As you might know from recent queries, I've been gradually getting more into recording stuff, because I am making promo videos for my school and I wanted to make some little background tunes.
I've got three pieces basically laid out; each one is about a minute and a half. This weekend I've been going over em, tweaking things and trying to figure out what bugs me about each one.
That's surprisingly difficult! I listened to this one bit a dozen times trying to figure out why the smart drummer was losing the groove, until I figured out the problem was in the bass and guitar--both were coincidentally off at the same spot. 
I'm gradually getting more adept at note-by-note editing for the virtual instruments, but I had some guitar parts that had slight timing issues even in the best takes...
The long term solution is practice, of course, and I'm actually doing more of that these days thanks to this project, but I discovered the short-term solution today: flex time! I discovered it by accident, just by clicking random buttons to see what they were. Boy that is a great feature! I didn't stress-test it, so I don't know how much you can mess with time before it turns horrible, but boy just bumping this or that note a few hundredths of a second can really save a take! I was just really impressed that GB could do that as well as it did.I saw that there's even a quantize function that would find and correct the timing issues all by itself--I didn't try that one yet, but I reckon I will...
The other trick I learned today had to do with automation tracks. I had assumed GB could fade individual tracks in and out because I had already found that feature in iMovie, and it just seemed like a no-brainer for GB, but when I dug into how to do it I was amazed by the broad spectrum of parameters you can control that way, including pans, all kindsa eq stuff, effects like reverb and delay, etc.
Kinda made me wonder: I know the SERIOUS guys are using something like Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Cubase, etc., but GB seems to have pretty amazing functionality even if you don't take into consideration that it basically comes free with my Mac; I can hardly imagine feeling limited by it. What DOESN'T it have that these other apps can do?
Anyway, that's the latest dispatch from Newb-ville!
I've got three pieces basically laid out; each one is about a minute and a half. This weekend I've been going over em, tweaking things and trying to figure out what bugs me about each one.
That's surprisingly difficult! I listened to this one bit a dozen times trying to figure out why the smart drummer was losing the groove, until I figured out the problem was in the bass and guitar--both were coincidentally off at the same spot. I'm gradually getting more adept at note-by-note editing for the virtual instruments, but I had some guitar parts that had slight timing issues even in the best takes...
The long term solution is practice, of course, and I'm actually doing more of that these days thanks to this project, but I discovered the short-term solution today: flex time! I discovered it by accident, just by clicking random buttons to see what they were. Boy that is a great feature! I didn't stress-test it, so I don't know how much you can mess with time before it turns horrible, but boy just bumping this or that note a few hundredths of a second can really save a take! I was just really impressed that GB could do that as well as it did.I saw that there's even a quantize function that would find and correct the timing issues all by itself--I didn't try that one yet, but I reckon I will... The other trick I learned today had to do with automation tracks. I had assumed GB could fade individual tracks in and out because I had already found that feature in iMovie, and it just seemed like a no-brainer for GB, but when I dug into how to do it I was amazed by the broad spectrum of parameters you can control that way, including pans, all kindsa eq stuff, effects like reverb and delay, etc.
Kinda made me wonder: I know the SERIOUS guys are using something like Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Cubase, etc., but GB seems to have pretty amazing functionality even if you don't take into consideration that it basically comes free with my Mac; I can hardly imagine feeling limited by it. What DOESN'T it have that these other apps can do?
Anyway, that's the latest dispatch from Newb-ville!
, but IIRC setting up busses/auxes and sends, groups, and "take folders" (with "quick-swipe" comping) are features I use regularly in Logic Pro, which may not be accessible. (Could be wrong, because I know some of the default track/input-type options will set up some routing using sends, but I'm not sure it can be done manually.)
