Newbie: how-to even-out trax timings

[Modrob]

Newbie here (my trusty Fostex VF-16 after many solid years gave up) older age, and have ventured into the PT world (dragging my feet for some time) with a version M9. I have to admit that after using it for a few months now I’m becoming more a fan. I’m overwhelmed at all that is possible with this software and several features have already made my recording life much easier.😊
That being said, recently I cut all instruments on an old pop song, without a click, choosing to play along with the original live track. Of course the tempo is moving around some, and I’d like to see if I can somehow go backwards and create a solid click (I usually record a click using an old outboard Alesis unit) but I know that can be generated by PT...
I’ve been looking at the manual, reading and seeing videos about Beat Dectective, Quantizing, etc., but my older brain now just doesn’t grasp things as well as it did years earlier...
This particular track has a lot going on, including three horns. Lastly I’ve spent several hours over days trying play drums to it, but never tight enough. I tapped out a click manually throughout but still...
Is it feasible to straighten out?

[JFreak]

Hi, welcome to the community.

It sounds to me you are better off without click... next time record drum kit first

[Top Jimmy]

You need to build a tempo map if you want to be able to quantize your new drums to the original song.


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[Modrob]

Maybe I wasn’t clear...
I have cut all the instruments and all have some slight tempo variances due to recording/playing along with an original live track that “moved” in tempo. Is it possible to even out each individual track to a more consistent tempo? THEN I can try adding my drums then...😊

[JFreak]

Hi, welcome to the community.

Yes it is possible to create a tempo map that evens out everything, but it isn't a press one button kind of a job. Please download latest protools reference guide and read everything there is about tempo map, then ask more questions

[DonaldM]

As Janne and the others have said, you need to create a tempo map off the original track. There's a lot in the manual on how to do this. Also, this video explains the process very clearly. Its not a difficult process, but there's a few steps involved and, depending on how much variance there is, its best to go down the entire track, measure by measure. Good luck!

[albee1952]

Creating a Tempo Map is probably the best way, but there is another possibility. See if you can find someone with the latest Melodyne Editor(or check Celmony to see if they offer a demo). With Melodyne Editor in stand-alone mode(not as a plugin in PT) its possible to analyze the tempo(revealing any fluctuations) and then you can choose to correct it(even it out). Obviously, you would need to perform this adjustment exactly the same on all your tracks, OR bounce the tracks(without your new drums) to a stereo audio file and use Melodyne to "fix" that. Then import that into a new session so you can add your drums(with a click at the corrected tempo)

[Modrob]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions guys. About the manual: from the things I’ve read about up to now, it doesn’t seem (to me anyway) to detail the steps in which to go about a process, and tends to leave me scratching my head. (Could be why the one answer above “read manual then ask questions”😊which makes sense&#128522 I have found as I go along the small tasks I’ve wanted to do so far I’ve found help with YouTube videos but the biggest help has been as I learn this task and find it to work, I then make my own notes in a notebook I keep handy, detailing exactly how I did it. It helps a lot when I experience it again maybe sometime later when my memory doesn’t serve me well enough.

On this particular problem, I just sucked it up and kept re-recording most things until I got it a little more together. But I will look in to the tempo map thing further as you all have suggested. Thanks again for the support.