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Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 2:12 am
by internet
Hi, ive got the 1.3.11 version. Ive tried adjusting the BPM via 3 different tracks using the change speed and change tempo of the effects control, it seems to take effect untill you play one track against another and it obviously hasn't worked.

What am i doing wrong?

Re: Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:01 pm
by steve
First off, update Audacity to 1.3.12 (it contains some important bug fixes). You don't need to uninstall 1.3.11, just install 1.3.12 over the top of it and your Preferences settings will be retained.
internet wrote:Ive tried adjusting the BPM via 3 different tracks using the change speed and change tempo of the effects control.....
What am i doing wrong?
Could you describe step-by-step how you are applying the Change Speed effect to a track.

Re: Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:52 pm
by internet
stevethefiddle wrote:First off, update Audacity to 1.3.12 (it contains some important bug fixes). You don't need to uninstall 1.3.11, just install 1.3.12 over the top of it and your Preferences settings will be retained.
internet wrote:Ive tried adjusting the BPM via 3 different tracks using the change speed and change tempo of the effects control.....
What am i doing wrong?
Could you describe step-by-step how you are applying the Change Speed effect to a track.
Upgraded to 1.3.12.

I uploading a mp3 track (song), then clicking effect, then change tempo, then at beats per minute i type 140, for both start and finish, then i click preview, then ok.

Ive just uploaded the previous 1.3.11 attempt, with an attempt of 1.3.12 and the original track, they are all perfectly aligned, which tells me that the BMP hasn't changed at all.

Re: Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 4:26 pm
by steve
internet wrote:i type 140, for both start and finish,
That's where the problem is.
The "from" and "to" boxes do not refer to the start and end of the track. What it means is "change tempo from an original tempo of .....(bpm), to a new tempo of ..... (bpm)"
So for example, if your song had an original tempo of 120 bpm and you want to increase that to 140 bpm, you would enter "from 120 to 140". This is equivalent to setting the percent change to 16.666667%.
If you set it to "from 140 to 140" then you are telling it that you want the new tempo to be the same as the original tempo - in other words a 0% change.

Re: Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 6:03 pm
by internet
Thanks for that. There is a overall time change when i do that, but again i can't get 2 different tracks (that ive bought from a shop) to align. I even did them seperately, saving them to my music folder first.

Re: Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 6:26 pm
by steve
internet wrote:i can't get 2 different tracks (that ive bought from a shop) to align
I'm not sure what you mean. What are you trying to do?

Re: Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:55 pm
by internet
You're aware of dj's and that they mix 2 records, the begining of one track mixing into the end of another doing so by alignment of their beats.

If it could be possible to stretch a track using mouse over somehow, you could see it invision and align 2 tracks perfectly.

Re: Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 12:11 am
by steve
internet wrote:If it could be possible to stretch a track using mouse over somehow, you could see it invision and align 2 tracks perfectly.
Gotcha - you can do that in some programs (such as Acid Pro at a mere $250) but unfortunately Audacity can't.

To do it in Audacity you need to do a bit of the working out yourself.

1. Select exactly one minute of a track and play it (solo). While it is playing, count the number of beats. This gives to the bpm of that track. You could do it with 30 seconds and double to number, or 15 seconds and multiply by 4, but you need the bpm to be reasonably accurate.
2. Repeat Step 1 for each track.

Now let's say that track-1 is 124 bpm and you want to stretch it so that it matches track-2 that is at 138 bpm

3. Select track-1 and from the Effect menu select "Change Tempo".
4. Set "From" = 124 and "To" = 138.

The two tracks should now match.

Re: Adjusting the BPM of a track

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 12:24 am
by internet
I'll have a go, thanks for your time.