TEMPO: Best way to tempo track to live recording (NOT track to tempo)

Cubase
1

I have a project to mix and produce; Most of the tracks are multi track live.
I have tried previously ie years ago and remember it didnt actually work that well but let me make clear

  1. I have a group recorded with vox, guitar percussion and some live synth
  2. I want to create a tempo track that follows the recording so it keeps the live feel/tempo which varies slightly with the emotion of the passages
  3. I will then add certain midi that requires to be synced to the track eg tempo delay and I want it to lock, sometimes an arpeggio etc

Im just wondering if anyone else on here uses it that way and what was the best way that it was done
Previously I tapped a midi 1/4 to tracks and tried to map this to tempo

Any ideas appreciated or even better…example tut

Cheers

2

Hi,

Create the Tempo Map from one of the audio files first.

Then you can record MIDI. The metronome (and the Grid) will be in sync with the audio already.

3

I do this quite often, most recently with a piano track over video played with very flexible tempo.

To get a rough map to start with, I choose a track with decent rhythm indications and just use the time warp tool to drag beat one of each bar to the relevant audio transient or start of midi note. When transients aren’t available at the start of the bar I drag beats instead. Sometimes just one tempo point per bar is enough, but if I need it smoother for more drastic tempo changes I go in and drag per beat. If memory serves I think the warp tool confirms to the snap setting, which can simplify things.

It’s important to remember to set all tracks you want to preserve the original timing of to absolute time so they don’t change timing when you move the barlines. Probably not what you need for this project but if you want to edit the tempo map later on, change back to musical time so everything stays in sync. This feature is one of my favourite in Cubase, and the ability to graphically scale the tempo in the tempo track is great.

In case you are not aware, the tapping 1/4 notes method can be automated somewhat with ‘Merge Tempo from Tapping’ (Tempo Maps For Pre-Recorded Audio). You can also ask Cubase to auto-detect tempo from audio (Setting up a Tempo Track from Tempo Detection) but I find the manual option the most straightforward, especially for tracks with drastic tempo changes.

4

Thanks…its been a while and i remember it wasnt a couple of mouse click. Project originally done in Live but im pretty sure it doesnt have anything like this…that was obvious

Cheers