How to reduce the impact of artifacts when generating Realtracks outside the recommended range - 09/13/16 11:27 PM
Background...
At the time I type this, I am in the process of putting together a backing for a song that's 78 beats per minute (bpm). The key is E major. The song is a ballad and needs even 8-beat acoustic strumming and fingerpicking realtracks (RTs).
When looking through and auditioning all possible RTs, I have BIAB 2016 audiophile edition, the ones that seem most suitable for the job are #364 and #368 (designed for 65 bpm), and #362 and #365 (designed for 85 bpm).
When I generate any of the above four RTs at 78 bpm, though, audio artifacts arise. As a consequence, while around 80% of the generated track is satisfactory, there are some bars that require audio surgery in Realband to create a track that's fully satisfactory to my ears.
How I reduced audio artifacts...
In "Song Settings", accessed by right-clicking on the chord sheet, there's a setting called "Avoid transpositions in Realtracks". I've highlighted this with a blue rectangle (#3) on the below image. This is the option I used.
Because I wanted to use specific RTs and did not want BIAB to auto-substitute pre-determined replacements, I turned off both substitution options highlighted in red (#1 and #2 on the image).
Then I selected the above "Avoid transpositions" option and regenerated the tracks. The consequence of this was that there was a noticeable reduction in audio artifacts.
This leads me to wonder whether the most noticeable artifacts were created when a RT was both transposed and either stretched or compressed. This seems to make sense given that two processes are involved. By activating the above option, one of those processes is potentially eliminated provided the required chord exists in the chosen key.
I thought this discovery might be useful to some - especially those forum members who use BIAB in live performance settings.
For the best sound, selected RTs always need to be used in musical environments that are as close as possible to their design tempo.
At the time I type this, I am in the process of putting together a backing for a song that's 78 beats per minute (bpm). The key is E major. The song is a ballad and needs even 8-beat acoustic strumming and fingerpicking realtracks (RTs).
When looking through and auditioning all possible RTs, I have BIAB 2016 audiophile edition, the ones that seem most suitable for the job are #364 and #368 (designed for 65 bpm), and #362 and #365 (designed for 85 bpm).
When I generate any of the above four RTs at 78 bpm, though, audio artifacts arise. As a consequence, while around 80% of the generated track is satisfactory, there are some bars that require audio surgery in Realband to create a track that's fully satisfactory to my ears.
How I reduced audio artifacts...
In "Song Settings", accessed by right-clicking on the chord sheet, there's a setting called "Avoid transpositions in Realtracks". I've highlighted this with a blue rectangle (#3) on the below image. This is the option I used.
Because I wanted to use specific RTs and did not want BIAB to auto-substitute pre-determined replacements, I turned off both substitution options highlighted in red (#1 and #2 on the image).
Then I selected the above "Avoid transpositions" option and regenerated the tracks. The consequence of this was that there was a noticeable reduction in audio artifacts.
This leads me to wonder whether the most noticeable artifacts were created when a RT was both transposed and either stretched or compressed. This seems to make sense given that two processes are involved. By activating the above option, one of those processes is potentially eliminated provided the required chord exists in the chosen key.
I thought this discovery might be useful to some - especially those forum members who use BIAB in live performance settings.
For the best sound, selected RTs always need to be used in musical environments that are as close as possible to their design tempo.