Audio Quantizing and Timing Corrections

Cubase
1

Can anyone give some tips on quantizing and time correcting audio tracks. Ive watch any videos on youtube but it seems to be for midi (im not sure…or sure what Im talking about).

I record a guitar/bass section and wish to align it closer to the hits of the kick drum. The particular track is rhythmically “complex” and needs to be accurate to 1/16 note. Here is what I know and some current issues (Im still a noob at using Cubase for the most part):

I record a track, double click, and establish hitpoints by adjusting the threshold. Even at this point the hitpoints do not come out clean. Say I just played one bass note. The program will establish a hitpoint at the very beginning of noise and at the “highest attack” being played. Im not sure what the program uses to quantize but I feel like there should only be one hitpoint in this circumstance, especially because you do not want to slice in the middle of an attack. I do NOT even know how to add a hitpoint manually; I only figured out how to move and lock them.

So, say I establish correct hitpoints and slicing; then when I go to quantize to a specific time interval it doesn’t seem to work. Im not sure what the quantize does exactly, but I purposefully played off time in a really simple example to see if it adjusts and it did not. Perhaps, quantizing audio doesn’t work the same as midi; I don’t know.

Im sure I can figure out a way, at this point, to adjust hitpoints manually, slice the tracks, and then manually drag slices to proper locations but that would be really tedious.

Any tips/help is appreciated.
Cheers.

2

If your only trying to tight up bass guitar try splitting up your notes and using slip editing.

It won’t have any undesired stretching effects to your audio.I use this with nearly all my bass.
Sometimes on notes that may adjoinin I will just aim for a perfect take.

To have an experiment with slip editing record a small piece of bass with a few different notes.

Make cuts…I like to cut as close to each note as I can so I dont pull in any undesired audio that could cause a clip or pop then to slip the note or audio press and hold Ctrl & Alt while your cursor is hovering over your audio and you will see the arrows change and point left and right.then just click and hold to slip the part.
Then just apply crossfade to avoid pops n clicks

If your not the strongest bassist ( like me) just record in parts and fix any off notes with slip editing.

Works a treat

3

Just found out about the audio warp function it has; it may have the “undesired” stretching effects but it seems to work well with what I need. Ill also experiment with what you suggested. Thx

4

Yep I would say try both and decide for yourself…I did that and for me slip editing was way better for how I work.

One thing I forgot to say was once you have slipped the audio and your ready to crossfade you probably will need to resize your piece of audio either side just a tad.

5

Thanks for the help.