Help from musicians...

I'm attempting a cover of Transmission at the moment. Gone about it arse about tit really and started by getting a mate to record vocals whilst listening to the original, then I was going to layer the instruments.

I'm trying to start with a basic drum loop based loosely on Steve's pattern but cant get the bugger to sync with the record at all. It will for a bit then looses it. I'm going to abandon this method but am curious why I cant get it to sync.

Is it because:

a) I'm shit b) The breakbeats knock out the beat c) Steve is human and no drummer can keep a beat as perfect as a drum machine. d) It's Hookys fault and Steve is keeping with Hooky e) All of the above

Can't categorically say without hearing the recording and the loop but, usually this is down to the tempo not matching exactly. For example, you're running a loop at 140bpm but the original source is running at 139.75bpm. Over time the two will appear to drift apart. Whjat software are you using? Most DAW software will have some kind of beat detection function that can make a pretty good guess at the original tempo. I find that if I import audio into, say Cubase then by zooming in on the waveforms I can match it to the bars and beats grid by tweaking the tempo.

Steve is renowned for playing like a drum machine so I imagine his timing is pretty good. Without a click track it will never be perfect but it should be close enough.

An alternative approach is to simply chop the vocal up into smaller sections and paste them in the correct place with reference to your loop. While the beat can drift out of sync over time, if this time is short enough then nobody will notice.

Ed.

cheers, I suspect that is the case. from memory 154 was a bit too slow and 155 too fast, it was only detectable after about 20 secs.

I'm using Cubase to hold the source track (and vocals) and trigger the drum machine (rewired to Reason)

Can Cubase set a xxx.x tempo?

I'd probably get my mate to re-record the vocals rather than chop up the vocal track!

It's probably more to do with the original recording slightly altering speed.

You're best bet, if you're using a computer and sequencer, is to put down a basic track, i.e. drums, chords, bass, so that you have the structure, then get your singer in, then fill it out as required afterwards.

If your singer doesn't know the song too well, you could put down a rough guide vocal for him.

Cubase SX3 will do a tempo do xxx.xxx, not too sure about the other versions.

If you wanted to keep the recorded vocal it's quite easy to chop up as recomended above

Hope this helps, keep us updated, as some of us like to hear peoples covers.