How can I slow down the entire project? Audio..

[Johnny Penk]

How can I slow down an entire audio project? I’d like to change the tempo to slow it down just a bit. From 90 to 80 to 85bpm

Thank you 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Johnny Penk

[Herky Acuff]

Just change the tempo if your tracks are all midi. Use the tempo view for where you want the changes.

For audio tracks, I think you turn on audio snap for all audio clips, then enable it so the clip follows the project.  Then change tempo.  Then bounce the clips. But honestly, I think the answer is to re-record. 

[Johnny Penk]

I will look into what you said. It would be for audio clips. 
Reaper you just change the tempo and it changes all the audio tracks at once

Edited October 21, 2023 by Johnny Penk

[Kevin Walsh]

The way Reaper handles this function is pretty great since it's so easy. Audiosnap works too but it's been hit or miss for me. Google for posts in the old cakewalk forum, there's several threads there that describe in detail how to do it with Audiosnap.

As for the decision to re-record, it depends a lot on how much change is needed and what your quality requirements are. (Yes, imho, sometimes perfect is not needed.)  A small bpm bump is perfectly acceptable under a lot of circumstances. After all, the Beatles monkeyed with speeds all the time, and since they did it by speeding up or slowing down tape, they also changed the pitch of the recordings. Sometimes they recorded solos at half-time and sped up the tape to make the solos pop. "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a wonderful example of them piecing together multiple takes with different speeds and keys to make the final track. Sounds great to me.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Kevin Walsh

[Michael Fogarty]

does this really work in Reaper? Do they have a way to slow down audio? Skeptical.
From what I can see, but I am often wrong, you want to make some tempo changes. Do you mean to ritard in places? Or am I wrong? The audio itself won't slow down, it will be slower getting to it. If you recorded the audio at 90, and want it to be 85 in a certain section, outside of re-recording it, I send it to a utility like SoundForge and time stretch it. Are there a lot of tracks?

 

 

[msmcleod]

There are several ways to do this:

Method 1 - I find this is the easiest and gives consistently good audio quality:
1. Ensure the Time Format for each audio clip is M:B:T - this will ensure the start times move automatically with tempo.
2. Take a note of the end times (in M:B:T) of each audio track before you change tempo.   
3. Change the project tempo
4. Hold down CTRL + SHIFT and stretch the audio track end times to the same M:B:T's you wrote down in step 2.
5. Bounce to clip(s) on each clip to render in higher quality.

Method 2  - very quick & easy, although audio quality may vary depending on material*:
1. Select all of your audio clips, then go to the Groove Clip tab in the clip properties and check "Stretch to Tempo" while holding down CTRL.
2. Ensure "Original Tempo" matches the current project tempo
3. Change the project tempo - the audio clips will automatically stretch.
4. Bounce to clip(s) on each clip to render in higher quality.
*I can't be 100% sure, but if you've correctly identified the transients beforehand, the quality may improve

Method 3 - Audio Snap
There are plenty of YouTube videos on how to use this.

This is arguably the best quality, but depending on transient/tempo detection can either be very quick or a painfully manual process.  If you have many audio tracks however, it may be favourable to Method 1.


 

[Johnny Penk]

On 10/24/2023 at 12:28 AM, Michael Fogarty said:

does this really work in Reaper? Do they have a way to slow down audio? Skeptical.
From what I can see, but I am often wrong, you want to make some tempo changes. Do you mean to ritard in places? Or am I wrong? The audio itself won't slow down, it will be slower getting to it. If you recorded the audio at 90, and want it to be 85 in a certain section, outside of re-recording it, I send it to a utility like SoundForge and time stretch it. Are there a lot of tracks?

 

 

Yep it sure does and it works flawlessly. It changes the entire project all at once. Midi and audio with no degrade in audio that I can hear. Reaper nails it easily 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Johnny Penk

[mettelus]

Also, depending how deep you are into a project (or if you just want to noodle around tempos to find what you like best), doing a mix down of the project to a single audio track will let you play with that track willy nilly using Mark's Method 1 to determine what you like best for your final product. You can just delete/mute that track later on but gives you a playgound to test out tempo variations without affecting the project at all until you decide on the result you want.

[John Vere]

I don’t care what software you use Messing with things like this only results in artifacts. You might not hear them but they will be there! 
Might as well record on a cassette player.  

[Larry Jones]

@Johnny Penk Those who think Reaper can stretch audio "flawlessly" might want to have a look at these posts. No matter which DAW you're using there can be problems. You may not notice them, or you may not notice them right away, but suggestions (above) to get the tempo right before you get too far into the recording are good ones.

On the other hand, it sounds as if Reaper is a good choice for your workflow, so maybe you should just use Reaper.

Edited November 26, 2023 by Larry Jones
Clarity