Fixing tempo drift

I multi-tracked a drummer without using a click track (he refused). The recording is pretty good, but there is a noticeable tempo drift that drives me crazy. Is there a way to digitally fix this before tracking everything else.?

I'm pretty much a novice and doing this as a favor, so it is not imperative that it gets resolved. I just hate to have it hanging out there with my name on it if there is something that I can do about it.

Thanks!

Mike

You can do this with various programs, such as Pro Tools (Elastic Time) or Ableton Live or Logic. I'm the wrong one to be answering this since I don't really do this, but with any of these, you can have the DAW analyze the rhythm, place warp markers (which you can change if necessary), and then snap it all to a specific tempo.

Someone can jump in here and be more specific.

Yeah it's doable. Honestly I hate using elastic audio because even as good as it is there always seems to be weird artifacts that get in.

You need to know a head of time that fixing drums is not a quick and painless process.

If it wasn't done to a click I honestly wouldn't bother, especially if this is for free.

In my experience you typically end up taking more time trying to fix it then it would take to re-record it, and even after you've done all you can do it still sounds weird If it's really bothering you, I would just re record it.

If that is not an option you may just have to live with it

You can move things around but like said above you tend to get odd artifacts, plus you have to consider the bleed from the other mics being lined up as well. It can be a horribly tedious process.

Patience is one thing I have plenty of - and I'm working towards the skill, which is why I'm doing this in the first place.

The recording and sound quality is solid. But I know people who "know better" are going to hear it and think the same thing that you mentioned (should have insisted on a click track). Then they'll ask who recorded it.

I was thinking that if I could fix the timing with some some kind of auto snap feature, I might be able to use replacement drums to take care of any time-stretching artifacts. Or maybe even create some loops and copy/paste where appropriate. Of course that may not be a good approach anyhow.

Well, tell us your daw and we can get you going.

Awesome! Thank you!

I'm using Sonar 8.5 - drums are individually tracked plus two overheads. I tried using Audiosnap, but I'm either doing something incorrectly or it just doesn't work very well for my situation.

I also have Melodyne Editor, which I haven't used for anything other than pitch correction - but I think it can quantize audio.

Most of my other plugins are freebies, but I do have Drumagog.

Before you get too far into it, really ask yourself if it needs it. Imo 'fixed' drums usually always sound a bit off. Then using replacement drum samples is going even further down that rabbit-hole.

How bad is it? I've come to enjoy having a bit of movement in a track in terms of tempo. It is natural, people don't play like metronomes.

That said, if it is really bad and will likely ruin the feel of the song then go ahead if you like. Otherwise people won't be sitting there counting beats, they'll listen to the tune as a whole so if it feels ok it won't matter.

I guess it's something that most people could live with. It's distracting to me so I just hate to hear it. More importantly, I don't want to try to record a guitarist/bassist/vocalist if they are also going to be distracted by it.

I'm also the kind of person who says "I wonder if I could..." and then try to do things that most people wouldn't even attempt. Sometimes I've been pretty successful and have wowed a few people - especially with IT stuff. The more times I "win", the more things I try.

I honestly would not bother to do this. Some variation in tempo is no big deal, and if the feel is basically good, that's better than asking a drummer to play to a click IMO. Phil is right - it's not going to be any reflection on you as the engineer. It's your job to make sure the performers feel comfortable, not dictate things according to your own tastes.

IMO, most "fixed" drums sound a lot worse than a bit of tempo variation, and there are a LOT of classic records that have a good deal of variation in the tempo. I also think there's a good chance the drift won't be as noticeable when the other parts are there - the important thing is whether everyone is grooving together, not whether the tempo is perfect.

There are many popular albums that have very notable recording issues on them, and it didn't prevent them from being well liked. I think we had a thread about that a year or two back? (Maybe it wasn't here ) I'd agree that this may not be worth the time and effort.

My favorite is on "And Justice for All...", a couple minutes into "Blackened" (iirc), the drums get off the beat during a riff with heavy syncopation for around 4 bars and then go back on beat. Apparently, no one cared about it in the studio because its pretty damn obvious, but it certainly didn't make the album sell less. (That album had other issues...)

it's pretty common for that to happen to drummers. If he doesn't want to use a click track (which he should) then he needs to pay attention more. Don't get lost in your head... etc

Have him use lighter sticks. I noticed that with my own sticks, I play right on the beat 99.99% of the time, but when I had to use 2B sticks (long story), i slowed down much much much more.

Yeah, tough one. Do you have use-able passages that you can copy and paste? It can be tedious to make things line up, but it can work, especially if the drumming is at least fairly consistant intensity-wise.

As far as it being a reflection on you, I'm going to go a little against the grain. While everyone is right, it isn't a direct reflection on you, there still is an over-all quality perception that is important. Especially if you are trying to make a business out of what you're doing (or even to impress your friends and attract them to record), understand that with so much competition out there, people really have come to expect "perfection". Anything that takes away from the overall sound can take business away from you. Especially when everyone who has a computer these days has a recording studio and will only charge $10 a day to "record a demo that will get you signed".

Good luck. I'd be really interested to hear clips...before, during, and after, if you think it is appropriate.

+INFINITY As others have stated it is definitely possible, though it can be a HUGE amount of time and effort (not to mention a really steep learning curve) depending on what software you are using.