Subject:How do you Acidize a track or tracks so that the tempo is the same on all tracks

Posted by: Doctorwho

Date:12/31/2003 9:28:32 AM

Ive been reading more and more that when DJ's use Acid, it seems that in order to set the tempo the same on all their tracks, they have to do this feature that everyone is suggesting called ACIDIZING?

So ok, Im a newbie at this stuff, so if their is a Yoda that can teach me the ways of the force in Acidizing, please please teach me......heheh

All i want to do is take 12 audio tracks I made and make the tempo the same on all tracks so the beats match.

Subject:RE: How do you Acidize a track or tracks so that the tempo is the same on all tracks

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:12/31/2003 10:47:42 AM

There are several ways. It's somewhat easy once you know how.

If these tracks of yours aren't already ACIDized, I'd highly recommend Sound Forge (the lite, "Studio" version or the full version will do).

You will have to determine what kind of track you want the track to be. There are three types: Loop, Beatmapped, and One-shot.

Loops and Beatmapped tracks adhere to the stretching abilities of ACID, while One-shots are basically taken at face value; no stretching is done by ACID.

If you already know the number of beats of a sample you want to become a Loop, for example, you can use the Special>Edit ACID Properties command in Sound Forge and enter the proper number of beats (and key if applicable).

It's very important to know the exact number of beats. Time and tempo are related. If you make a sample that's 2 seconds long and assign 4 beats, the resulting ACIDized tempo will be 120 BPM. (To simplify, there are 2 beats for every 1 second, and there are a total of 60 seconds to each minute. You can do the math from there.)

If you were to take that same 2 second sample and assign 8 beats, you'd double the tempo, making it 240 BPM. (Do you see the relation? The more beats you add in a given amount of time, the more you increase the tempo.)

2 beats per seond = 120 beats per minute

4 beats per second = 240 beats per minute

Sound Forge has excellent tools that help you gauge a given sample so that you can ACIDize properly. Its ACID Loop Creation Tools toolbar is great in this respect. (You'll have to to add it yourself by going to View>Toolbars in Sound Forge.)

In any case, I'd also suggest, as a final step, of taking the newly-ACIDized sample and adjust its stretching properties. You'd do this by accessing the track properties in ACID Pro and under the Stretch tab, add or adjust stretch markers on portions of a beat you find need stressing. This will usually make a Loop sound that much better when stretched to other tempi.

(Use the Save or Save As buttons to permanently save changes with the track. Also, ACID Pro is the only version of ACID that has the ability to work with stretching properties.)

HTH,
Iacobus
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RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
mD's ACIDplanet Page

Subject:RE: How do you Acidize a track or tracks so that the tempo is the same on all tracks

Reply by: Doctorwho

Date:12/31/2003 10:57:25 AM

Thanks for the response and this helps me understand some.

I use PCDJ Red to figure out the BPM's to my tracks. Each track is about 3-6 minutes long

My tracks bpm's range between 110.000 to 138.000

I want to have it where all the tracks are around 130 bpms roughly so that when I blend in the next track to end of another track, the beats match perfectly without using pitch control or anything making the mixing easier.

So could I use PCDJ to figure out bpm's of the tracks, then use soundforge to change the next blended in track to match the bpms on the first one??

Subject:RE: How do you Acidize a track or tracks so that the tempo is the same on all tracks

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:12/31/2003 11:23:11 AM

I really don't know how PCDJ works when figuring out the tempi of tracks, so I can't exactly help out there.

You can actually use Sound Forge to do both tasks. For example, if you make a four beat selection, Sound Forge's ACID Loop Creation Tools toolbar should tell you roughly what the tempo would be for that selection.

You could then use Sound Forge's Process>Time Stretch function to timestretch (without changing the sample's pitch) the sample to your needs.

(I should note you should still properly ACIDize a given sample so ACID doesn't try doing it itself; ACID's pretty good on some material, but you're better off doing it yourself.)

HTH,
Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
mD's ACIDplanet Page

Subject:RE: How do you Acidize a track or tracks so that the tempo is the same on all tracks

Reply by: spinweb

Date:12/31/2003 2:47:53 PM

Can ACID Pro ACIDize a track?

Subject:RE: How do you Acidize a track or tracks so that the tempo is the same on all tracks

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:1/1/2004 9:45:44 AM

Sure.

By default, a long take is usually turned into a Beatmapped track, but can also be a One-shot track by default.

You can also take such a take, solo the take, and set the Loop Region over the area you'd like to isolate onto a track of its own, then use CTRL+M to render to a new track (bounce down).

If (by default) the bounced down track is 30 seconds or less, it should turn into a Loop track, where tempo and key info of the overall project is automatically saved with the new track. You can then adjust/add stretch markers if you'd like at that point. (I'd suggest editing the stretch properties anyway just to tweak the Loop.)

I should note that whatever the track's volume is will be accounted for when bounced. For example, if the original track's volume is set at -10.0 dB and you bounce that down, the bounced down track will also have a -10.0 dB cut.

Be sure to get the track the way you want it volume-wise before bouncing. If you want the bounced track to mirror the original track's (or tracks') volume, set the volume slider for the new track to unity (0.0 dB); you can double-click the slider to automatically set it there.

HTH,
Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
mD's ACIDplanet Page