Logic Pro’s Smart Tempo tool allows you to get more out of your audio loops and multitrack sessions. Using the Smart Tempo tool in Logic Pro X, you can change the tempo of any imported loop or multitrack session. Additionally, you can change your project’s tempo to match your imported audio’s original tempo.
The beauty of this trick is that you aren’t limited to the tempo loops and multitrack sessions were originally recorded at.
To explain how to use Smart Tempo with stereo loops and multitrack sessions we will be using the recently launched, Bonhamology Loop and Multitrack Bundle played by the great George Fludas.
How to Change the Tempo of Any Stereo Loop
Smart Tempo allows you to use any stereo loop at any tempo. This is pretty cool considering you aren’t limited to the tempo a loop was originally recorded at. You can choose to adapt your project's tempo to the original tempo of the loop or change the loop's tempo to whatever you set within your project’s settings.
For example, the Boogie Mama stereo loop from our Bonhamology Vol 2 pack was originally recorded at 138bpm. Once the loop is imported into Logic, you can change the tempo of the loop to whatever you’d like using Smart Tempo.
Here's how to do it:
Open a new Logic Session
Set your projects tempo to the desired bpm from the LCD panel
Drag and Drop a stereo loop into your project
Right click on the audio file and select Tempo-> Apply Project Tempo to Region and Downbeat
Your loop's tempo will then adjust to the project tempo you set. To test if it worked correctly, activate the metronome and play the loop to ensure your loop and metronome line up.
To change the project tempo to match the loop’s original tempo select Apply Region Tempo to Project Tempo from the Tempo dropdown instead.
How to Change the Tempo of Multitrack Sessions
In just a few steps, you’ll be able to import an entire multitrack session and change the tempo of every track in just a few clicks. We are using the Boogie Mama 138bpm multitracks from Bonhamology Vol 2 for our example.
Here’s how to do it:
Open a new Logic project
Open the multitrack session from your desktop and press command + a to select all audio files
Drag the selected files into your Logic project. Your project should look something like this:
You’ll notice the project’s tempo is set to 120bpm, but the audio files we imported were recorded at 138bpm so our metronome won’t align with our audio. To fix this, we’ll of course use Logic’s Smart Tempo feature.
Press Command + a again to select all audio tracks and then right click on an audio file.
From the window that appears, we’ll want to go to Tempo→ Create Smart Tempo Multitrack Set
Once clicked, a new window should appear like this:
As long as your imported multitrack files are all placed on the same downbeat you shouldn't need to change any settings from this window.
Click Update and Logic will then analyze all the audio files so that we can adjust the tempo to our desired BPM.
Once the files have been analyzed, we are ready to adjust the tempo of our multitrack session.
How to change the tempo of all multitrack audio files
Our project’s tempo is set to 120bpm. We'll keep it at 120, but you can set this to whatever works for your project.
With all the audio files selected, right click on an audio track→ Tempo→ Apply Project Tempo to region and Downbeat
Your multitrack session will now play at 120bpm instead of the original 138bpm!
Here’s how to keep the original tempo of our audio files, but change the projects tempo:
Select all audio files→ Right click→ Tempo→ Apply Region Tempo to Project Tempo
Your project’s tempo setting will then be updated to reflect the original tempo of the audio files. For our example, the project’s tempo changed from 120bpm to 138bpm.
It’s that easy! Now you know how to quickly update the tempo of any multitrack session or stereo loop to align with your recording and production needs.
Interested in learning more about using Smart Tempo?
Leave us a comment or send us an email at [email protected] and we’d be happy to further assist you with using our stereo loops and multitrack sessions. Smart Tempo is an advanced feature within Logic and there are many more ways to utilize it in your workflow. Stay tuned for more Smart Tempo tips and tricks!