ✌️
Yes, you’d need to get the guide track where you want it first. VocAlign can then be used to help massage the timing of other vocal tracks to the guide. By your question, can I assume you’re using vocal “samples” or pre-recorded vocals in the context of remixing and/or electronic or HipHop? I’d always recommend recording the vocal as professionally as possible, including timing. Time compression/expansion or “FlexTime” in LPX can help, but often introduces artifacts, which will be more noticeable on a lead vocal than on background elements (assuming modern mixing aesthetics). So, in short, get the best lead/guide vocal take possible, and then VocAlign can help align other vocals to that main track. Hope that helps, Cheers!
Thanks so much for getting back to me. I am working with my own vocals and often times my performance in rap and singing isn’t completely on the bars. Sounds still fine but I’m super perfectionistic to the point that sometimes it might even be ruining the vocal when using too much Flex Time on the main. Also when I use Flex Time on the main and bounce it then to align vocals with the plug in Flex Time gets deleted on the new track. Would you know of any way using flextime or getting perfect timing in edits on the main and then be able to bounce in place and keep the edits for vocal align? I feel like vocal align isn’t getting me anywhere if I need flex on the main anyway. Might as well adjust all then since I can’t keep the edits for vocal align anyway. Very sorry for the long message and thanks so much
You actually don't have to bounce-in-place your lead vocal - just be sure that the edited version (FlexTime or otherwise) is being recorded into the Guide Track within VocAlign. My advice is to spend extra time practicing the vocal passages and recorded them cleanly rather than spending additional time editing. In terms of music production, I always advise getting it right at the source! We can often get lost in editing, and while it's often necessary to make adjustments in modern production, over-editing can often make things worse instead of better. Also, don't let perfect be the enemy of good :) Words I live by (especially when dealing with the subjective nature of music and the arts in general - I picked that up when I was working as a composer for multimedia, where revisions are commonplace).
@@ArthurFoxMusic that’s beautiful advice thank you! 🙏 vocal align won’t let me capture if flex. is enabled on the track actually. It’s the ARA version btw it’s weird. 🤷♂️ I’m aligning all manually now very disappointed cause when I first saw what the plug in can do a heavy weight was lifted from my shoulders. I’ll work on my timing performance on the next projects for sure!
I see. ARA is a huge time saver in some cases, but a massive pain in others. I'd highly recommend using the standard version of VocAlign and definitely working in smaller sections (much easier to dial things in and avoid misalignment and artifacts). As an aside, since getting my new Mac Studio (M2 chip), which doesn't support ARA in Logic Pro unless it's run using Rosetta, I've largely stopped using ARA in my work.
The idea of using different takes first of all to get things closer into alignment is quite neat. I typically do four takes in Reaper and I will see how your technique works for aligning bass and rhythm guitar to a drum or click track. I suppose your expand and compress technique corresponds to the stretch marks system in Reaper (which I am never very successful with). If you find the time, a tutorial and aligning instruments would be most welcome. In the meantime, thanks very much for these tips, Arthur.
Reaper also has the same "grabbing" hand for stretching and contracting, I now see. Probably a lot less messy than using stretch marks. Thanks for these ideas Arthur.
That’s a great video idea!
In the meantime,
Try to avoid time stretching and compression as much as possible for drum tracks and rather rely on cutting and nudging - I like to capture a few single drum hits (particularly on the close mics) for each drum in case I need to replace any bad hits.
For bass, guitar, etc., I’ve been in sessions where one take was perfectly fine for the aesthetic of the music. Other times, it’s best to track one or two bars at a time to get things as perfect as possible (more likely in technical genres and metal).
Remember to always listen back every few bars to ensure you aren’t sucking the life out of the performance (or introducing artifacts) by over-correcting for timing issues.
Hope that helps for now!
Cheers,
-Art
Thanks a lot Arthur. I have no intention of altering my drum track (as it my click track, if you like). I thought of using it as a reference track and aligning my guitars to that or inserting a click track as a guide.
All good, my friend!
Playing/recording to drum/percussion tracks is so much better and organic than to a click, in my opinion.
Hey thanks for your video I am using vocal align in the test version atm and I’m wondering how I get my main guide track perfect to the bpm of my song. Voc align won’t do that right? So would you say I gotta Flex Time my main, bounce it and then use vocal align on all tracks to match to it ? ✌️
Yes, you’d need to get the guide track where you want it first. VocAlign can then be used to help massage the timing of other vocal tracks to the guide.
By your question, can I assume you’re using vocal “samples” or pre-recorded vocals in the context of remixing and/or electronic or HipHop?
I’d always recommend recording the vocal as professionally as possible, including timing. Time compression/expansion or “FlexTime” in LPX can help, but often introduces artifacts, which will be more noticeable on a lead vocal than on background elements (assuming modern mixing aesthetics).
So, in short, get the best lead/guide vocal take possible, and then VocAlign can help align other vocals to that main track.
Hope that helps,
Cheers!
Thanks so much for getting back to me. I am working with my own vocals and often times my performance in rap and singing isn’t completely on the bars. Sounds still fine but I’m super perfectionistic to the point that sometimes it might even be ruining the vocal when using too much Flex Time on the main. Also when I use Flex Time on the main and bounce it then to align vocals with the plug in Flex Time gets deleted on the new track. Would you know of any way using flextime or getting perfect timing in edits on the main and then be able to bounce in place and keep the edits for vocal align? I feel like vocal align isn’t getting me anywhere if I need flex on the main anyway. Might as well adjust all then since I can’t keep the edits for vocal align anyway.
Very sorry for the long message and thanks so much
You actually don't have to bounce-in-place your lead vocal - just be sure that the edited version (FlexTime or otherwise) is being recorded into the Guide Track within VocAlign.
My advice is to spend extra time practicing the vocal passages and recorded them cleanly rather than spending additional time editing. In terms of music production, I always advise getting it right at the source!
We can often get lost in editing, and while it's often necessary to make adjustments in modern production, over-editing can often make things worse instead of better.
Also, don't let perfect be the enemy of good :) Words I live by (especially when dealing with the subjective nature of music and the arts in general - I picked that up when I was working as a composer for multimedia, where revisions are commonplace).
@@ArthurFoxMusic that’s beautiful advice thank you! 🙏 vocal align won’t let me capture if flex. is enabled on the track actually. It’s the ARA version btw it’s weird. 🤷♂️ I’m aligning all manually now very disappointed cause when I first saw what the plug in can do a heavy weight was lifted from my shoulders. I’ll work on my timing performance on the next projects for sure!
I see. ARA is a huge time saver in some cases, but a massive pain in others.
I'd highly recommend using the standard version of VocAlign and definitely working in smaller sections (much easier to dial things in and avoid misalignment and artifacts).
As an aside, since getting my new Mac Studio (M2 chip), which doesn't support ARA in Logic Pro unless it's run using Rosetta, I've largely stopped using ARA in my work.