Slowing the tempo of accompaniment tracks

Dear Flute-Lovers,
 Recently I've been slowing down accompaniment CD tracks for my flute students, so that they don't have to take such blistering prestos and allegros until they're comfortable doing so.
I promised them that I'd write a blog post showing them how I change the tempo using a free program called Audacity, and in the way that a dinosaur born in the 1960s does it (that would be me! ) :>)

Click on the comment button at the end of this post if you can help bring us all into the 21st century, for example, if you know of apps/free programs that will also slow down tempo on an mp3. Thanks. (BURP!*** ooops, sorry....Ate a pterodactyl egg and it didn't go down right.)

Note to the wise:
Plucked Accompaniment works best:
The sound quality of the new slower tempo backing track will be pretty excellent providing the recording is originally a plucked instrument: a guitar, a harp or a harpsichord (sometimes piano) only.
Any other instruments, full orchestra, string quartet, flutes, or any other wind/brass/string with vibrato simply sounds too weird when slowed down. Stick with the plucked instruments. Trust me.

Here's my method:

1. Download Audacity (free recording manipulating program for Mac or Windows)
https://www.audacityteam.org/

2. Download the "Lame Encoder plug in" (only separate because of copyright) that you will need in order to make mp3s which take up less file space than .wav files, and are sendable as attachments.

Here is the information from Audacity on the Lame Encoder along with the download if you need to read about it.

Important note: This whole Lame thing only takes a minute, and you only have to do it once and it is a safe thing to download, like Audacity. You will find it useful if remember which folder you saved the Lame Encoder plug-in into, so that later, when you're inside Audacity, about to save a file as an mp3, you know where to look when Audacity asks you: "Where did you put the Lame Encoder?". You will remember, you will point to it with your mouse, and you will never have to deal with it ever again; c'est fini!

Otherwise if you're thinking "who knows where the Lame goes?" find it here once you've downloaded it:
Default location for Lame  in Windows is c:\program files\LAME For Audacity\
For MAC OS the plugin is found in /usr/local/lib/audacity/

More Lame encoder info; You use it to change a sound file from wav to mp3
https://www.lifewire.com/audacity-tutorial-how-to-convert-wav-to-mp3-using-lame-2438749


And finally to change tempo of any sound file, here's how: Video

3. How to change the tempo using Audacity. (super easy)




I used the above method for several Music-Minus-One and Paul Edmund-Davies playalong Bach Sonatas (books 1-2-3) and Audacity is a fantastic tool.

You can burn a whole new CD of your backing tracks saved as mp3s, with all your own tempos for the fast movements to perform with for "at home" concerts with CD.
There are Tango Flute and Guitar MMO books/cds, as well as piano accomp CDs that work this way.

And, once you're using Audacity, if you ever need to change the pitch of any kind of a recording (to make it A-440 so you can play right over top of the recording) see my previous post: Altering the pitch of a flute playalong.

Enjoy your newly fashioned backing tracks and please do comment with other free/easy MODERN methods of slowing tempo that work for more tech-savvy dudes, among whom I do not often number. :>)

Best, Jen
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also....

NEW  Classical behind-the-scenes audio podcast:

I've been listening to a great new classical music podcast:
Stand Partners for Life.

These two violinists are members of the LA Phil.
I particularly enjoyed these two episodes:

Audition Advice for my younger self (listen to audio)

What we love and loathe about young conductors (listen to audio)
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