Norah Studio Get the app

Slow down a song

Slow it down.

Norah Studio on a Mac with the tempo slowed, the key unchanged

Slow down a song

A slower tempo.
The same key.

Norah Studio slows a song down without changing the pitch, while it plays. Learn a fast passage at your own speed, then bring it back up, a little at a time.

Download on theApp Store

How it works

Choose a speed.
The key stays put.

Tempo and key are two separate controls. Vocals, drums and instrumental slow down together, in step.

The Tempo panel on iPhone with the tempo slowed

Three steps

  1. Open the song. Norah Studio finds its tempo, key and bars.
  2. Drag the tempo down. The pitch does not move.
  3. Bring it back up whenever you like. The BPM shows where you are.

On Mac

Drag the tempo control in the toolbar. The BPM beside it follows. The Mac guide

On iPad

Slide the tempo. The toolbar shows the BPM and the semitones as you go. The iPad guide

On iPhone

Open the Tempo panel and slide the tempo. The song's own tempo, key and meter sit underneath. The iPhone guide

Practise

Four bars, slower.
Then a little faster.

Slow practice works best on a short passage. Loop it by bars, play it slower, and raise the tempo each time it comes round clean. Loop points snap to the bar grid.

Four bars looping on iPad at a slower tempo

Mute your part

Learning the drums? Mute the drum lane and play along with the rest of the band.

Change the key too

Move the song in semitones, up to twelve either way, without changing its speed.

Estimates, labelled

The tempo and the key are estimated, and the app says so.

Questions

Short answers.

Does slowing down change the pitch?

No. Tempo and key are separate: slow the song down and its key stays the same.

Can I slow down only part of a song?

Loop the passage by bars, then slow the song down. The loop repeats at the new tempo.

Are the tempo, key and chords exact?

They are estimates, and the app labels them so. They are good enough to loop by bars and play along.

Which songs can I open?

Any audio file you already have that the system decodes: MP3, M4A and AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, CAF and more, up to ten minutes. Norah Studio cannot open songs from streaming services: their files are locked to their own apps.

Something else? Support answers every message.