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OP
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I recorded a song a few weeks ago at a friend's studio. He did this as a favor, so I only got vocal and my acoustic guitar. Great tracks, but lacking depth. Can I import this in RB and add tracks (drums, electric guitar, bass, etc.)?
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RealBand
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Yes you can ...BUT....
Hopefully, you did 2 main things in the studio.
1. You tuned to standard A-440 pitch.
2. You used a click track and know the BPM of that click track.
A few other nice things that were done hopefully is that you used an 8 beat/2 measure count in and you have that version still available. Often, you go home from the studio with an edited copy with the count in removed. Having that count in makes the job easier in RB and your DAW.
If you did all of the above, adding new tracks is as easy as it gets. If you didn't do them.... for example using a guitar tuned to itself, and not tracking a click so that the tempo varies throughout the song.... you will have a monumental task trying to make the RB tracks match the existing. (close to impossible for the average user)
If, unfortunately, you do fall into this "ooops, I didn't think of that beforehand" category, there is still hope.... Simply record the entire song using RB tracks and redo the vocal track accordingly.
RB is a DAW unto itself so you can do this all, including recording new vox tracks if need be, into it.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 07/17/13 05:25 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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RealBand
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Additionally, if you didn't do all those things that Guitarhacker mentioned, you can still bring the files into RealBand and then run the Audio Chord Wizard to help you create a tempo track, which additional tracks containing RealTracks (for example) will respond to. Of course, make sure your chord grid is correct before proceeding.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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The Audio Chord Wizard is a great tool for handling this situation; I do it all the time. Once the audio is in the ACW, you can hit the (f4 or f8 key, I don't recall offhand) on beat 1 of every measure and it will automatically create a tempo grid that follows your song. As John suggested, if after bringing it back into the song page it doesn't quite get all the chords right, be sure and edit them before you start generating Realtracks.
Terry
BIAB/RB 2018 PlusPak. Dell Inspiron23 running Win10, 12GB RAM, 2.5GHz i7, Presonus AudioBox USB interface.
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It's F8 key for tempo
There are videos available for setting tempo in ACW
You can always change the chords later, so the Chord part in Audio Chord Wizard can be misleading. Yes it does make the original 'guess' at the chords for you. But remember, you can always change them later using the Chords window, so the real power is in the Tempo aspect.
Once you have the tempo locked you can change the chords at will in the regular RB interface.
It's the Tempo feature that makes the ACW so cool.
I understand marketing-wise the chord feature is stronger, but in real use, I find the Tempo feature more valuable as it allows the Chords window to do what it does along with the song. Which means it enables the ability to generate tracks in time with prerecorded audio.
Actually, I wish when it did it's initial popup asking about keeping the existing tempo map, it defaulted to 'No'. I never want that when I use the ACW.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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RealBand
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Joined: Nov 2011
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OP
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Thanks guys. I did tune the guitar to 440 pitch and used a click, but not sure of the BPM. There was no count in recording.
Is there hope?
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Yes, exactly what we said. Use ACW to create the tempo map and the initial chord progression. Since you know the song already, you can correct an chord errors, and from there, you can add new tracks.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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as long as the tempo is steady and the tuning is to A-440.... the rest is easy.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Actually, the original tempo doesn't even have to be steady for this to work. If your song's original tempo varies, as long as you hit the f8 key on beat one of every measure as you are playing back in the ACW, the ACW will create a custom tempo map for your song, with tempo changes at each measure if necessary. That will allow RB to properly generate Realtracks that will keep in time with your song measure by measure. As Rharv indicated, the tempo mapping feature, although understated, is the true power feature behind the ACW.
Terry
BIAB/RB 2018 PlusPak. Dell Inspiron23 running Win10, 12GB RAM, 2.5GHz i7, Presonus AudioBox USB interface.
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OP
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Thanks guys. I appreciate your help. I tried several times and had some struggles - but I was able to get it imported and add some tracks. Looks like I need the full version. I currently have the Pro and a limited number of real tracks. I think the tracks I added aren't the best match for my music. The tempo thing was a challenge to match. Also setting bar one was a big help.
Well, thanks again and I will be purchasing a more expanded version soon.
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RealBand
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Still having a few issues in the song where the timing is off. Can this be corrected or do I need to reimport and start over?
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You might want to do the tempo map again.
One of the things that I do when using ACW is to switch from "Chord Sheet" to "Note Bars". I've found that when I'm tapping out beat one of each bar (using the F8 key), that the chord sheet can sometimes get backed up redrawing the screen, but note bars seems to chug on through. Even after you have marked all the bars, you should go through and listen to the song and move any bars that might be a little off, before sending it back to RealBand.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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You might want to do the tempo map again.
One of the things that I do when using ACW is to switch from "Chord Sheet" to "Note Bars". I've found that when I'm tapping out beat one of each bar (using the F8 key), that the chord sheet can sometimes get backed up redrawing the screen, but note bars seems to chug on through. Even after you have marked all the bars, you should go through and listen to the song and move any bars that might be a little off, before sending it back to RealBand.
I,ve used the ACW quite a bit to add RTs to CDs done by bands for adding instruments without having to hire a player.What you need to keep in mind is that if a tune really swings it's very difficult to land on beat 1 just by counting and listening. You need to listen and look at the wave form and hit F8 at the peak.
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Still having a few issues in the song where the timing is off. Can this be corrected or do I need to reimport and start over? in my experience, if you've sent the song back to RB and the timing not what you want, the simplest thing is to start over from scratch in ACW. That is by far the easiest place to get the timing right. I normally run through the whole song several times before I send it back to RB... the first time thru, I use F8 to get close... the second time thru, I do what Silvertones suggested... in other words, I watch for places where the markers I created don't line up with the obvious changes in the WAV. I use space bar to stop the song and manually drag the marker to the right place where needed. Then I listen thru one or two more times until I am satisfied that the timing works. In the final analysis, I want to see the chords change on the chord sheet at the same time in the song when I would play a different chord on the guitar. Yes, it takes more time to do it that way, but its much faster than any of the alternatives I've tried.
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Lots of good info here.
Especially about that all important Bar 1 setting.
Yeah, the extra realtracks help. Get as many as you can afford. I find myself using realtracks from sets I would never have thought I'd use. You can make some real interesting combinations using different styles/realtracks.
Last edited by rharv; 07/23/13 04:22 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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