Sync Issue - Garageband to Pro Tools/Logic

smudge_lad

Looking for some help as to what might be causing a sync issue that seems to be occurring when I record some tracks into Garageband. My band recorded a track in the studio a few weeks back, but I wanted to add some more parts.

Guitar > HX Stomp > iPad Pro > Garageband. I've got the track tempo set correctly. Once recorded, I'm exporting as uncompressed WAV and uploading to my G:Drive.

When this is downloaded and imported into the track file in the studio, I'm being told that it's all out of sync, and won't fit at all. I have not been present at the studio to hear what exactly is happening unfortunately

Earlier in the year, we recorded a track at the same studio but I had to miss the whole session. I recorded all of my guitar parts in the same way, uploaded to same location and everything was totally fine.

Has anyone had any similar issues, or knows how to resolve this?

TheBigDipper

Funnily enough, I'm doing the same thing this afternoon, but in the opposite direction - Logic to GB iPadOS, audio and MIDI regions/tracks. 

What did they send you for you to play along with when tracking your own parts? Did you import that into GB on the iPad?

If you listen to the WAV file you made (outside of GarageBand - with something else) is it at the right tempo and pitch? 

smudge_lad

TheBigDipper said:

Funnily enough, I'm doing the same thing this afternoon, but in the opposite direction - Logic to GB iPadOS, audio and MIDI regions/tracks. 

What did they send you for you to play along with when tracking your own parts? Did you import that into GB on the iPad?

If you listen to the WAV file you made (outside of GarageBand - with something else) is it at the right tempo and pitch? 

I have the bounce of the full track we recorded at the studio, playing through speakers (since I can't import the track into GB)

I tried two methods:

Playing along with the recorded track with no click/drum track playing in GB

Then, I added a pre-programmed drum track in GB at the correct tempo and played along with this, so the timing should be bang on

None of the tracks seem to be in time when imported to the Logic file.

All of the WAV files sound fine when listening to them on another source.

As I say, I sent a full track's worth of files that were recorded the exact same way, for a different session back in January, and every track was perfect

octatonic

Are you working at the same sample rate as the original session?

How much preroll do you have in your recordings?

If you want me to take a look and can make the session available to me I can probably figure it out.

smudge_lad

octatonic said:

Are you working at the same sample rate as the original session?

How much preroll do you have in your recordings?

If you want me to take a look and can make the session available to me I can probably figure it out.

I’m not sure how to check the sample rate? And what is preroll? 

So, one example is - I recorded one track with a guitar lick in it, as a solo that comes in later in the song. I basically just exported the small snippet of the guitar track as a WAV. I would have though the engineer dude could then just import and move this to the correct starting location within the track?

I don’t have access to the studio session I’m afraid, only my GB file. Is that what you’d need, or both?

octatonic

Check Audio Midi Setup for the sample rate when in the Garageband session.

I'd need both to fully investigate.

smudge_lad

octatonic said:

Check Audio Midi Setup for the sample rate when in the Garageband session.

I'd need both to fully investigate.

I'll have a look - I did check through the very limited available setup options in GB and can't remember seeing anything about Audio Midi Setup. It's the Ipad Pro I'm running, so might have less options than the Mac version?

The studio engineer has managed to get some of the riffs sorted out, but apparently it took him a bit of time

octatonic

I missed you were on iPad.
That might be the issue- can you check what sample rate the HX Stomp operates on?

smudge_lad

octatonic said:

I missed you were on iPad.
That might be the issue- can you check what sample rate the HX Stomp operates on?

No idea, but I’ll look into it. That may have changed from the last time. I’m definitely in a different patch, so not sure if I’ve changed anything else.

TheBigDipper

smudge_lad said:

octatonic said:

I missed you were on iPad.
That might be the issue- can you check what sample rate the HX Stomp operates on?

No idea, but I’ll look into it. That may have changed from the last time. I’m definitely in a different patch, so not sure if I’ve changed anything else.

I'm pretty sure that GB on iPadOS is restricted to 44.1 at 16 bits for audio tracks. You can import files with other sample/bit rates but by the time it's turned into a region in a track, it's 44.1/16bit. 

poopot

smudge_lad said:

So, one example is - I recorded one track with a guitar lick in it, as a solo that comes in later in the song. I basically just exported the small snippet of the guitar track as a WAV. I would have though the engineer dude could then just import and move this to the correct starting location within the track?

You need to bounce each track from a zero starting point... other wise nothing will line up...

no DAW knows where in a song your solo should be unless you give it a starting point...


let’s say you have a song that’s 3 mins long and you record a 30 second long solo 1minute 15seconds into the song... you have to bounce the solo track from the start of the song... you will end up with a track that has 1min15secs of silence then a 30 second solo... this will line up properly in your project.

if you just bounce the 30second solo and then import it into your project it will automatically line up with the start (or wherever you place it) and it won’t be in the correct place within the tune.

does that make sense?

smudge_lad

poopot said:

smudge_lad said:

So, one example is - I recorded one track with a guitar lick in it, as a solo that comes in later in the song. I basically just exported the small snippet of the guitar track as a WAV. I would have though the engineer dude could then just import and move this to the correct starting location within the track?

