Help me understand the counting of bars...

aight I thought i knew how to count bars...but i found out i was krazy wrong...

when i count my bars i do it like this..

1,2,3,4
2,2,3,4
3,2,3,4
4,2,3,4

thing is this tho... I had a sample that "i" had counted out to 4 bars.. and i was havin a mad difficult time gettin it to loop on the mpc... finally i got my "4" bars to loop at 99.1BPm.. but then i was not able to lay drums down to it.. so it was useless..

then i had the eye opener, had a chance to use a computer for this ish(the word c rap? got censored?..) old computer but better then nothing.. and this computer had recycle.. and when i put my sample in there.. i set it to 4 bars and it says my temp was 70.84.. so i was like what?

then i opened up same sample in another program, its program is called Acid and acid done said my sample was at 141BPM and it says my sample was EIGHT BARS not four..

so i'm mad confused, thinkin i knew how to count bars but then now i realized i really dont..

any pointers on this?

1. How come MY COUNTIN bars are incorrect?

2. how come i got my sample to loop at 99 on the mpc?

and yeah i know it math related.. it seems everything is...

the other thing is when i time strechted my sample down to 90BPM in Audacity and SOundforge.. my samle was stupid slow..not usable..

but then messin in acid i changed it down to 90PBM and then i transposed notes from 32 down to 16.. and then it worked BEAUTIFUL, i.e. my sample was now at a temp of 90BPM and it sounded "right"..

and the sample is too dope how it is.. it does not repeat and to cut it in half would kill the flow of the sample...


be eaZy

Really, it's only about ears. Probably no program or hardware will give you the correct length and tempo of some snippet of music. You have to HEAR what it is.

Are you sure your sample is in 4/4 for example? If it isn't, then you'll obviously have problems laying drums onto it in a 4/4 signature.

usually two snares between each bar so to speak

Like Stilo said, the sample probably was not in 4/4 time. You should be able to easily hear phrasing though, regardless of the meter/signature. Just like how you can hear downbeat, upbeat, backbeat, etc of a drum pattern and use it to indentify the beginning or end of a phrase -- and at times even measures/bars -- you should also be able to hear the phrasing of a melody, bassline, or such. Use your ears. Chop where is sounds and feels natural, or finished, if you're going for big chunks.

Software only takes what you've given it, then it does a few basic calculations based on length, samples, or at times trasients and user input. Either way, it's math that you could do yourself. Honestly, we're trained from birth to recognize patterns, reduncancy, dynamic change...or in a word "rhythm". Use your ears homie....like dude said, no program could replace them. Even math often doesn't feel as personal and human as using your ears. Sometimes the ear's perception leaves glitches, but glitches can be good and organic. Most of the time we can get close though. Actually we get so close that we're usually cleaning up after the machine's cumbersome mathematical "chopping" attempts, instead of the other way around.

You can easily tell the meter of music by simply listening and counting. Listen for repetition of phrasing in the melody, and drums. That and the "pulse" of the music will tell you the meter. With simple music, it's easy fours, with the kick and snare totally giving you landmarks. But, don't pay too much attention to the "boom bap" conventions of counting measures or grow to comfortable with it, or you'll be totally lost with anything but the most simple forms of pop.

http://www.drumbum.com/lessons when i took drum lessons he told me to count like this 1n2n3n4n 1kick n ride 2 snare n ride 3 kick n ride 4 snare thats just a basic house beat