[DJGreedy]

So Ive been loading songs into my DAW and noticed that most of them have a BPM of less than 40. To me it seems easier to produce songs when the timing marker is going slower than it is faster. Am I new to this idea, or has the music been decreased in BPM at the end of the production. Any such input would be much obliged.

[Broton42]

Wild, I mean it's all up to personal artistic choice when it comes to what speed you want to write your music at. Personally I don't know of many programs that will even allow you to write below 40bpm. Are you working on some kind of seriously ambient drone?

[Cracked World Foundation]

Yeah, 40bpm is pretty seriously slow. Maybe you could expand on what you mean by "I've been loading songs into my DAW", but my immediate suspicion is that you're misusing your time signature and effectively spreading each perceived bar over four bars in the sequencer.

EDIT: I'm not paying attention and I've got that back to front. I mean squeezing four bars into one.

[Broton42]

Ah yes, Time Signature and Bar are possibly the most important terms to use when dealing with Tempo. I just kind of woke up here.

[Mindsweeper]

I'm not sure what you're asking...










But clearly you should be producing at 240 bpm.

[Numerical]

Originally Posted by DJGreedy

So Ive been loading songs into my DAW and noticed that most of them have a BPM of less than 40. To me it seems easier to produce songs when the timing marker is going slower than it is faster. Am I new to this idea, or has the music been decreased in BPM at the end of the production. Any such input would be much obliged.

Loading your songs or other people's songs? 40 would make it hard to keep time since the clicks would come too far apart. Sure it isn't just set to 40 but going double time which would make it actually 80bpm? Or even 160?

With MIDI you can set the tempo to whatever you want at any time and it'll play at that speed with no audio being stretched or squeezed. You can do that with audio but it sounds weird if it goes to fast or too slow.

Just fyi, the average middle of the road tempo is 120, which is 2 beats per second or 120 beats per minute. BPM.

[scyn]

Originally Posted by DJGreedy

To me it seems easier to produce songs when the timing marker is going slower than it is faster.

Even though the timing marker is moving slower, you're still going to be writing your music at double time, so the marker won't actually be any faster whilst writing. IOW: Lets say you write a drum track, at 80 bpm. You have a kick on every 1/4 note:

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.

If you want that same timed beat, written at 40 bpm, you're going to have to double-up your kick pattern:

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.

So...the time it takes for your timing marker to move between kicks is exactly the same whether you write at 40 or 80 bpm.

[DJGreedy]

Im using the new Ableton 8. What I meant by loading tracks was Ill take a song, and drag it onto an empty audio file. When all is said and done, I then check the track envelope, and it changes depending on what song I put in. The original BPM in my timeline stays the same, which by default is set to 120. But when the song is played at 120BPM its played extremely fast, lyrically etc. etc. and I finally bring the track down to the BPM in the envelope usually around 40 BPM and finally the song sounds normal. Im thinking there must be some theory to this, maybe producing MIDI tracks at a lower BPM so you can better keep up with the panning bar, of course it probably doesn't make a difference, but at the very least I find it a lot easier to produce drum beats this way. Maybe I shouldn't have said that but I'm just wondering if anyone has any philosphies or techniques that they find useful.

[scyn]

Originally Posted by DJGreedy

Im thinking there must be some theory to this, maybe producing MIDI tracks at a lower BPM so you can better keep up with the panning bar, of course it probably doesn't make a difference, but at the very least I find it a lot easier to produce drum beats this way.

I don't follow you at all here. If you're producing a 120 bpm track at 60 bpm in Ableton - you have to write your beats in at 1/8th notes instead of 1/4 notes for the beat to sound the same whilst producing. Was the example I gave above meaningless in the context of your question?

If you mean you're writing a 120bpm song at 60 bpm so that it actually sounds half the speed whilst producing...well, I doubt you mean this and if you do I don't see the point at all. Sound design, rhythm, composition...you'd be building a track with too many variables if you're going to speed it back up to 120bpm only once you're done producing.

Tbh I'm not really sure what you're getting at...

[Dr Insano]

Am I like the only person who puts the Lines Per Beat to 32 just because it looks more entertaining? (Also extreme stuttering)

[Cracked World Foundation]

Originally Posted by Dr Insano

Am I like the only person who puts the Lines Per Beat to 32 just because it looks more entertaining? (Also extreme stuttering)

In Renoise I do a mix of 16 and 32 lines per beat. You can change it within a track, which is pretty cool.

[Broton42]

Originally Posted by Dr Insano

Am I like the only person who puts the Lines Per Beat to 32 just because it looks more entertaining? (Also extreme stuttering)

Quite possibly. Most other artists would put the Lines Per Beat to 32 because they actually plan on writing a song at that setting.

[Lug]

Originally Posted by DJGreedy

Im using the new Ableton 8. What I meant by loading tracks was Ill take a song, and drag it onto an empty audio file. When all is said and done, I then check the track envelope, and it changes depending on what song I put in. The original BPM in my timeline stays the same, which by default is set to 120. But when the song is played at 120BPM its played extremely fast, lyrically etc. etc. and I finally bring the track down to the BPM in the envelope usually around 40 BPM and finally the song sounds normal.

That's because Ableton Live warps the audio you import automatically. It does it by analyzing the soundwave and try to guess where the beats are. So - as you'd figure - most of the time it fucks it up. Disable "warp" to let the audio file untouched whatever the tempo

Originally Posted by DJGreedy

at the very least I find it a lot easier to produce drum beats this way. Maybe I shouldn't have said that but I'm just wondering if anyone has any philosphies or techniques that they find useful..

There's been a few threads stating the same idea (produce at lower speed and speed it up).
I, personnaly, wouldn't do that since, at lower tempo, I'd lose the feel of the song and micro edits you'd do at lower speed could sound shit when put at the right speed or you wouldn't even notice them anymore
and also : you're writing the music, not playing it with an actual instrument. How are you disturbed by the tempo being too fast ?

[Hakuin]

Originally Posted by Dr Insano

Am I like the only person who puts the Lines Per Beat to 32 just because it looks more entertaining? (Also extreme stuttering)

I assure you that you are not the only person ;-)

But a note on utility, I often produce my 160BPM + tracks at half tempo because I can't finger drum worth a damn and this also allows me more space/ flexibility on my groovebox.
You may just like to produce at 40 BPM; it is all personal preference. I would recommend keeping it a factor of the original material though, so your beats match.

[mossamp]

The way i feel is, make your melody first. find the right temp, make the beat.

[IamOthello]

As others have said, 40bpm is very slow. However, you are most likely actually writing your tunes in double time so they are probably 80 bpm. I usually work at whatever tempo I am feeling for the piece. Most of the time I feel around 70-110.

[Dr Insano]

Originally Posted by Broton42

Quite possibly. Most other artists would put the Lines Per Beat to 32 because they actually plan on writing a song at that setting.

Practicality is boring DO FUN THINGS 24/7