Are there ways to adjust varying tempos on mp3's?

Cubase
1

Hi!

Kind of new to Cubase. But been looking a many different instructional videos on YouTube and reading some Cubase help-files, but still havent found a solution to my problem…

I wanna do covers of well known pop/rock songs. So, when opening a new project I first load up a track with the *.mp3 of the song. Then I check the songs’ tempo in Cubase (so I can record using a click). Then I simply listen to the song in Cubase and then proceed making the cover of the song; for example programming the drum notes, play the guitars, etc. This a smooth way to do covers I believe since I can always go back listening to the song to get my recordings as close to the original as possible. Seems like a good setup doing cover songs! :slight_smile:

But, many of these well known songs werent recorded with a click so they go up and down a little in tempo and thus don’t follow the click in Cubase. They might start of in the correct tempo but after some beats the go slower or faster. This makes it a bit harder, although not undoable. But, I wonder if there’s a way in Cubase to adjust an mp3 song, so it always plays correctly after a click and in the correct tempo of the song? Is there perhaps an instructional video on YouTube or some where else? Plus, what version of Cubase do I need to have all needed functions? Maybe my version of Cubase doesnt have all the right functions to accomplish this? I use Cubase LE AI Elements 6 that came with Steinberg UR22, which I bought a few weeks ago.

/many regards!

2

The function is called AudioWarp.

Here’s one of many YouTube videos CUBASE: using Audiowarp - YouTube

3

Cubase AI will probably have some limitations in this field. Don’t know which exactly because I’m too lazy to look it up :wink:.

Anyway, there’s 2 things you can do. The first is to change the MP3 file using timestretching so that it becomes a constant tempo song. The second is changing the Cubase tempo along with the song, so that your grid follows the original song. Depends on if you want to write a constant tempo song or stick to the original song’s tempo (which might be a bit awkward, playing to a varying tempo can be difficult, although quantising will work against this varying tempo.).
Depending on which one of the 2 you want to do, there’s different methods in Cubase.

Here’s a topic with some more info, there’s plenty more on this forum and in the Cubase manual for the different options!

4

Thanks for replies!

I just found out that Cubase functions like Audio Warp and Tempo Detection only works in the full version of Cubase, not the Artist or Elements versions. Too bad for me but one day I might upgrade, so I have to move along without those functions, its quite doable just takes more work.

/regards!