BPM Calculation

In order to align beats when beat mixing, both songs must be played at exactly the same BPM (Beats Per Minute). Ots Studio can Auto Detect the BPM of most songs accurately, up to four and a half decimal places (e.g. 130.89209). It is because of this level of accuracy that the Automated Beat Mixing in OtsAV sounds so clean and tight.

 

Automatic BPM Detection

To automatically detect the BPM of an Item in your Ots file, click on the Auto Detect BPM/Range button within the Edit Beat Info window.

This process takes only a few seconds, and once completed, an Intro and Outro Range will be shown, with a beat grid in each range. The beat grid, and beat markers, should line up with the beats in the song. If they don't you may need to re-position the Match Point marker.

Check the Audible Beat Marker Loop checkbox. Playback of the song will commence, along with a metronome playing at the scanned BPM speed. If the metronome sounds like it is in time with the song, the BPM is correct. If the metronome is not in time with the song, you may need to manually calculate the BPM.

Tip: To automatically calculate the BPM for all of your Ots files, use the Batch BPM Tool.

 

Manually Calculating the BPM

In some cases, the Auto Detect BPM feature may not be able to calculate the BPM correctly. It's possible to override the Auto BPM settings, and correct any BPM miscalculations.

To manually calculate the BPM of a Range, follow the steps below.

 

1. Locate a section of the Range that contains clearly definable beats. You can navigate through the song using the Seek Bar in the Lower Waveform display, or use the Zoom buttons to display a larger portion of the song in the Upper Wave display.

 

2. Click at the beginning of a defined beat while holding the Shift key on your keyboard. The Upper Waveform display will zoom in on the selected beat. Repeat this process to zoom even closer.

 

3. Place your mouse cursor at the very beginning of the beat, and right-click your mouse. A Green line will appear. This is known as the Beat Anchor marker.

 

4. Zoom out, using the Zoom buttons, enough so that you can see at least 4 more beats.

 

5. Count 5 beats to the right of the Beat Anchor marker, and identify the beat. Hold the CTRL key and drag the purple Beat marker in line with the start of the 5th beat (or the first 1 beat after the Beat Anchor marker).

 

6. The BPM will be very close to being correct, however you can get the BPM perfect, by zooming in and setting the Beat marker accurately. Place your mouse cursor at the beginning of the 5th beat, hold the Shift key and click until you are fully zoomed in.

 

7. You can see from the image above that the Beat marker is not exactly at the beginning of the beat. Hold the CTRL key and drag the Beat marker to the beginning of the beat.

 

Tip: To get even better BPM accuracy, move 16 beats or more into the song, and align the Beat marker as described in Step 7.

 

The actions above should be applied to Intro and Outro Ranges as necessary.

 

 

Related Topics:

Upper Waveform display

Lower Waveform display

Zoom buttons

 

 

Back to: Edit Beat Info