As Audiotrack indicates, BIAB can only be slowed down bar-by-bar. I often slow down the ending of my songs over two bars, and the bar-by-bar approach works fine for my needs. For example, if I want a song at a tempo of 110 beats per minute (bpm) to end at 100 bpm,I set the first bar of the 4-bar ending to 100 and then set the tempo of two bars (or sometimes one bar) before this ending to 105. While this is more of a ritenuto approach than a ritardando, but it still suits my needs and sounds comfortable to listen to.

If you want to hear how this approach works, go to my song below and have a listen to the last 20 seconds or so.

https://soundcloud.com/noel-adams/fly-around-in-the-clouds

  • The tempo of the song is 110 bpm.
  • The song's 4-bar ending begins at bar 96.
  • I set bar 96 to a tempo of 95 bpm so that the ending played at this tempo.
  • Then, in bar 94 (2 bars before the 4-bar ending), I set the tempo to 105


Note: If Soundcloud asks you to join before you can listen, simply press ESC and that window will close.

Also... As MarioD has indicated, it's possible to gradually slow down the tempo in a DAW. In Reaper, for example, the Master Track has a tempo envelope and this can be used to gradually go from one tempo to another. I've used this approach a few times, but I keep on coming back to BIAB for slowing the tempo.

It would be worth trying both approaches.

--Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2025