Slowing down jam tracks

[Paul S]

Even though Brian often includes slow versions of solos and jam tracks, I often need even slower tempos to work on the more tricky licks. Any recommendations for really easy to use slow down software? Thanks:)

[charjo]

Hi Paul,
Recording yourself is one of the keys for improvement. The bonus is that any recording software will allow you to upload a backing track and set any tempo you like without altering the pitch. There are free digital audio workstaions like Reaper and many sophisticated ones for purchase such as Pro Logic for Apple users.
VLC media player has options to slow the tempo of an mp3 as well.
John

[JoeD1]

If you’re not recording to a DAW (which should be able to slow it down to any tempo) then VLC, as John suggested, is free and simple to use on Windows or Mac.

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[GnLguy]

Hey Paul

I posted some setup instructions for the VLC Player that will allow you to slow any recording down at 1% increments as well as various ways to loop sections

VLC Player looping & playback speed control features

[Richard G]

Another app which is a free download is Audacity, it will allow you to slow the track down without altering the pitch.

Richard

[Andy N]

I use Transcribe! from SeventhStringSoftware but its not free and there’s a one off payment of about $30 (from memory). It’s designed to help you transcribe your favourite guitar solos from recordings so has all the features you need to slow down and loop sections. It’s also very simple to use.
If you just want to slow down Brian’s recordings then Transcribe! is probably over the top for you but if you had wider ambitions including transcription it might be worth a look.

[sunjamr]

For MacBooks and iPads, I’ve been using an app called Anytune for 10 years. It does what you want. Sure, I can drag and drop an MP3 file into my DAW, but for purposes of everyday practice, it’s faster, easier, and simpler to just use Anytune. And it’s cheap.

Sunjamr Steve

[JoeD1]

This looked interesting so I checked it out. The free version is pretty limited though. Do you use it to isolate instruments and, if so, how well does it do?

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[JoeD1]

I found the free Mac version on their website, Anytune.app, and was able to try out their isolation. It seems pretty easy to use by just clicking and dragging sliders. Additional adjustments made with pan and equalization can also help. I can see it would take a little tinkering to get instruments isolated but not bad for US$35 considering it has a lot of other helpful features like slowdown, pitch, etc. which could help with transcribing and learning songs. I probably would have gotten this instead of RipX DAW by Hit ‘N Mix which cost me $99.00. I still may get it because it looks a lot easier to use (and I like tinkering with new stuff 😁).

Joe

The sight of a touch, or the scent of a sound,
Or the strength of an Oak with roots deep in the ground.
--Graeme Edge

[Paul S]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!

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