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Subject:time compression
Posted by: amanda
Date:10/23/2001 6:39:59 PM
Does anyone know the basic step by step process to change the bpm on a song (without changing pitch) from a song on a CD? I am an aerobics instructor and not very good at computer stuff. I have Soundforge XP Studio 5.0. The instructions say to look for "Time Compression" under the Process tab, but all I find is "Time Stretch." Is that what I'm supposed to use? Thank you, Amanda |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: Rednroll
Date:10/24/2001 10:01:16 PM
Yes, "Time-stretch" is the function that you want if you don't want to change the pitch. I'm assuming you figured out how to get the sound from the CD into sound forge? From there: 1. Goto Edit> "Select All" 2. Goto Process>Time Stretch 3. You can slide the slider to the right to increase the length/Time or to the Left to Decrease the length/Time. 4. If you have a specific length you can enter the time number in the white rectangle to the right of the Final time. 5. Press the Preview button to see what it sounds like. 6. If you are happy with what you hear then hit "OK" and Sound Forge will alter the song to the time which you entered. 7. Save the File 8. Burn it to a new CD using the "Create CD" function in the Tools menu. I hope this is detailed enough, I had to try and explain to my 60 year old mother last week how to burn a CD using Nero (that's another computer program) last week. So if you have further questions I understand, I've just been through this. Good luck, Brian Franz |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: amanda
Date:10/25/2001 6:19:37 PM
Thank you so much for your response. I fiddled around with the program and got it to sort of work. Do you happen to know how to get a final specific bpm? In other words, a song I have is 145 bpm and I want it to be 160 bpm. How do you get it to be specific? I got it to speed up and slow down, but I can't tell by how much unless I do trial and error and count the beats. Thanks again for your help. |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: Rednroll
Date:10/25/2001 9:35:17 PM
In the Time Stretch Menu goto the "Input format" and select "Tempo(BPM). That will get you so you're working in BPM's instead of Time length. It would help at this point if you already know the original Tempo. Sound Forge Defaults to a 120 BPM, which can be changed in the "Preferences" menu under options. This is only a start reference BPM and not the actual BPM of your song. So in your case if you already know the tempo is 145BPM, then just move the slider until it is now 135 BPM, and that will give you your 160 BPM that you're looking for. Just a little math there. 120 + 15 =135 or in your case 145 + 15 = 160. Get it? If you don't know the original tempo of your song, there is a little trick I've used in the past I can teach you to use in Sound Forge to figure it out. It's a little painful and I usually don't do this in Sound Forge anymore, I just use my sequencer which has a Tap tempo, where you just tap a key along with your song and it displays the tempo. Good luck, Brian Franz |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: amanda
Date:10/25/2001 10:36:20 PM
Thank you so much for helping, I seem to slowly be getting things. However, I did like you said to, and the little box with "Final Tempo" said 141.18 and the little box with "Initial Tempo" said 120. When I moved the slider, it only affected the Final Tempo number, decreasing it as I moved to the right. The 120 number never moved. Am I supposed to just type right over the Initial Tempo number of 120 rather than use the slider? As for counting bpms, I do the old fashioned way of watching my second hand on my watch and counting a full minute's worth. I don't know what you're talking about with the tap tempo. I have a metronome, but I found it takes longer to get it just right than to just count it! Is the tap tempo more accurate? The reason I even bought this program is because I'm so picky, I can notice even 2 bpms difference and rather than fiddle with a tape player I thought I could just "fix" things to be perfect since blank CDs don't cost much. |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: kryten
Date:10/25/2001 10:37:41 PM
There is a doohicky for Windows that will measure the BPM with some manual assistance: http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/audio/taptempo.htm |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: amanda
Date:10/25/2001 11:44:21 PM
I downloaded it. That program is great and a good way to check up on my counting! Thanks! |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:10/26/2001 12:04:19 AM
Hi Amanda, The "Initial Tempo" value is the original tempo of the audio file. You'd enter your song's tempo here once you find out how many BPM's the song is and enter your desired value in the "Final Tempo" setting. BTW, you can simply find out the tempo by simply counting for 15 seconds on the second hand of your watch and multiplying that by 4. (15 seconds x 4 sections on your watch that are 15 seconds apiece=1 minute (60 seconds).) HTH, Iacobus |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: Rednroll
Date:10/27/2001 12:28:42 PM
