Click tracks and metronomes

1
this is mainly for EA peoples but i'd like to hear some other thoughts on the subject also ....

My band is just in the middle of a 2 day recording session, everything is going well... but i was thinking last night .. if we did the whole thing to a click, it would be coming together much differently ...

so i was wondering if it was a common thing at EA to make bands record to a click track??

i understand that ultimate rock solid tightness is the result of being bpm perfect, but do you see any other real reasons to do this???(other than being able to beat match the record at the disco)

does rock/pop music really have to be so tight and note perfect in order for regular listeners to conect with it???

i make electronic music also so i understand the deal with this, but does it make for a good sounding representation of a traditional rock band ???(that will never use a click when playing live)

sorry bout the long arse (edit: and badly written) post 8)
Last edited by drillbit_Archive on Fri May 12, 2006 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
.....you shithead

http://www.noisemachine.info

or you can just get the clap

Click tracks and metronomes

2
The different studios I've been to and recorded at leave it up to the band. I could be wrong but I would imagine EA to be the same in that respect.

My group has used a click in the studio for some things but we never use it live. It made sense to us to record to a click just to make sure things didn't drag on the recording. Again, we only did this on specific songs where we had noticed there was a decrease in tempo and felt that it took away from the song. Sometimes speeding up and slowing down will add character to a song in the same way that dynamics do. Other times playing absolutely perfectly in time may add an undesirable robotic like dimension to the performance.

Another good reason I can think of to record to a click is if you're not recording everything together at the same time. Sometimes it can be harder then you think to overdub tracks when the tracks you are playing over are not solid to begin with. In these cases a click track can help to keep everything together.

I would definitely recommend a click if you are planning on overdubbing things where there are lot of pauses or stops in the rhythm tracks.

I don't think that rock/pop music has to be right on the mark time wise for people to connect with it, but if you as the performer are not comfortable with the way something is coming together, then why not track it to a click just to ease your own mind? There have probably been a lot of recordings that you are very familiar with that have been recorded to a click and you may not even realize it.
Good Luck,
-e

Click tracks and metronomes

7
If you've got a solid drummer I would say forget about it.

Someone on here, I want to say Steve said something to the effect of, "Using a click track is like driving with a cop behind you... you might drive better but everything will be over analyzed." (That's from memory so I probably am way off)

And then your take will feel like you're holding back. And you don't want that. Get into it and rock.
"That man is a head taller than me.

...That may change."

Image

Click tracks and metronomes

8
skatingbasser wrote:If you've got a solid drummer I would say forget about it.

Someone on here, I want to say Steve said something to the effect of, "Using a click track is like driving with a cop behind you... you might drive better but everything will be over analyzed." (That's from memory so I probably am way off)

And then your take will feel like you're holding back. And you don't want that. Get into it and rock.


actually, chrysler said it 2 posts after steve on the thread that mayfair linked.







slint.
that damned fly wrote:digital is fine for a couple things. clocks, for example.

and mashups

Click tracks and metronomes

9
If your drummer isn't too familiar or well practiced to a metronome having him play to a click track will probably be a waste of time for everyone. A lot of drummers don't realize how difficult it is to play to a click until a couple run throughs. If he practices everyday to one a couple of weeks before the session he should be ok.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests