Can Clicks kill the life in a recording ?

Massive Master said:
PLEASE LET ME ADD AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO THOSE WHO USE CLICK TRACKS as this is something that comes up terribly often during mastering sessions.

And should come up during mixing sessions, but some people don't monitor at decent levels.

And should be handled during tracking.

[PROTIP] Turn the damn thing off at the end of the tune. Once you know how long the tune is, RECORD the click track and STOP it.

There are SO many recordings that come in with the click perfectly audible coming through the drummer's cans or the vocalist's, or the guitarist's, etc. No reason for that.

Have a lead in and a "beep" or something on the last count so the drummer knows when to start, measure it out and end it so that click doesn't continue over the natural decay of everything else.
Click to expand...

Oh yes.... that's the reason I don't use a "click" metronome and do use a roughly programmed drum track with a lead in which is easy to chop off... and that stops on the last note. I'll also program slow down endings in the last section too, if that's what the song requires..
 
I always use a click track when recording. I knew a band once where the drummer had a metronome hooked up to headphones and she set the beat to every song and that's how they played everything. Never sounded stiff to me and they played hard rock and power pop.
 
Farview said:
If the song needs tempo changes, just tempo map the song.
Click to expand...

I am recording on a Tascam 244, how do I do that? One of the guitar ensemble pieces I wrote goes from 6/4 - 4/4 - 6/4 - 4/4 - 6/4 - 2/4 etc...

This is something that I have been puzzling over for a while now.
 
Last edited:
There is a bigger issue if any musician can't play to some type of click track. There may be some genres that may benefit somehow from not having one, but I have never had chance to record such myself.
 
Illsidgus said:
I am recording on a Tascam 244, how do I do that? One of the guitar ensemble pieces I wrote goes from 6/4 - 4/4 - 6/4 - 4/4 - 6/4 - 2/2 etc...

This is something that I have been puzzling over for a while now.
Click to expand...
You would have to get a drum machine or metronome that allows that.

When I play to a click, it is a cowbell sound from one of my drum brains that is triggered via midi from my DAW. But a drum machine will be able to do that. However, you would have to record it to a track, then record enough of the parts you need for timing reference before you have to record over it.
 
Illsidgus said:
I am recording on a Tascam 244, how do I do that? One of the guitar ensemble pieces I wrote goes from 6/4 - 4/4 - 6/4 - 4/4 - 6/4 - 2/2 etc...

This is something that I have been puzzling over for a while now.
Click to expand...



Why not program the click with a sequencer/MIDI, and use that as your click for the tape recording.
 
Here's another thought.....

A click track without any beat accents has noting to do with time signatures....it's strictly about tempo.
IOW, if your tempo is 100 BPM....you can change time signatures 20 times over, and in the end your tempo is still 100 BPM.

So....it comes down to how you count with, and in-between, your clicks. Treat the clicks as simply your tempo reference...and then divide it up any way you like. If you keep the click less obvious and maybe more spaced....like one click per measure rather than four clicks per measure.

Granted, if you use a click with accented beats, then just like a drum track, it needs to follow the time signature otherwise if the accents are in the wrong spot, it's hard to follow.

I spent many years taking piano lessons with a metronome alway ticking away. There was no setting on the metronome for "time signature"...only the tempo/BPM...and some of the songs had a signature changes, but the tempo held.

If you are going to have actual tempo variations...then yeah, you would need to program the click with appropriate BPM changes.
 
Farview said:
Cakewalk is a sequencer, isn't it? Yes, that will work.
Click to expand...

The cakewalk that I have is a free copy that came with a sound card and is at least 16 years old, it is cakewalk express. I use it as notation software for writing my songs. Earlier tonight I discovered a metronome function that works as a click track. So maybe this will work well for me.

Thank you for your input.
 
Massive Master said:
The "human element" when he's playing ahead of or behind the click can do wonderful things for the energy of the tune...
Click to expand...

miroslav said:
Yeah...and that's the thing, you can have that "human element" while playing to a click....you CAN play ahead/behind it....
You need to know where the beat is in order to know if you are playing ahead or behind it....and the click is the reference beat.
Click to expand...

From your posts, you're talking about the drummer, so this begs the question: How can a band play ahead or behind a click? If the drummer is listening to a click and he is playing ahead of or behind the click to control energy, the rest of the band is following the drummer, not the click. To them, he is the click, so if he's ahead, it's only him who knows it. Doesn't add/remove energy.

I know when I'm recording, I hear the click for every track so I can play ahead of or behind with every instrument. (Mostly behind the click because I suck, but that's a different topic). But if a band is following a drummer who is playing to the click, the band doesn't know if they're ahead or behind.
 
Massive Master said:
There are SO many recordings that come in with the click perfectly audible coming through the drummer's cans or the vocalist's, or the guitarist's, etc. No reason for that.
Click to expand...

I try to avoid this myself. But, for your listening pleasure, listen carefully to the drum intro to Weezer's "Undone - The Sweater Song". The click from the dummer's headphones comes through in the overheads.
 
I once recorded "O Come O Come Emmanuel" for a vocalist. I played the piano part in with feeling and verve and then sat down with my DAW (Cakewalk at the time) and was amazed at how much tempo change went on. It sounded marvelouse, dah-ling, so I went ahead and "built" the click track around the performance and added drums, bass and pads on top of the varying click. Took a lot of work, but she was very pleased.
I know of at least one major performing drummer that has a "click" run into his monitors from the keyboardist's computer. I complimented him on his "perfect" live performances and he said as much. So using a live click is not unheard of, either.
 
To get back to Grim's original question, sorry for the side track Grim, for the way I play some things a click track would interfere with my interpretation of the music. For example, the way that I interpret and play the classical guitar piece 'Romance' is mood driven and is seldom the same twice in a row. My use of ritardandos and fermatas that are not present in the written music would make the use of a click track impossible. Although probably 95% of the stuff that I write or play would benefit from a click track.
 
Chili said:
But if a band is following a drummer who is playing to the click, the band doesn't know if they're ahead or behind.
Click to expand...

Ideally....when recording a band, they would all hear each other, plus the click....and really, it's about that feel, not so much about "knowing" that you are ahead or behind or right on the beat.
 
Illsidgus said:
sorry for the side track
Click to expand...
I'm a great fan of side tracks. I don't take the view that the person that starts the thread owns it or should control it. Different things strike or stand out to different people and you never quite know what will spark a train of thought in someone.
 
Chili said:
From your posts, you're talking about the drummer, so this begs the question: How can a band play ahead or behind a click? If the drummer is listening to a click and he is playing ahead of or behind the click to control energy, the rest of the band is following the drummer, not the click. To them, he is the click, so if he's ahead, it's only him who knows it. Doesn't add/remove energy.

I know when I'm recording, I hear the click for every track so I can play ahead of or behind with every instrument. (Mostly behind the click because I suck, but that's a different topic). But if a band is following a drummer who is playing to the click, the band doesn't know if they're ahead or behind.
Click to expand...
The playing ahead or behind is an oversimplification. You can't creat feel by being ahead if or behind something that will not be heard as part of the music. Feel actually comes from some elements being ahead or behind other elements. For example, assume the hi hat is just playing 1/8 notes on the click. If thekick and snare are always ahead of the hat, that would feel one way and if they were always behind, it would feel another. Actual grooves tend to be a little more complicated, with some hits being ahead and some being behind.

The rest of the band should react to the drummers feel, because the drums are actually part of the music, the metronome is not. If everyone plays to the metronome, no one is playing together and everyones performance will relate to something that will not be heard as part of the song.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top