Annoying musicians + Time Stretching

[~BURNY~]

I have recorded this band to a click. I have warned them over and over to be careful to choose the right tempo for the songs.
Off course, now that all the recording process for every instrument is complete, they feel like one song is too slow so they're asking me to time-stretch it.

Now the highest quality algo I have available is still creating tons of artifacts (high-end becoming weird and more present, transients being mangled...etc) even when stretching the song to like 2%.

Enough to make me rage but apparently too subtle for them to perceive.
I'm not one to let the band make such decisions easily but I'm starting to run out of arguments.

What would you do?
Is there a some kind of top notch time stretching algorithm that you would be inclined to use on a whole song's master?

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

What have you used?

 

[~BURNY~]

Wavelab DIRAC hq.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

There are better options... Don't you have Pro Tools or Logic? Also did you proceed the stereo master track or each track separately with distinct stretching settings (percussive for drums, monosyllabic for bass, etc)?

 

[~BURNY~]

I processed the stereo master track.
I tried multitrack stretching in Qbase (in real time cause off line processing would mess with the grid) but it seemed to sound worse, phasey, not to mention my poor CPU was going batshit.

I don't have PT (I know Lasse raved about HD stretching abilities) nor Logic.

 

[ArthurD]

If they want different tempo, they must record it again.

 

[~BURNY~]

If they want different tempo, they must record it again.

That would be way too much logistics.

Anyway, I think I've found a better compromise.
We were initially going for a natural feel so there was no quantizing involved and a think the song seem too slow because of that, so I'm going to quantize and delay/nudge the instruments to get a more pushing feel.

 

[Skinny Viking]

I'm guessing you mean time compress ... was throwing me off a little cause you're saying its too slow and you want to stretch it

that unimportant anal detail aside ... have you tried breaking it up in equal, smaller sections on the grid and squeezing each of those in turn by the 2% ... then slam each section up against each other?

I did it once just experimenting and it seemed to make it all a bit more natural sounding but then again, I'm on PT and have X-Form

 

[~BURNY~]

Yeah, time compress sorry for my crappy English. Maybe I'll try that but I want to try quantizing first.

 

[Skinny Viking]

your english is better than my whatever

yeah man, just another possibility to try if the other idea doesn't work out the way you want

 

[Jordon]

My thoughts are that you're going to spend a lot of time on this trying to make it sound right, and you're not going to like the results. I would explain to the band that they were set on the tempo when they started tracking the song, and now if they want it changed, they'll have to re-track it.

 

[Bmenz]

You could slow down all the other songs by 3-4%, and then this one would seem a bit faster in comparison.

 

[~BURNY~]

You could slow down all the other songs by 3-4%, and then this one would seem a bit faster in comparison.

I think I am on right track just quantizing, made the first half and the band validated it.

Just goes to show they played like shit.

 

[006]

Since they want it faster, just slip edit everything after changing the tempo to a faster one. No artifacts, no problems. It would be a problem if they wanted it slower (chance of repeating hits, etc.). Pain in the ass, but that's how you do it without any phase issues or artifacts.

EDIT: looks like you are doing that already

 

[Mashreef]

tell them to record again
i dnt think there is any solution for this..
one or other will get fucked for sure

 

[006]

tell them to record again
i dnt think there is any solution for this..
one or other will get fucked for sure

No... just need to slip edit, which is perfectly fine because it needs to be faster. Could be an issue if they wanted it slower, though.

 

[kaomao]

have you tried breaking it up in equal, smaller sections on the grid and squeezing each of those in turn by the 2% ... then slam each section up against each other?

I did it once just experimenting and it seemed to make it all a bit more natural sounding but then again, I'm on PT and have X-Form

Sure? I'm on PT as well, using x-form as well, and I think stretching the whole file would introduce less artifacts instead of stretching each section.
Whenever I did a stretch on small section, it gave me always bad/strange artifacts.
I gotta try again!

Anyway Burny if you need help I'm gonna stretch it on PT

 

[Skinny Viking]

Sure? I'm on PT as well, using x-form as well, and I think stretching the whole file would introduce less artifacts instead of stretching each section.
Whenever I did a stretch on small section, it gave me always bad/strange artifacts.
I gotta try again!

Anyway Burny if you need help I'm gonna stretch it on PT

I guess some different factors could contribute to different end results but when I was messing about seeing what I can and can't do with EA it seemed to give me pretty good results like this

May not work in all situations I agree but always good to have options