Multiple takes with fluctuations in tempo

Cubase
1

Hi all,

I’m new on here so I’m hoping to get some suggestions on solving my recording/editing issue.

I’m running cubase 8.5 artist.

95% of the time I am recording my own material in a project studio set up so I haven’t come across this issue before.

I recently started to record bands for their demos etc.

Now again, 80 % of the time the drummer will play to a click so using different takes from different instruments isn’t an issue, i.e. I can use take 1 for drums but if take 3 for guitars is better I can still use that cause the tempos are identical. (If the drummer has not strayed from the click obviously)

My issue is when drummers can’t play to click…

My plan is to do a number of takes and then keep the best drum take, and then look for a good guitar take to go with it for example.

As the tempos are going to different what is the best tool available to me and what is the easiest and quickest way to line these up?
Is it a case of manually audio warping the guitar track? Tempo detect the drums then time stretch the guitars?

My tempo in cubase is 120bpm as I’m not using the click function?

This is a new area for me in cubase like I mentioned above so be gentle with responses! Ha

Can anyone assist??

Many thanks.

2

Hi and welcome,

In Cubase Pro, there is a audio quantization (mainly designed for drums), so this would solve your issue. In Cubase Artist, this is a manual work.

3

So if I did have pro I wouldn’t want to use anything that makes it sound robotic. I’d like to maintain as much feel as poss.
So if I had 4 complete takes for a live band run though and I want to use take 1 for all the drums but take 3 for all the guitars for example. Both takes are slightly different tempo

Would I do the following…

Import all audio tracks into pool…
Make sure all the tempos in the pool are the same as the current project tempo(120) so any changes apply the same as tempo of recorded tracks are from different takes with out click track…
Then time warp the project tempo using kick and snare for example therefore giving me a tempo map track…
Then audio warp the guitar tracks to the tempo map created then engage musical mode for all tracks in pool so any tempo changes I make happens to all tracks in parallel ?