Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

Hi guys,

I’m just learning elastic audio. So far I love it for bass, it seems to be working great. I’ve been using monophonic and managed to get things pretty aligned.

Someone on another forum mentioned that he stays away from EA because you run the risk of getting artifacts. He said that he did a bass track in EA which seemed fine to his ears but then when handed off to a mix engineer said they were unusable. This made me paranoid bc I’ve taken time to align bass tracks and they seem fine to me. Anything for me to be concerned about?

Also I’ve seen some people convert to x-form first before rendering or committing. Is there any good reason to do that, or ok to just commit after the EA editing is done?

Finally, do I run any similar risks of using EA for guitar and vocals, in terms of artifacts? I always use my ear as the judge and if they sound fine that;s my metric, but please let me know if something else I should be aware of.

Mostly I’m loving EA and just want to make sure it’s ok to keep using it for good quality results as I’m recording an album.

Btw, I DON’T plan on using it for drums. I may do TTT and basic slip editing for that. Many suggest Best Detective and maybe down the line but TTT to start.

Thanks for any input!!

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

In short :

1. “Lumpy” audio (can be caused by erroneous analysis markers on long notes, and can be especially noticeable on bass) and

2. Smudged transients (ironically worst on X-Form, the supposedly “high quality” algorithm)

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

Isn't there an adjustable setting on x-form to leave the transient unprocessed? I guess you can only use that directly from the plugin and not on TCE.

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

There is a way to use EA for bass to make it work well rather than delivering 'unusable' tracks.

1. Set the grid according to the parts being played i.e. 8th or 16th etc.
2. Threshold sets the amount of work EA does. If it is too low the timing can suffer. Too high and you will certainly encourage the infamous bass 'warbling'.
3. Generally I find Poly works best, even on obviously monophonic tracks (and not just for bass)! Select the transient option too. In practice though, transient setting does make much difference for bass.
4. Get EA markers for the actually main notes, not the low cycles in the signal. If you aren't getting the markers on the transient of the new notes you can up the threshold and click on them as required before dropping it back down.
5. The main thing that an EA master has learned is the similarity and difference between the analysis and the warp marker tracks! For bass it is essential to understand this or you will have the bass guitar warbling in an awful manner.

Analysis and warp are the same in number when you turn EA on for a track. When you have worked on the EA settings they can be quite different i.e zero analysis markers and many warp markers. This is probably idea for bass tracks.

So work on the bass quantisation in any way you see fit and get all the warp markers set to your satisfaction. Then, you will find there are likely analysis markers that EA is processing within the single bass notes causing warbling, even though you have a single warp markers correctly set at the transient. Turn the 'Event Sensitivity' (threshold) down to 0 and you will hear the mid note processing stop and the warbling end (unless you have made too many warp markers).

When you master it you will find you have EA processing overworking with many legato notes on other instruments.

In general, set the threshold a little too low rather than too high for ALL types of processing or you will hear side effects.

Stephen

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

Only two options, neither related to transients http://duc.avid.com/attachment.php?a...1&d=1668175275

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

Hmmm, I get the fewest artifacts by using X-Form. EA is really tough to use on distorted guitar as it can't find transients. One fix for that is to record a DI'd guitar at the same time(make a group of the mic and DI tracks and keep the DI track muted). That way, you can enable EA on both and use the transient/warp markers on the DI track to make the edits. Many times, I will fix timing with Melodyne instead(not quite as quick, but usually sounds fine):o

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

Thanks, I’ve been recording bass straight in to my DAW with no amp. So far as I can tell, after doing EA editing on bass, everything sounds fine. I used monophonic, then converted to x-form after.

I was just concerned by what others are saying in terms of the potential risk of artifacts. But I’m really not hearing that, so either my ear is untrained to notice that or knowing what to focus on, or it’s simply not there. I’m really hoping these tracks are usable as I spend a lot of time with them.

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

Very good info thank you. The bass parts I laid down are really pretty simple and straightforward. I really don’t hear anything ‘wrong’ with the EA editing result. Things appear nice and tightly aligned to grid.

As far as artifacts I don’t really hear anything, but admittedly somewhat new to this, so unsure of what to look out for. Would it be pretty obvious to my ear if there was warbling or strange editing glitches in the edited tracks?

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

Just checked and I have transient sensitivity on mine. That screenshot is not the full plugin.

Re: Elastic Audio for Bass & Guitars - Questions
 

If you listen right through the track in solo, surely you would hear anything untoward. If this process works for you, trust your ears and be happy.