As a vocal artist, it’s important to have control over the timing of the beats that you use. Not only does it help ensure that your delay effects are on time (or any other plugin / audio effect that uses the BPM), but it also allows you to easily change the BPM and rearrange the beat and its sections. In the above video tutorial, I show you how to line up your beats to the grid in your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) using Ableton. If you’d like to see it with other DAWs, just leave a comment on the YouTube video!
Why Line Up Beats to the Grid?
Delay
There are a few reasons why it’s important to line up your beats to the grid. First and foremost, it ensures that your delays are on time and in sync with the beat. Imagine trying to rap over a beat where the timing of one your of voice effects is slightly off – it can throw off the entire flow of the track.
Change the BPM of Your Beat
Lining your beats up to the grid also allows you to easily change the BPM. Maybe you bought a beat that’s at 90 BPM and now you want to bring the energy up to a more-hype 110 BPM. No problem – once your Beat is aligned to the grid, you can easily ‘warp’ the Beat to match any changes you make to your DAW’s BPM. In other words, the two are no in-sync.
Rearrange the Beat Seamlessly
But perhaps the biggest advantage of lining your beats up to the grid is the ability to seamlessly rearrange the beat. Have you ever tried to cut a section out of a beat only to have it be slightly off, requiring you to zoom way in, and fix or undo it? It’s a frustrating experience, but one that can be easily avoided by lining your beats up to the grid. This allows you to cut, copy, and paste sections of the beat without any timing issues. This includes other tracks outside of Beat—easily copy and paste, or loop your entire song (all of its tracks).
How to Line Up Beats to the Grid
So, now that we’ve convinced you of the importance of lining your beats up to the grid, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of how to actually do it.
BPM Counter
First, we’ll need to find the BPM of the beat. One way to do this is by using a BPM counter like the one here. Simply play the beat and tap along to get the BPM. In the case of our tutorial above, the Beat is coming in at 88 BPM.
Use the Metronome in Your DAW
Next, we’ll load up the beat into Ableton and turn on the metronome. As you can see, the beat is slightly off timing. Don’t panic, we can easily fix this by adjusting the BPM until it lines up with the metronome.
Change the BPM in Your DAW
To adjust the BPM in Ableton, go to the “Tempo” field in the top toolbar and enter the desired BPM. You can also use the “Tap” button to tap along to the beat and automatically set the BPM.
Check it! (Visually and Audibly)
Once the BPM is set, the beat should automatically line up with the grid. However, you may need to make fine adjustments using the “Warping” function. To do this, select the audio clip and go to the “Warp” tab in the bottom left corner. Here, you can adjust the timing of the beat by dragging the warp markers.
And that’s it – you’re now a pro at lining your beats up to the grid in Ableton! Just remember to always double-check the timing after making any adjustments to ensure that everything is in sync.
Now You Can Manipulate the Beat / Song in So Many More Ways
Now that you know how to line up your beats to the grid, you can start experimenting with rearranging and editing the beat, among many other things!
