Best (most invisible) way to speed up a final mix?

[rasputin1963]

Okay, so you've got your final mix of your song.

 

It's all mixed down into a single stereo WAV.

 

But you notice it drags a little in tempo.

 

 

What's the best way to speed up a final mix once it's already been mixed-down? Like, to bump it up about 2 BPM? Sure, you shoulda thought of that much earlier in your creative process, but.....still?

 

 

Any way to do it so the speed-up is invisible to the ear?

[UstadKhanAli]

Elastic Time or something in Ableton?

[Jeff da Weasel]

What's the best way to speed up a final mix once it's already been mixed-down?

 

You buy a "stop second guessing yourself" plug-in and leave it alone.

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

Track Length to Tempo Matching.

 

 

But slow it down. Very likely you played and recorded the music too fast in tempo, and no matter what you do to the tempo, it will be invisible.

[blue2blue]

I've used the time-stretching/shrinking utility in Sonar (I'm back on v6) for a few songs and anything that was lost was made up, overall, by bringing up the sluggish tempos. That said, one intro phrase that had made better sense at a slower tempo had an odd feel at the more sprightly tempo. But not enough to make me go back.

[boosh]

 

Okay, so you've got your final mix of your song. It's all mixed down into a single stereo WAV. But you notice it drags a little in tempo. What's the best way to speed up a final mix once it's already been mixed-down? Like, to bump it up about 2 BPM? Sure, you shoulda thought of that much earlier in your creative process, but.....still? Any way to do it so the speed-up is invisible to the ear?

 

 

I can try to speed it up 2bpm for ya if you want.

[CalfeeJones]

This probably won't help you, but my soundcard (Yamaha DS2416) has a variable speed. So I set the speed higher, send it out to the 2 track tape, and then record it back in. Or I can send it out digitally to another computer's digital in, then bring it back. The key here is the variable speed playback on the soundcard.

 

Like I said - it probably won't help you... :-)

[lonotes]

You buy a "stop second guessing yourself" plug-in and leave it alone.

 

Do you have a link to one of these plug-ins that you would recommend? Any idea on system requirements or price?

[WRGKMC]

I have used the time stretching in editor programs like Cool edit and wave lab. I have it in sonar too. In all cases, I dont suggest stretching unless absolutely nessasary and dont tweak the speed a whole lot, and be sure to use the highest quality setting if its an option. Even then It can make a really good mix sound a bit glitchey. Ive had instances where I had to speed the music up because the players were playing great, but they were stuck in a slow time warp for a song. It can fix a CD of music up if theres one obvious dragger happening that cant be hidden by strategic placement in the CD song order. Otherwise its a tradeoff weather you can deal with the reduced quality vs the slower tempo.

[blue2blue]

Do you have a link to one of these plug-ins that you would recommend? Any idea on system requirements or price?

If you have to ask...

 

 

 

[Philter]

Serato Pitch 'n' Time sounded the best to me back when I was doing stuff like that, but that was years ago now. They have a free demo that works in Logic but I don't know how it's crippled. There is a lot of variability in the quality you will get from product to product... thats' what I remember anyhow.

[John Sayers]

I have used Prosoniq Time Factory - it's now available in version 2 which I assume is even better. V1 you couldn't hear it.

 

http://www.prosoniq.com/editing-products/timefactory-2/

[bp]

Do you have stems of your mix? If so, you may want to try whatever time plugin on each stem, then export the composite mix at the new tempo. This may sound better than taking the stereo mix and manipulating it. This would require that the plugin is of high quality and isn't going to distort the timing relationship between individual stems.