Using a Tap Tempo program is the quickest way to find the tempo, unless you're really gifted and can tell the BPM by listening. Here's a trick on how to find the BPM using Sound Forge. Do a selection of 1 Measure (ie 4 beats), and use the Loop play tool, and alter your selection until you have a perfect 1 Bar loop happening. Now goto SPECIAL>EDIT TEMPO. In here the selection you have will automatically appear. Now in the "SELECTION LENGTH IN BEATS" Enter "4". Also it defaults to "4 Beats per measure",leave this. When you enter the "Length in Beats" to be 4, it will calculate the Tempo of your 4 bar Loop, and thus that's your original Tempo of your song. This is of course your song is in 4/4, but you seem like a smart musician type, so you could probably figure out how to do the rest if you're in a different time signature. So now that you know your initial BPM goto the Time Stretch and enter that into your initial tempo field and enter the tempo you want it to be in the "Final Tempo" box, or use the slider, which ever you prefer, they both work the same way. By the way the "Edit Tempo" feature does not actually Edit the Tempo, this is a feature for ACID so you can set the properties of a LOOP and this get's saved with the Wave loop when you open the loop you created in Acid. Regards, Brian Franz |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: amanda
Date:10/27/2001 7:57:25 PM
Okay I got the SoundForge way to get bpms. Is this more accurate than tap tempo? I got about 1 bpm difference between the two, not that it's much...I'm just curious. Do you also know how do you insert a selected copy of a section into the song, like to make a longer version of a song? And do you also know how to fade in a second song into the end of the first? Kind of like a DJ does? I use specific songs for my aerobics and go to great lengths go get them, instead of the typical aerobics instructor who knows nothing about music and buys those pre-fabbed tapes that blend all the beats together. I have been criticized by my manager (who also knows nothing about the importance of music) that there is a "break" between my songs, so is there anyway to "attach" another song? Thanks. You give very clear explanations. |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: Rednroll
Date:10/27/2001 8:32:06 PM
This kind of editing is very hard to accomplish with Sound Forge. If you're really masocistic, then the place to do this is by creating "Regions" and then creating a "Playlist". You can find these two functions under "View", show Region list and also show "Playlist/cutlist". Basically what you have to do is create regions and then place these regions into the playlist window in the oder you want things to happen. This is a very archaic way to edit audio and is not very simple. It might be easier to invest in Vegas Audio LE or Video Factory. In Vegas it's very simple you just drag and overlap songs and put fades and cuts however you want. It's very intuitive, simple drag and drop operations. You can download demos in the download sections of this website. Sound Forge 5.0 is usually bundled with Vegas Audio LE, if not I believe it's only $60 bucks or $50 at Best Buy and guitar center. |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:10/27/2001 9:23:44 PM
To crossade one track into another: Select all of one file using CTRL+A; use CTRL+C to copy the contents. Switch to or open another file. Position the cursor where you'd like the crossfade to occur. (You'll probably want to position the cursor more towards the end so that a smooth transition occurs.) Then use CTRL+F. Voila. There are other ways of doing it too, but this is the most basic way. HTH, Iacobus |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: amanda
Date:10/28/2001 12:24:09 PM
Okay I did the Control C and I used Control V out of habit, but it worked anyway. Then I had to tinker with moving the new song over the last part of the fade - it wasn't perfect, but I suppose that's the best I can get? It's better than when I used a cassette recorder. Can you "overlap" songs so you hear a bit of both at the same time like the DJs do? Also, one more question and I'll stop bothering you all with my ignorance...Can you change the pitch of just the vocals without altering the speed of the song? Thanks. |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:10/30/2001 11:54:25 PM
Amanda, did you read my last post on crossfading (10/27)? You want the first song to fade out and the next song to fade in at the same time, correct? That's crossfading. Use CTRL+F instead of CTRL+V. You're just pasting the one file next to the other with CTRL+V. Position the cursor further away from the end of the song if you want a more dramatic crossfade. If you make a mistake and want to redo the crossfade, use CTRL+Z to undo. You cannot pitch shift the vocals without affecting the rest of the file with Sound Forge (or just about any other software for that matter) because of the way the music is mixed down together as one waveform. It'd be a different story, of course, if you had all the tracks separate from each other. Iacobus |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: vanblah
Date:10/31/2001 2:59:17 PM
You can change the pitch of the ENTIRE song without altering the tempo using the pitch shift function. |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: amanda
Date:11/1/2001 10:35:54 PM
Thank you mD for your response. You are right, I was wrong in mistakenly assuming you did a typo with Control F. I am so used to Contol V in my regular accounting life. I got it to work, and I really appreciate your explanation. |
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Subject:RE: time compression
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:11/1/2001 10:41:17 PM
You're welcome! Iacobus |