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Well, not being a pro, but I'll try to set this up for you Carol.
When I start a recording the very first thing I do it find the rhythm or beat I want for a tune. I have used click tracks in the past, but I much prefer using a drum track.
Pseudo Rule #1
The first thing recorded is the beat. Drums or click track. Audacity has a Change Tempo feature where if you know the bpm (beat per minute) of an existing drum loop or sample, you can change it to be faster or slower.
In the last tune I wrote I used a (free by the way)
Beta Monkey sample of brush-stick on a drum kit. The downloaded sample was about 1.1K (mp3) and roughly 4.175 seconds long. The sample was a straight forward 1,2,3,4 beat, no frills. The downloaded sample had a bpm of 115. I wanted 120 bpm, so using the "Change Tempo" tool in Audacity, I changed the 4.175 second loop from 115 to 120 bpm.
CAUTION -
When changing the tempo on a short loop there is the ever-so-slight chance the sample will be truncated with a moment of silence.
Once I have the tempo I want, I'll use the Audacity REPEAT feature to replicate the loop for as long as I want. Usually, I'll make my drum track at least 60 - 90 seconds longer than I know I need. WIGGLE ROOM!
Of course, as each new track is laid down, each successive track is played back while recording the new track.
I will always leave 1 or 2 measures of lead time of the drum track before starting a song. That's my count in to the song. That sets me up to play in beat.
So regardless what track I am recording, I have my 1 - 2 measures of count in and that keeps me on time.
Hmmm....I really hope I said that clearly! Others more wise may have a better way.
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LC