EQ Magazine - May 2008 - (Page 26)

FAST TRACKS FOR DYNAMITE DEMOS Fig. 4: Cakewalk Sonar provides DSPbased stretching algorithms, but also supports REX format files via a REX file player, and provides native support and editing for Acidized files. Fig. 5: Ableton Live offers five different stretching algorithms that are optimized for specific types of program material; here, Texture is being chosen. Fig. 6: Note how the loops in this Sony Acid Pro project have been chopped to create smaller segments—almost like one-shots—to add interest and variety. keys) to promote the best possible fidelity. The type of music you plan to play makes a difference, too. For example, stretchable files can work well with movie soundtracks—you never know when frames are going to be cut or added, thus requiring the soundtrack to speed up or slow down as the movie gets closer to the final edit. Keeping the parts as malleable as possible can help reduce wasted time. CHOOSING THE RIGHT STRETCHING ALGORITHM Here are some guidelines for deciding what type of stretching to use with what type of sound. REX: This is the ideal format for percussive signals with strong, defined transients. REX files perform very well when speeding up tempo; the samples just get a little shorter. When slowing down, it’s possible to “synthesize” a decay in ReCycle, the only program that can create true REX files. However, this synthesis is a hit-or-miss process: Sometimes the results are effective, sometimes not, and it’s not always easy to predict what the outcome will be until you try it. Where REX files don’t do well is with sustained sounds, such as pads. The slices produce discontinuities in the sound because there are no obvious places to add splices where the percussive nature of the sound can “cover up” the splice point. Acidized files and Apple Loops: OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES EQ has published many articles that can help you make better, more realistic demos; here are four faves. ROMPLER ROOMS: Workstation Domination (02/08) discusses how to take advantage of the flexible, multi-timbral operation of today’s software workstations. VIRTUAL DRUMMER ROUNDUP (07/07) covers the many ways you can use programs like Toontrack EZDrummer, Steinberg Groove Agent, Spectrasonics Stylus RMX, Submersible Drum Core, Fxpansion BFD, and others to create realistic drum parts. EXPLOITING VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS (02/07) helps you get the most out of soft synths— often a crucial part of creating fullsounding demos. KEEPING THE ART IN “STATE OF THE ART” (12/04) is all about flowing with technology rather than fighting it. This results in faster, smoother sessions that encourage creativity instead of stall it. However, unlike Acidized, REX, or Apple Loops that can stretch dynamically in the face of tempo changes, stretching using DSP creates a loop that’s fixed to a specific tempo/length. This is not a problem if the tempo remains constant while the loop is playing; if there’s a tempo change later in the song, you can re-stretch to match the changed tempo. As with any stretching process, the further you stretch, the more likely the sound will suffer. Program-specific stretching: Ableton Live is the primary example of a program that takes a “don’t worry, be happy!” approach to looping: Just bring in a file, and Live will take care of stretching it to the desired tempo. However, it offers several stretching algorithms (Figure 5); you’ll definitely want to use a different one for pads than for drum parts. The stretching quality varies from not being able to tell something is being stretched to a sound with some degree of artifacts, but overall, if you want stretching with the best compromise between sound quality and ease of use, it’s hard to beat Live. USING AND AUDITIONING The key to successful use of loops is to have lots of them—making music with loops is the musical equivalent of collage, and the more source materials you have, the wider your choices. If your budget is too tight, construction kit libraries are probably the best bet, thanks to typically having multiple parts (drums, bass, keyboards, etc.) that work well together. Construction kits are also a good starting point for working with loops. Your next task is choosing the right loops, and the difficulty of this task increases exponentially with the number of libraries you own. Many libraries Although these are also slice-based techniques, they include DSP to “cover up” the divisions between slices, mainly via crossfading. As a result, they work better with pads and sustained parts than REX files. They also do a very credible job with percussive parts, although the fidelity falls apart faster with significant amounts of stretching than with REX files. DSP-based (fixed) stretching: Most DAWs offer time-stretching algorithms (Figure 4), with many licensing iZotope’s high-quality offline stretching algorithms. 26 EQ MAY 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - May 2008

EQ Magazine - May 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Jamie Lidell, What the New Model of Record Deal Means to You, Part II, Andrew W.K. Tool Box Aerosmith Fast Tracks Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet DigiDesign Pro Tools LE 7.4 Cakewalk Sonar 7 Line 6 UX8 Studio Projects CS5 Art Tubefire 8 Jazzmutant Dexter MCDSP Emerald Pack Overloud Breverb KRK Exposé E8B Mackie MR5 Blue Sky Exo Monitor System Big Fish Audio Around the World in 80 Raves East West Fab Four Virtual Instrument Sony Matt Fink- Starvu Session Keys Room With A VU

EQ Magazine - May 2008

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