You need to bounce each track from a zero starting point... other wise nothing will line up...

no DAW knows where in a song your solo should be unless you give it a starting point...


let’s say you have a song that’s 3 mins long and you record a 30 second long solo 1minute 15seconds into the song... you have to bounce the solo track from the start of the song... you will end up with a track that has 1min15secs of silence then a 30 second solo... this will line up properly in your project.

if you just bounce the 30second solo and then import it into your project it will automatically line up with the start (or wherever you place it) and it won’t be in the correct place within the tune.

does that make sense?

Aye, I get all that - but why can’t it be moved into position? I used to do that all the time in Cubase?

smudge_lad

Also....I can’t do it this way because the track I was playing along to isn’t in GB. I’m listening to it on external speakers. 

I can’t import the song/file into GB. This means that I can’t start the recording process at the exact moment I start the guide track

hollywoodrox

I’m totally new to this  but I have been studying information to do with syncing GarageBand to iMovie videos and peoples problems with it starting off ok but drifting out of sync.

it seems as someone I think already mentioned above that GarageBand is limited to 44.1  where most audio now is recorded in 48k. Video in Europe is popularly filmed in 24fps and I think this is somehow related , and looks like it could be in your case . 

Apparently ,there is an audio midi app buried in the utilities folder that can be set to force a sample rate of 48k but I think this may cause as many problems .

anyway  I then found out that you can get GarageBand free on trial for 90 days so I am going to download it and have a crack at using that.  I’ve been watching some introductory videos and it seems pretty cool, plus if you want to send stems to people to mix or master it is more likely to be simpler in logic and more people are equipped to Deal with them.

I am such a noob to this but like I said this seems to tie in with what I have recently been researching on various websites 

TheBigDipper

@hollywoodrox ;Garageband is free on both iOS/iPadOS and on macOS. The edition under discussion here is the iPadOS version. 

@smudge_lad  If you're able to explain how you were supplied the original files that you have been playing along to, and in what format they are, I think I'll either be able to explain how to import it to your GB on iPadOS and turn it into a project or explain why it can't be done. If you wanted to share them (DropBox, whatever) then I'd be happy to have a go at doing it for you and sharing the project back. I can take it as a Logic Pro project or as individual files. Also just curious what version of iPadOS you're running and what your iPad model is - some older ones aren't getting the latest updates any more. The AudioMIDI setup suggestions only apply to macOS, not iPadOS, BTW. 

None of what you're trying to do should be a problem - I've been doing this myself over recent weeks and it's working fine for me. We just need to find out what I'm doing that is different to you.

smudge_lad

TheBigDipper said:

@hollywoodrox ;Garageband is free on both iOS/iPadOS and on macOS. The edition under discussion here is the iPadOS version. 

@smudge_lad  If you're able to explain how you were supplied the original files that you have been playing along to, and in what format they are, I think I'll either be able to explain how to import it to your GB on iPadOS and turn it into a project or explain why it can't be done. If you wanted to share them (DropBox, whatever) then I'd be happy to have a go at doing it for you and sharing the project back. I can take it as a Logic Pro project or as individual files. Also just curious what version of iPadOS you're running and what your iPad model is - some older ones aren't getting the latest updates any more. The AudioMIDI setup suggestions only apply to macOS, not iPadOS, BTW. 

None of what you're trying to do should be a problem - I've been doing this myself over recent weeks and it's working fine for me. We just need to find out what I'm doing that is different to you.

I'll check what version of iPadOS when I get home from work. The iPad is a Pro model from late 2018.

The file I used to play along was an MP3 file uploaded into Dropbox. I played that through my phone/speaker, and played along/recorded into the ipad. 

poopot

smudge_lad said:

TheBigDipper said:

@hollywoodrox Garageband is free on both iOS/iPadOS and on macOS. The edition under discussion here is the iPadOS version. 

@smudge_lad  If you're able to explain how you were supplied the original files that you have been playing along to, and in what format they are, I think I'll either be able to explain how to import it to your GB on iPadOS and turn it into a project or explain why it can't be done. If you wanted to share them (DropBox, whatever) then I'd be happy to have a go at doing it for you and sharing the project back. I can take it as a Logic Pro project or as individual files. Also just curious what version of iPadOS you're running and what your iPad model is - some older ones aren't getting the latest updates any more. The AudioMIDI setup suggestions only apply to macOS, not iPadOS, BTW. 

None of what you're trying to do should be a problem - I've been doing this myself over recent weeks and it's working fine for me. We just need to find out what I'm doing that is different to you.

I'll check what version of iPadOS when I get home from work. The iPad is a Pro model from late 2018.

