Re: Autocorrelation tool?

[Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com>]

I've been doing this type of editing by ear for... well, at least
longer than a decade. I wouldn't dream about trading that method for
any sort of "automatic tool". Here's my work flow for the job:

1. Import the looping tracks as audio files into a DAW (I use Logic).
2. Locate the first section of the music where a tempo is easy to hear.
3. Copy this file and move it to the beginning of the DAW's time line
(absolute time).
4. Adjust the DAW''s tempo to match the tempo of the recorded music.
This can be done with two techniques: You may enable a tempo click in
the DAW and  juggle the tempo wheel to find the match, or you may zoom
the audio file on the screen to graphically make it line up with the
DAW's bar markers. The final touch always has to be done by ear - you
can't fully trust a graphical display since the musically experienced
transient is not always the same as the graphically displayed signal
peak.
5. Now when you have found the initial tempo, delete the copied file
and move all original loop track files in one go so that you will not
loose the relative start points between them (in other words: watch
out for "snap to bar" functions etc in the DAW). Nudge the files to
line up with the DAW's grid.
6. If your looping performance changes tempo as you go along (like it
often happens to me) open the DAW's tempo list to change the tempo
accordingly where needed. This process will lead to a tempo map in the
DAW that matches the tempo changes you were playing during the looping
performance.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se
www.perboysen.com