Producers keep mentioning that they are having a hard time adjusting to the new interface of Soundtrack Pro 3 by Apple.
It used to be so easy to change the Tempo (BPM) and the Key. There was a nice dock interface very similar to Garageband that clearly showed your Key signatures and what Tempo your project was. If you wanted to change it, you would just click on them to adjust.
With the latest release of Soundtrack Pro 3 there are two ways of adjusting your Tempo and Key signatures.
One of the ways is to go into the preference panel under ‘ File ‘ in the top menu links and adjust your project. ( This would make your settings a default every time you wanted to start a new project, it would always be in the same Key and same Tempo). No good (at least not for us).
We at Soundtrackloops.com like to hear what our loops sound like in all the different Keys after Acidized and Apple Looping them to assure the best quality and to make sure you, the end user, are receiving properly formatted loop files from us. We also like the ability to adjust our Key and Tempo when creating a demo, song, or soundtrack to a iMovie or YouTube video, and also hear the results instantaneously.
So we set out to make a tutorial as easy and a painless as possible with images so you can understand quickly and get to making your next score at what ever Tempo and Key you want it to be at. Read the contents below to find out how you can do this on your own
Step one – Open Soundtrack Pro 3.
Step two – Locate your Window drop down in your tool bar at the very top.
Step three – Scroll down to your Tabs menu.
Step four – Move your cursor to the right so the Tabs menu opens up and you see Project Properties, highlight and click to enable.
Step five – Your Project Properties should now be in plain sight.
Step six – Now that you can see your project properties. You will first see your projects title, description, artist, copyright, genre and other information which you can edit. Now use the scroll bar to scroll to the bottom to find your current projects Tempo and Key signature it is in. ( I found default was the Key signature of G and Tempo at 120)
Step seven – Now adjust your Tempo to what ever BMP (beats per minute) you would like.
Step eight – You will now want to highlight your Key signature to adjust what Key you will want you song to sound like. ( a menu should show once clicked)
Step nine – One thing we like is the ability to put your projects menu where it is easily accessible. All you need to do is grab the Project Tab and drag to any of your viewing layout panes.
We like ours by our loop browser (as shown below)
There you have it. Easy as a bass beat pie.. feel free to comment or share any of your tutorials and or tips
Filed under: Elevation, TUTORIALS | Tagged: soundtrack key family, soundtrack key signatures, Soundtrack pro BPM adjustment tutorial, Soundtrack pro change of key tutorial, Soundtrack pro panel lay out tutorial, Soundtrack pro tempo adjustment tutorial, Soundtrack pro tutorial |
Apple Loops 
I can’t adjust the tempo or key value. There is no drop down menu thingy. Just a blank space.
SNJ, What options do show up in the top menu bar?
make sure Soundtrack is the active application by clicking on the work space window.
I have an mp3 loaded (no video) and have made edits to it. When I change the tempo and then play the song, the tempo does not adjust. I tried all extremes from high to low but there is no change. If I export the file as something like an mp3, reload it onto a new project, I can then “stretch” it but why does this not work with me adjusting the tempo?
Hi Bhavesh,
The problem you are running into is because you are using an MP3 over a .wav or .aiff file. Mp3’s don’t have a Key attached to it in it’s metadata.. This is probably the worst thing to tell you to do, but if you don’t have the original wav or aiff file,,You need to Re-encode the mp3 to a wav or aiff file. Then now you will need to bring it into either Acid or the Apple Loops Utility and assign it a key signature to that file. After you assign your wav or aiff file the key signature, you then can change the Key in soundtrack pro or any other audio software and you will hear the pitch change then.
Hopes that helps
Matty,
Soundtrackloops.com Team