Is there a secret to acoustic loops? -ACID Product Family

Subject:Is there a secret to acoustic loops? Posted by: Jessariah Date:10/20/2002 10:12:26 PM Okay, I've just spent a few days recording some acoustic guitar loops for a project. Everything sounds good until I speed them up -- then I get the "shimmer" in the sound --even if only a few bpms. I've tried mono, stereo, compressed, uncompressed. It still has artifacts. So I go to the Jade Hill Rock Pop Guitar library. Speed it up a little or a lot -- sounds fine. Question is, is there some trick or plugin that helps this along? I'm using a decent mic (GT AM51). No reverb, etc. I was trying to lay down some basic strums to use in a pinch -- as opposed to having to break out everything. I would like it to be flexible. Do they use special microphones or settings to get the SoFo loops "more flexible" when it comes to bpms? Thanks for any help or insight.
Subject:RE: Is there a secret to acoustic loops? Reply by: SonyNateM Date:10/21/2002 10:36:00 AM Jessariah, Have you tried adjusting the loop's stretching properties (available in the Track properties for the loop in ACID)? These can make a big difference, especially with more natural sounding audio. Try using looping segments in very small increments to kill the "shimmer" you describe. Hope this helps, Nate
Subject:RE: Is there a secret to acoustic loops? Reply by: bgc Date:10/21/2002 12:06:39 PM It's been my experience that acoustic guitar, especially chords have the artifacts that you mention. I think it's just the nature of Acid's stretching algorithms. If you're recording the acoustic yourself, the best thing is to record at the key/tempo your planning on using. Sorry not much help.
Subject:RE: Is there a secret to acoustic loops? Reply by: Iacobus Date:10/21/2002 1:21:03 PM I second what Nate said. That can help out a lot. If you ever analyze just about any ACID loop library, note that just about every loop contains user-defined markers. Iacobus
Subject:RE: Is there a secret to acoustic loops? Reply by: Jessariah Date:10/21/2002 4:38:02 PM Changed the forced divisions and it worked much better -- actually, for my loops, the smaller the division, the worse the "shimmer" (is there a technical name for that?). So I changed the forced divisions from sixteenth to eighth and it sounds MUCH BETTER -- an 80bpm original is flying away at 130 with very little noticeable artifacts. Problem is, when I render the loop, it doesn't save the info. I can export the loop and it takes the changes -- is that the only way to do it, or can it be done in Sound Forge somehow? Thanks again

Subject:Is there a secret to acoustic loops?

Posted by: Jessariah

Date:10/20/2002 10:12:26 PM

Okay,

I've just spent a few days recording some acoustic guitar loops for a project. Everything sounds good until I speed them up -- then I get the "shimmer" in the sound --even if only a few bpms. I've tried mono, stereo, compressed, uncompressed. It still has artifacts.

So I go to the Jade Hill Rock Pop Guitar library. Speed it up a little or a lot -- sounds fine.

Question is, is there some trick or plugin that helps this along? I'm using a decent mic (GT AM51). No reverb, etc. I was trying to lay down some basic strums to use in a pinch -- as opposed to having to break out everything. I would like it to be flexible. Do they use special microphones or settings to get the SoFo loops "more flexible" when it comes to bpms?

Thanks for any help or insight.

Subject:RE: Is there a secret to acoustic loops?

Reply by: SonyNateM

Date:10/21/2002 10:36:00 AM

Jessariah,

Have you tried adjusting the loop's stretching properties (available in the Track properties for the loop in ACID)? These can make a big difference, especially with more natural sounding audio. Try using looping segments in very small increments to kill the "shimmer" you describe.

Hope this helps,
Nate

Subject:RE: Is there a secret to acoustic loops?

Reply by: bgc

Date:10/21/2002 12:06:39 PM

It's been my experience that acoustic guitar, especially chords have the artifacts that you mention. I think it's just the nature of Acid's stretching algorithms. If you're recording the acoustic yourself, the best thing is to record at the key/tempo your planning on using. Sorry not much help.

Subject:RE: Is there a secret to acoustic loops?

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:10/21/2002 1:21:03 PM

I second what Nate said. That can help out a lot.

If you ever analyze just about any ACID loop library, note that just about every loop contains user-defined markers.

Iacobus

Subject:RE: Is there a secret to acoustic loops?

Reply by: Jessariah

Date:10/21/2002 4:38:02 PM

Changed the forced divisions and it worked much better -- actually, for my loops, the smaller the division, the worse the "shimmer" (is there a technical name for that?). So I changed the forced divisions from sixteenth to eighth and it sounds MUCH BETTER -- an 80bpm original is flying away at 130 with very little noticeable artifacts.

Problem is, when I render the loop, it doesn't save the info. I can export the loop and it takes the changes -- is that the only way to do it, or can it be done in Sound Forge somehow?

Thanks again