EDITING GUITAR TRACKS

[Uncle Junior]

Howdy partners

I want to know if you guys edit your guitar/bass tracks?

I mean EDITING as in slicing the notes of a track, to get them into correct tempo, if they are not.


Do professional bands get their tracks edited in studios?

Ok and now the BIG question:

How the hell do you edit - Where to cut and how to move and what else?

I tried to do it but when I move the tone I cut to a new "precise" position, I get a click or a pop sound when I playback the track. uke:

I use CUBASE SX3.

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

yes and yes.

cutting depends on the part. You need to crossfade your cuts (highlight and hit x) to get rid of the popping.

 

[Uncle Junior]

Thanks mate. I didn't know about the x function. damn

Ok, but where do you move your note

1. The beggining of the note is a the "snap" precise point.

2. or like this: The higest peak of the note is at the "snap" , precise point.

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

I just move it till it sounds right really, I assume the biggest peak is where you want to align to though.

 

[DanLights]

yeah normally the big peak (I believe it's called the transient?) but you should check it with your own ears and don't just rely on the graphics, it's a pain in the ass but it's the way to get it done right

 

[FalseMessiah Mike]

for those of you that use protools do you just use the quantize function (found under event > event operation)?

 

[jacare]

If you have to do this (editing) a lot, re-tracking is better. And always trust your ears.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

for those of you that use protools do you just use the quantize function (found under event > event operation)?

I use ctrl+num0 snaps to whatever the grid is set to. I use that for most chopped region editing.

I'd use Elastic audio for correcting the guitars, and then yes, I'd use the quantize function.

 

[chonchball]

you need to edit at sample level and understand what the NEEDED parts of your transients are. It's not as simple as cutting and pasting what you want like you have Rex loops or Acidized regions. Manipulating audio is an art as much as it is a science. Those popping noises are peaks and valleys of waves not matching up. Always match a peak with a peak, or a valley with a valley at the sample level. THEN do your crossfades. If you simply just crossfade every cut, you lose valuable parts of the human sound and it will end up sounding odd. Every millisecond counts. If you edit properly you won't even need to crossfade. Save fades for when its absolutely necessary like splicing GOLDEN vocal takes that you want to comp. Otherwise leave fades out as it adds dither into early stages of the recording.

Editing is the name of the game, especially in pro tools, but don't be that guy that RELIES on it. Start off trying to get the takes. Then start getting picky. Remember, it's music, not a project in computer programming.

 

[crosstalk]

I've done this before and it can be great, but god is it a pain in the ass. Wouldn't mind it if the money was right, but certainly not for low budget projects. If the playing is too sloppy though, retrack if at all possible.

I think it's best to edit a DI and then reamp it. You'll never know it was edited this way and you can get away with a lot more. Trying to edit an amped signal is crazy, looks like a solid buzzsaw. A DI has nice transients to work with.

 

[Uncle Junior]

Yeah man I do use DI track to edit.

But you see, I have this part in a song that need to be REALLY TIGHT; timing precise......but when quad-tracking it's really difficult to record the same part*4 and have all the tracks ALLIGNED as a motherfucker(precise).

 

[JeffTD]

Dude fucks sake, easy on the caps.

 

[FalseMessiah Mike]

I use ctrl+num0 snaps to whatever the grid is set to. I use that for most chopped region editing.

I'd use Elastic audio for correcting the guitars, and then yes, I'd use the quantize function.

I was messing around a couple weeks back and I just used the quantize function on a DI guitar track I just recorded and it automatically aligned all the notes to the grid (I guess it did it with Elastic audio). It was done in a second.

Obviously the original take was pretty much on the beat already.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

I was messing around a couple weeks back and I just used the quantize function on a DI guitar track I just recorded and it automatically aligned all the notes to the grid (I guess it did it with Elastic audio). It was done in a second.

Obviously the original take was pretty much on the beat already.

If you have Elastic Audio on by default it'll do that. I keep it off until I need it.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Yeah man I do use DI track to edit.

But you see, I have this part in a song that need to be REALLY TIGHT; timing precise......but when quad-tracking it's really difficult to record the same part*4 and have all the tracks ALLIGNED as a motherfucker(precise).

Isn't the point of quad tracking that the takes aren't perfectly aligned, and sound much bigger as a result?

 

[Metaltastic]

Yeah, if it's that kind of super-tight technical metal (death metal?) that requires extreme note definition, often double-tracking is preferable

 

[Moonlight_Seeker]

If you know you will have serious editing to do I would advice to record in DI in clean and then open some elastic audio program. With melodyne you can even record to the tempo you desire and then auto-stretch it. And if you feel very bad about using amp and cab sims : reamp. A "non-uber pro" guitarist will always suck imho.

 

[reg3n]

plz don't hit me... but........... does sonar already have a SLICE function? i always re-track everything if i don't like something, and sonar's able to like.. "shorten" the tracks.. but slicing?... is it possible?