[MartynRich]

Guys

I´ve got a problem. I´m trying to record a song that really needs a band but I´m having to do it solo. It´s a simple one on the face of it but it has a tempo change between verse and chorus and a tempo change within the chorus. With a live band it would be no problem as we could "feel" our way through it. Trying to get it down on my own is proving difficult in the least.

I´ve tried programming drums with the tempo changes but that doesn´t work. I´ve tried just getting the acoustic down to start as well, then thought of playing along the other parts...I just don´t know. Why did I pick such a complicated one to start with? 

[PaulAds]

Hello @MartynRich

You’re such a talented songwriter…it’s really great to see you back on the forum. So many of us have been adversely affected by the all-pervading doom and gloom that’s been fed to us over the last few years…

I think the very fact that you have an idea of how you want it to go and aim to get it done that way rather than going for the easy option tells us a lot about you.

Is there any “band” element in particular that I could help you with? I’d be more than happy to chip in…or if you wanted just to ping me something over for a listen, I’d like that, too…even if it’s just to offer another opinion…

On a more practical level, I’ve (very) occasionally done songs in sections and then used a specific track or two to bridge the gap between the sections…

[cowparsleyman]

@MartynRich - Yip you are a very talented songwriter, most DAW's have the feature to add tempo increases/decreases, it just takes a bit of reading and practise. I recommend copying the otriginal song to a seperate "try it out" version and invest a few days in nailing the feature.

There are two approaches, record it and then speed it up, or determine ine the tempo chnages and then record over that, with the latter method, the metronome will speed up to make it a bit easier to follow...however it might not be easy to make it sound convincing, however you do it..

With the first approach (above) there will be considerations like if you speed up audio tracks then you won't wont it to chnge the pitch to a higher note, In Studio One it can handle this, if you have Zanaptiq timestretch inbuilt it will keep the pitch constant. Try and keep as much in the MIDI realm as possible, which will be hard if it's vox and guitars.

Hope this helps.

R

[MartynRich]

Thanks for the replies guys, in the end I went with Waveform Free because I could get it to work easier than the others. I laid down a guide track with my son clapping along and then put everything on top. Results are posted