Comping support ?

[jonetsu]

Is there any comping support planned ? Or better yet, is the following already possible.

To select many simultaneous regions from many tracks and, once these regions are selected, to create a new track with these regions by the 'press of a button' ?

[Ben@Harrison]

Currently the way it's done on a vocal track (for example): overdub multiple times on the same track, creating "layers". Use the "range" tool to split the the track into phrases. Then right-click on the track header to switch it to layered->stacked view, and try moving each region to the top of the stack until you've assembled the perfect comp take. (during this process you can further split it down to individual words, or even syllables, if needed)

Working with multitrack sources (like a drumkit) is trickier, although the same rules apply. The first step is to make a "group" for the tracks that you want to edit together.

I need to make a video showing "comping" techniques. Thanks for the reminder.

One of the ideas on our ToDo list is "take management", where a single recording pass results in a "take", and then when you split or mute a region in a "take", they will all split or mute. I think that could speed things up a bit.

What's a good example of multitrack comping? Can you point me at a video showing the "Best practices"?

-Ben

[jonetsu]

I haven't used any layers yet. so this is something to try. Thanks for mentionning it. As for multitrack comping examples, there are a few videos with several DAWs on youtube, although I'd be hard pressed to pick one since I haven't tried any and as such wouldn't know which one would qualify for a best use case example.

[dustinnr]

There's a setting that makes doing what Ben described above easier, which is locking regions on the timeline. It's a button on the toolbar. This makes it so when you move the regions up and down in the stack, you can't accidentally shift their position in time.
What works nicely with this method is you don't have to do a lot of muting and unmuting - if you have some punchins, then where they "aren't" the original just "shows through".

About a year ago, I was thinking about the idea of Take Management. Ultimately (in my head), it came down to each region being tagged in a take so that they could be operated on as a set. Splitting a region would retain the tag of the parent for each split region. And of course some sort of list dialog to manage it all.

[Jostein]

I do do several takes (layers) in on track when it's needed, in a loop and punch in and out or sometime a whole new track as a whole new take.

Then when I'm ready for the edit session, I make a few empty new tracks, copy the track to one of them as a backup, leave one empty for the the soon to be comped track and then usually copy one layer (or take) to each of the others if they are good. From there I just cut and paste the best takes to the comping track.

I usually paste the whole best take first to the com track and after that, I'm pasting in the better chops where they're needed. This workflow serves me well and the comping does not take a long time to do.

[jonetsu]

I usually paste the whole best take first to the com track and after that, I'm pasting in the better chops where they're needed. This workflow serves me well and the comping does not take a long time to do.

This is interesting. I should experiment around this. A nice tutorial would also be welcomed !

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There's a setting that makes doing what Ben described above easier, which is locking regions on the timeline. It's a button on the toolbar. This makes it so when you move the regions up and down in the stack, you can't accidentally shift their position in time.

I use that all the time when multing.

I will see about how to use layers. It sure 'sounds' as if everything is already there to provide comping support.

[Jostein]

I usually paste the whole best take first to the com track and after that, I'm pasting in the better chops where they're needed. This workflow serves me well and the comping does not take a long time to do.

This is interesting. I should experiment around this. A nice tutorial would also be welcomed !

I see that Ben has plans to do something about it and he makes good videos; I will wait and see! :-)

[Scardanelli]

re-activating this thread as 32-C 5 beckons!

I think the comping issue might be the main reason I can't use Mixbus in tracking at the moment. Often get several takes of vocals, guitars, even basses. Ben asked for examples of comping in other apps I believe, and I cannot think of a more elegant solution than that used by Studio One V3.

When the layers are revealed, one can simply swipe over a portion of a layer to make that the active take. This is extremely efficient as for example I can literally block out word by word if necessary (rarely but sometimes - some clients.....). The way it works in Mixbus, having to move a take to the top of the list, is a bit clunky in my opinion. With the S1 method, you can quickly click on an alternative take of the word or phrase you've highlighted, so that, for example, say you're trying to find the best tuning and phrasing of "I hate ya" - once you've highlighted it on one take, you can double click on another take at that location, and the take immediately becomes active, seamlessly whilst playing etc. Not great to explain but Ben if you have a moment take a look at Studio One's implementation of this feature!

If this type of efficient on the go comping was available in Mixbus, then tracking bands and overdubbing vocals etc would be a joy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S-2x0VdH1Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBqP5VZZvZ8

Simon

[thrl]

What's a good example of multitrack comping? Can you point me at a video showing the "Best practices"?

-Ben

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbqsFbuy0rU

They call it "lanes". In Mixbus, this would be the stacked view. All we now need is a way to quickly audition the different takes and then use something that they call the "comp" tool. No need to drag things to top, Just select regions in the different takes (lanes) and you're home free. That's what I would like

Regards,

Theun

[bjohnh]

All we now need is a way to quickly audition the different takes and then use something that they call the "comp" tool.
[/quote]

You can quickly audition the different takes by using the audition command in Mixbus.

Moving regions up to the top is a lot easier if you set the "ripple/lock/slide" button to "lock."