Beat Mapping a Compound Meter Audio Track – Forum Post & Discussion Thread : macProVideo.com

Ghoul

Posts: 3

Joined: Jun 2nd, 2011, 08:54

Beat Mapping a Compound Meter Audio Track

Aug 25th, 2011, 01:07

Hi guys, I bought the very cool tutorial where Master Steve H. shows some beat mapping technics and I tried those in my projects. Right now, I want to create a beat map of a strings orchestra audio file. I used a MIDI track where I recorded a simple pitch from my MIDI controller as I was listening to the piece. Now, when I click on the "Beats from region" button I have a problem... the audio file is in 6/8 and 9/8. Because I entered a note for each beat I should choose a dotted quarter note to represent those notes but it isn't in the list. What should I do? Maybe Igor knows?!? Thanks.

Reply

Peter Schwartz

Posts: 545

Joined: Sep 15th, 2007, 06:04

Re: Beat Mapping a Compound Meter Audio Track

Aug 25th, 2011, 01:37

Are you talking about getting Logic's metronome to play dotted quarter clicks? If so, you can't. Logic isn't set up for that. Ridiculous, but true. The only way to get a dot-quarter click in Logic is to "roll your own". You can do this by assigning the Klopfgeist to a track, finding the appropriate notes to generate the sound of the clicks you want to hear (they're pitch-dependent), and recording (or typing in) MIDI notes on a track playing dotted quarters. Make sure the regions are quantized too. Or if you don't want to use the Klopfgeist as an instrument, use an EXS-24 loaded up with some kind of percussion or drum sounds to act as your click. At this point you would no longer use Logic's metronome, and turning the click on and off would be a matter of turning that track on and off. Suggestion: on your roll-your-own click track track, record a single measure of a 6/8 click. Then record another single measure of a 9/8 click. Copy/paste these measures to where they need to be in the arrangement, and then enable Loop on all of them. Voila!

Reply

Ghoul

Posts: 3

Joined: Jun 2nd, 2011, 08:54

Re: Beat Mapping a Compound Meter Audio Track

Aug 25th, 2011, 01:56

Hi Ski, Thanks for the reply! That wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. I want to create a beat map from an audio file in order to have the grid corresponding the music. For example, if at 5 second it's measure 4's first beat I want that the grid tells me that. Usually it's quite simple to do even with an audio file that changes it's tempo several times like the one I'm working on. To do this, I create a MIDI track and as it records, I press a key on MIDI controller falling on each beat while I listen to the audio file. Then, I select the region created and press the "Beats from Region" button which will ask me what the notes created represent. This is where I get a problem because I don't have the option to chose a dotted quarter note. If there were no meter changes or least just a few, I could chose "bar" as what the notes represent but since the meter changes a lot, I have to record a different region for each new meter and it's quite a job!

Reply

Peter Schwartz

Posts: 545

Joined: Sep 15th, 2007, 06:04

Re: Beat Mapping a Compound Meter Audio Track

Aug 25th, 2011, 02:02

Right. OK, so forget about using Beats from Region. Instead, beat map your click track: 1. set the time sig to 6/8 2. record your manually-played click, playing dotted quarters all the way without worrying about whether or not you're in a 6/8 or 9/8 measure 3. SMPTE-lock that MIDI track and beat map it, aligning your clicks to the appropriate beat against the bar ruler 4. add the necessary changes to the time signature in the signature track, or, the score editor (avoid using the signature list, it's a pita) Lotta work, but no way around it.

Reply

Ghoul

Posts: 3

Joined: Jun 2nd, 2011, 08:54

Re: Beat Mapping a Compound Meter Audio Track

Aug 25th, 2011, 02:53

Oooh... lotta work you say! I see what you mean. And all that because Logic doesn't "think" in compound meter! That really should be a thing Apple adds in coming versions! Thanks for your help.

Reply