Cut-Up Techniques ② Cutting up and reconstructing guitar phrases (Part 1)

Previously, we looked at techniques to cutting up audio with Cubase’s Groove Agent.
As a continuation of this topic, we will look at how to cut up in BATTERY to create guitar phrases.
This is a technique used often in R&B and pop, so please give it a try if it piques your interest!

Preparing to cut

Cutting audio files

Let’s first start by cutting up the original audio.
We will keep the tempo and chord changes in mind during this process.

For this example we have cut it to be 1 bar long.
To read the cut audio files into BATTERY, lets make sure to bounce the audio files individually.

Importing to BATTERY

We will start by opening BATTERY and importing the audio files.

To do so, you can select all of the files and drag & drop them, which instantly sets them up to multiple cells.

Envelope settings

In addition, by editing parameters while multiple cells are selected, they can all be edited at the same time. This time, we want to play the audio to match the note length, so we will use the Volume Envelope.

The settings are Attack fastest, Sustain max, Release zero.

Cutting up and sequencing

Note placement and removal

Once we’ve set up to here, lets sequence some sounds.
We will sequence in order first.

If the guitar phrase plays accordingly it’s a OK. From hereon we will reconstruct the phrase.

We cleaned up the unneeded parts per bar, and looped the first phrase.
Even this edit cut up the audio nicely.

Using the reverse function

To make phrases more interesting, we will try using the reverse function.
In BATTERY, select the cell you want reversed, and turn the 「Reverse」 button on.

We will try reversing the 5th cell, and place it an octave above.
All that’s left is to sequence.

We have created an interesting phrase that loops with some reversed sounds.

Creating a stutter effect

Another technique used often with cutting up is to divide the notes into small parts to create a stutter effect.
Before sequencing, similar to when reversing, copy and create cells to use for stutter purposes.

We can sequence into 16th and triplets, however –

by just doing this, the phrases attack noises become too obvious.
We will make some edits within BATTERY to fix it.

Set the sample starting point slightly behind within the stutter cell to fix this problem.
By doing so, even fast repeated phrases wont have obvious noise problems.

In this way, by utilizing BATTERY you can create reverse and stutter phrases.
In the next article we will dive further into this topic, and look at other techniques like pitch shifting, time stretching, and editing effects.