What to do with frequently tempo changing tracks?
Hi,
I have a quite odd problem. Some tracks i have change their tempo frequently. And i don’t have a clue how to grid them properly.
How do you handle those tracks? Create a Grid Marker every 8 bars or what?
In Ableton it’s not a problem. I create a Warp Marker every once in a while and the Beats between two Markers get automatically adjusted.
Thanks,
Zettt
If you can isolate the parts of the track that change tempo, a few well placed grids should do the trick. It is a pain in the ass end to work out but worth it .
Once you have warped them in Ableton, export it as a wav and then they should be ready to play in Traktor.
… but beware with this if you start with an mp3 you will be rencoding an mp3 so will lose quality when you then convert that wav back to mp3.
The problem is that that specific seems tracks constantly increases in tempo. 
Straight gridding doesn’t work.
That’s a pretty cool idea! The quality loss is not that important. Will play those songs only over club PA…
yeah if it constantly changes warping them in ableton is probably the only solution unless you try and mix it by ear.
Thanks a bunch guys! You’re really great.
depends on the track. if the tempo changes are important (such as the breakdown slowing down) you cant just warp and go. best bet is to grid the intro and outro for a specific length, say 4 bars, and then save a loop for mixing.
i dont think you can do this as you can set as many beatgrids as you want cant you but all the grids are still the same tempo … if this isnt true could someone tell me how to make grids with diff tempos as i’ve been trying tonight and if i change the tempo of one grid it changes the rest of the track. The only thing i seem to be able to do is change the offset of teh grid or position , whatever you want to call it.
What he means is for example, if the track has a steady tempo at the start and at the end, but speeds up or slows down later in the track, placing grids at the start and end will work for you. You cant change the tempo for individual grids unfortunately.
Heres the track:… steady tempo of 128 BPM for say 64 bars tight. So smack a grid on those 64 bars. Next the track slows down then speed up for 32 bars, so skip past that part till you get to the last 64 bars which is again a steady 128 BPM. Put the second gridmarkers at the start and near the end of this section, so you can use loops or whatever in your mixin.
this is the easiest way to do it, probably your best bet.
the other way to do it is manually by riding the tempo fader; take note of the tempo changes in the first track so you can match them with the track you want to mix it with. This is difficult to achieve but not impossible by any means, I do it with Traktor all the time.
The reason you are gridding (or warping) is that you try to let the software know where beats are. The software then tries to stretch all the audio to a fixed value (your tempo setting) no matter in which speed the track was before.
For tracks that have a slowdown breakdown that means they don’t have a slowdown after gridding. 
In my case i had a straight 4/4 measure track (Napt’s Work This Out) and almost every bar had a different length (in samples) which leads to an unstraight tempo. The song’s now 130 BPM straight…no matter what…Ableton did the trick.
I don’t know HOW it’s possible to make a song these days with such a tempo setting. Which software can cause such a … damn crap
In my opinion it’s not possible. No matter which software you’re using.
vinyl rips can have serious tempo shifts if they are recorded on a crappy deck. or older live recordings such as old funk or disco.
I bought the track on Beatport…(and i said how is it possible TODAY)
Sometimes, I’m guessing, musicians either record songs with live instrumentation, or want to give it that feel of drift for a more human touch.
Not every beat needs to be completely and 100% syncopated and quantized.