The file I used to play along was an MP3 file uploaded into Dropbox. I played that through my phone/speaker, and played along/recorded into the ipad. 

Download the mp3 to your iPad...
put it on its own track in garage band...
record your guitar parts onto a second track...
Solo the guitar track and bounce as a wav but make sure you have cycle on and it covers the full length of the mp3.

you should then be able to import the bounced guitar track into any daw and it will line up with the rest of the tracks!...

We’ve just done this with a bunch of us that have never met or been in the same room... all using different daws and files sent via file transfer.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/191247/a-fretboard-collaboration-dirty-snake-mouth#latest

it should work fella!...

Danny1969

The tempo is irrelevant now ... don't set it and don't use a metronome.  The audio you recorded at the studio is now the timing master. If you play to that the only way there can be any problems is if they don't convert the sample rate BEFORE they import it back into the studio session. So if GB records in 16 bit 44.1 and their session is 24 / 48 then they need to convert your audio into the correct format before it's loaded into the session. Most DAWs like PT will detect the difference and warn you and most studio guys would be savvy to this so it's not normally a problem. 

Although there can be sync issues drift caused by clock errors in circuits this generally only happens when lining up video / audio recorded on the cheapest shitty video camera's .... even the most basic audio clock on a laptop or iPad won't drift noticeably over a 4 min song

smudge_lad

poopot said:

smudge_lad said:

TheBigDipper said:

@hollywoodrox Garageband is free on both iOS/iPadOS and on macOS. The edition under discussion here is the iPadOS version. 

@smudge_lad  If you're able to explain how you were supplied the original files that you have been playing along to, and in what format they are, I think I'll either be able to explain how to import it to your GB on iPadOS and turn it into a project or explain why it can't be done. If you wanted to share them (DropBox, whatever) then I'd be happy to have a go at doing it for you and sharing the project back. I can take it as a Logic Pro project or as individual files. Also just curious what version of iPadOS you're running and what your iPad model is - some older ones aren't getting the latest updates any more. The AudioMIDI setup suggestions only apply to macOS, not iPadOS, BTW. 

None of what you're trying to do should be a problem - I've been doing this myself over recent weeks and it's working fine for me. We just need to find out what I'm doing that is different to you.

I'll check what version of iPadOS when I get home from work. The iPad is a Pro model from late 2018.

The file I used to play along was an MP3 file uploaded into Dropbox. I played that through my phone/speaker, and played along/recorded into the ipad. 

Download the mp3 to your iPad...
put it on its own track in garage band...
record your guitar parts onto a second track...
Solo the guitar track and bounce as a wav but make sure you have cycle on and it covers the full length of the mp3.

you should then be able to import the bounced guitar track into any daw and it will line up with the rest of the tracks!...

We’ve just done this with a bunch of us that have never met or been in the same room... all using different daws and files sent via file transfer.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/191247/a-fretboard-collaboration-dirty-snake-mouth#latest

it should work fella!...

How do I save the MP3 to my iPad though? I don’t think I can do that, and then import it into GB

poopot

smudge_lad said:

How do I save the MP3 to my iPad though? I don’t think I can do that, and then import it into GB

Found this:

https://midnightmusic.com.au/2016/10/how-to-import-audio-files-into-garageband-for-ipad/

Jalapeno

smudge_lad said:

poopot said:

smudge_lad said:

TheBigDipper said:

@hollywoodrox Garageband is free on both iOS/iPadOS and on macOS. The edition under discussion here is the iPadOS version. 

@smudge_lad  If you're able to explain how you were supplied the original files that you have been playing along to, and in what format they are, I think I'll either be able to explain how to import it to your GB on iPadOS and turn it into a project or explain why it can't be done. If you wanted to share them (DropBox, whatever) then I'd be happy to have a go at doing it for you and sharing the project back. I can take it as a Logic Pro project or as individual files. Also just curious what version of iPadOS you're running and what your iPad model is - some older ones aren't getting the latest updates any more. The AudioMIDI setup suggestions only apply to macOS, not iPadOS, BTW. 

None of what you're trying to do should be a problem - I've been doing this myself over recent weeks and it's working fine for me. We just need to find out what I'm doing that is different to you.

I'll check what version of iPadOS when I get home from work. The iPad is a Pro model from late 2018.

The file I used to play along was an MP3 file uploaded into Dropbox. I played that through my phone/speaker, and played along/recorded into the ipad. 

Download the mp3 to your iPad...
put it on its own track in garage band...
record your guitar parts onto a second track...
Solo the guitar track and bounce as a wav but make sure you have cycle on and it covers the full length of the mp3.

you should then be able to import the bounced guitar track into any daw and it will line up with the rest of the tracks!...

We’ve just done this with a bunch of us that have never met or been in the same room... all using different daws and files sent via file transfer.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/191247/a-fretboard-collaboration-dirty-snake-mouth#latest

it should work fella!...

How do I save the MP3 to my iPad though? I don’t think I can do that, and then import it into GB

iTunes