Varispeed Drum Tracking

dabhoys · 21st March 2006

An engineer I was chatting to today was telling me about how you can use the Sync I/O to track your drums at a higher sample rate then drop them back down and get a nice drum sound from it. But he hadn't the time to explain or show me how.

I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me as to how to do this??? I'm working with a HD3 Accel system. Just want to know what pitfalls to look out for. I can see the tempo and click being an obvious candidate for potential disasters...

Cheers...

jonnyclueless · 21st March 2006

Just go into the session setup window and turn on/set the vari speed.

Things to consider off the top of my head...

Can't be clocked to anythign external (Sync I/O has to be master).

The tempo will obviously play back faster than it really is during tracking.

The vari speed settings are in cents, so if you want to determine tempos, you may need some kind of tempo/pitch calculator.

---

Never tried it for drums in PT, but sounds like a neat idea. Probably couldn't get away with more than a half step.

dabhoys · 21st March 2006

Dont' mean to ask a stupid question, but just want to be sure wat you mean by no more then half a step??

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnyclueless

Just go into the session setup window and turn on/set the vari speed.

Things to consider off the top of my head...

Can't be clocked to anythign external (Sync I/O has to be master).

The tempo will obviously play back faster than it really is during tracking.

The vari speed settings are in cents, so if you want to determine tempos, you may need some kind of tempo/pitch calculator.

---

Never tried it for drums in PT, but sounds like a neat idea. Probably couldn't get away with more than a half step.

C_F_H_13 · 21st March 2006

wow that's an interesting idea. If you do it, please post examples.

jonnyclueless · 21st March 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabhoys

Dont' mean to ask a stupid question, but just want to be sure wat you mean by no more then half a step??

Cheers

Well, since the vari speed changes the pitch, if you go too far it's going to mangle the sound too much. I guess you could think of it like drop tuning a guitar. You can only go so far. Assuming you are just going for a timbre effect and not some science project (which could be cool too).

I used to play around with switching the 2" machine to 15 ips (normally set to 30) to see what kind of interesting sounds I could get from stuff recorded at 1/2 speed. Fun times...

pan · 21st March 2006

We used this varispeed technique for tom-overdubs to avoid phase problems and make it sound BIIIIG. - everything gets bigger...

dabhoys · 8th April 2006

I used this technique at the weekend I really like the results. I will post samples of the results when there done

DeepSpace · 8th April 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabhoys

..track your drums at a higher sample rate then drop them back down and get a nice drum sound from it.

Bear in mind that the sound *quality* will not be improved, merely the timbre will be altered and made deeper (because the drums will be slowed down and pitch altered on playback).

You can get a similar effect by dropping the pitch using a harmonizer or other high quality pitch-shifting device (yet without having the performer play at an unnaturally fast rate).

Too exaggerated an effect will give the drums a somewhat techno/synth kind of sound, so go easy.

thejook · 8th April 2006

I did this with a Studer A827 a couple times and it was awesome...don't know what doing it digitally would sound like though...

dabhoys · 9th April 2006

The only danger I can seem to pick up is the cymbals. They can get very washy very quickly.

The other thing was that if the drummer is off when you slow it down it gets exagerated even more. So tight drumming is essential too...

21st March 2006	#1
dabhoys Gear Head Joined: Jun 2005 Location: Burbank, CA Posts: 30 Thread Starter	Varispeed Drum Tracking An engineer I was chatting to today was telling me about how you can use the Sync I/O to track your drums at a higher sample rate then drop them back down and get a nice drum sound from it. But he hadn't the time to explain or show me how. I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me as to how to do this??? I'm working with a HD3 Accel system. Just want to know what pitfalls to look out for. I can see the tempo and click being an obvious candidate for potential disasters... Cheers...

21st March 2006	#6
pan Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2002 Location: Hamburg Posts: 1,536	We used this varispeed technique for tom-overdubs to avoid phase problems and make it sound BIIIIG. - everything gets bigger... __________________ Niko Sieveking wot? no TR? nichtlineareaudioproduktionen How do you fix a terrible snare sound? The answer is, a hit single. (Thanks, Trina)

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21st March 2006	#2
jonnyclueless Lives for gear Joined: Aug 2004 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 799	Just go into the session setup window and turn on/set the vari speed. Things to consider off the top of my head... Can't be clocked to anythign external (Sync I/O has to be master). The tempo will obviously play back faster than it really is during tracking. The vari speed settings are in cents, so if you want to determine tempos, you may need some kind of tempo/pitch calculator. --- Never tried it for drums in PT, but sounds like a neat idea. Probably couldn't get away with more than a half step.

21st March 2006	#4
C_F_H_13 Lives for gear Joined: Jun 2004 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 836	wow that's an interesting idea. If you do it, please post examples.

8th April 2006	#7
dabhoys Gear Head Joined: Jun 2005 Location: Burbank, CA Posts: 30 Thread Starter	I used this technique at the weekend I really like the results. I will post samples of the results when there done

8th April 2006	#9
thejook Lives for gear Joined: Mar 2006 Posts: 569	I did this with a Studer A827 a couple times and it was awesome...don't know what doing it digitally would sound like though...

9th April 2006	#10
dabhoys Gear Head Joined: Jun 2005 Location: Burbank, CA Posts: 30 Thread Starter	The only danger I can seem to pick up is the cymbals. They can get very washy very quickly. The other thing was that if the drummer is off when you slow it down it gets exagerated even more. So tight drumming is essential too...