Convert all Clips to Absolute Time for Mixing? [SOLVED]

[Bill Phillips]

I'm wondering if it would be a good practice for me to convert all clips imported for a mix from the default Musical Time to Absolute time immediately after import?

I work almost exclusively mixing songs recorded live without a click track. The recording project song tempo doesn't match the default CbB 120 bpm project tempo. So the project Tempo Map doesn't match the song tempo.

In preparing clips for export from the recording project, I extend any overdub clips back to 0:00 on the timeline then import all clips into a mix project. Then I import or drag the clips from

One of the first things I do is drag a clip, usually an acoustic guitar track, to the timeline to establish the project tempo. The acoustic guitar is the closest thing I have to a click track and it's usually pretty good. Most songs these days don't have drums. Now I'm thinking that selecting all clips and converting them from Musical to Absolute Time before establishing the tempo map would be a good idea. Before the tempo map is calculated by Melodyne, the song length is actually in minutes and seconds not measures and beats.

In searching for previous discussions on this topic I found this one posted by @John Vere that seemed most relevant but didn't answer my question.

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Bill Phillips

[msmcleod]

9 hours ago, Bill Phillips said:

I'm wondering if it would be a good practice for me to convert all clips imported for a mix from the default Musical Time to Absolute time immediately after import?

I work almost exclusively mixing songs recorded live without a click track. The recording project song tempo doesn't match the default CbB 120 bpm project tempo. So the project Tempo Map doesn't match the song tempo.

I don't see any issues with this. It sounds like a sensible approach to me for anything that isn't recorded to a click.
 

47 minutes ago, David Baay said:

I have not actually tested this, but my expectation would be that drag-to-timeline should give the same result whether the clip timebase is changed to Absolute or not, even if clips don't all start at time zero. Drag-to-timeline treats clip start times as absolute whether you set them that way or not. Like Set Measure/Beat At Now, it uses tempo changes to shift the timeline against the absolute playback timing of both MIDI and audio without affecting either (MIDI event times and durations get re-calculated to preserve the absolute timing).

Although this is true, It might be wise to set all the audio clips to absolute first... just in case there are custom settings under the groove clip setting for one of the clips.

FYI - the way I'd go about changing everything to absolute:

1.  Press "H" to bring up the track manager, and hide everything apart from audio tracks.
2.  Select all your audio tracks
3.  Go to the Clip Properties in the inspector, and set Time Base to "Absolute"
4.  Press "H" again and unhide all the tracks I'd hidden in step 1.

 

[John Vere]

I’ve always had mixed results on this topic. 
The 2 choices for creating a tempo map of a live recording are Audio Snap or drag to the timeline and see if Melodyne can sort it out. 
Audio Snap can take 4 -8 hours per song so not an option for 30 or more songs   
In the end it’s just fine to work with out having the tempo and the grid matching the songs. No difference then back before we had a DAW. 
I have to have a solid reason for the map before I spend that much time making it work. 

But to answer your question it seems to make less of a mess if you use the Musical Time for live clips.  But as I say, I get mixed results. Someday I will figure this out and I bet I can get it to work once I do that. 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by John Vere

[Bill Phillips]

Thanks @John Vere. I agree audio snap is too much work at my amateur skill level, and maybe even for an expert. Melodyne had worked flawlessly for me on acoustic guitar DI tracks until recently. Now I do find myself trying several algorithms to get the best fit; but it still works in under 5 minutes. Unless I hear a good reason not to, I'm planning to try using absolute time on the next mix project to see if it makes a difference.

[David Baay]

I have not actually tested this, but my expectation would be that drag-to-timeline should give the same result whether the clip timebase is changed to Absolute or not, even if clips don't all start at time zero. Drag-to-timeline treats clip start times as absolute whether you set them that way or not. Like Set Measure/Beat At Now, it uses tempo changes to shift the timeline against the absolute playback timing of both MIDI and audio without affecting either (MIDI event times and durations get re-calculated to preserve the absolute timing).

[Bill Phillips]

10 hours ago, msmcleod said:

FYI - the way I'd go about changing everything to absolute:

1.  Press "H" to bring up the track manager, and hide everything apart from audio tracks.
2.  Select all your audio tracks
3.  Go to the Clip Properties in the inspector, and set Time Base to "Absolute"
4.  Press "H" again and unhide all the tracks I'd hidden in step 1.

Thanks. That's the approach I'm going to adopt.