fear of click tracks

maxman65

Member
For me it's like a frightened untrained rabbit marching inside one of those insanely militant armies . I'm pretty sure in the old days things were recorded freestyle
 
It seems to me that a click track is a very well trained rabbit. I'm sure many tunes were recorded without them.........but when you're working solo and producing multiple tracks one by one......a click track can only be of help. Even people who aren't musicians can hear a song that strays from the beat. Why does a click track bother you?
 
I think it's that the core of my songs are acoustic guitar based and I find I need to interact organically with the guitar vocally . I agree a click is consistent for later overdubbing but I struggle with it.ill try again . Even great songs with great tight drummers like stewart copeland step up a gear in the chorus. songs weren't always built on clicks . But as a solo performer It might still be necessary to go with the click
 
Thinking about it what I probably could use is a drum pattern as a guide track and then maybe lose that altogether . At least there's accents and not this sterile click. I'd find that easier maybe
 
Yes........if you're really referring to the idea that a click track consisting of a metronome sort of sound is too clinical..........then I agree with you. I usually set up a general drum track generated from a keyboard or something like that. I don't spend time trying to incorporate fills and breaks because.......as you might agree.........staying loose in the overall feel of say a guitar and vocal track creation is important. You can do the fills later.

I usually use my Roland set to play over later...........after I know where the fills and breaks will be in my mind.
 
In the old days a click was used where the tempo needed to be kept right. Some tracks tend to run away, some tend to drag. A click can be useful, sometimes, to keep things where they should be.
These days I think they're more and more common, essential to some, because of the possibility of working on a grid.

It's the primary reason I use clicks.
If someone's going to want me to arrange midi instruments over their recording after the fact, I'm going to want them to record to a click.

For songs where you want the best of both worlds, tempo freedom and a grid reference, I'll get the 'keeper' take of the main instrument, say guitar and vocal, then map a dynamic click to that.
That click will fluctuate just as the real performance did, but it'll still afford me a grid reference for midi writing/editing.
 
Yes its all made me wonder if it's possible to overdub live keyboards (rather than sequenced ) such as string or piano sounds tightly enough over a non click core track of acoustic guitar /vocal . Maybe I ought to get hold of a cheap drum machine or wait til I invest in the kawai es8 which will have some basic drum patterns in there as well even if only as guide tracks to wipe .I tend to go round in circles on stuff like this
 
a snare hit can be more pleasent than a click but the click can become normal.
dealing with robotness ruining the vibe groove is a fear but seems when you come back 4weeks later the click track will show the tightness and help reduce the drifting off tempos.

some people its a major transformation to tighten it all up with a click, one person posted years ago and it was amazing to hear the difference of improvement with the click.

I suppose doing a ala Bob Dylan sing and acoustic folk alone there might be less need for timing perfection.
Being out of time could be like being slightly out of tune, it can work if youre Neil Young singing.
 
Yes I'll get more control and quality separating vox and guitar anyway I guess . ie overdubbing. .This machine only takes 2 simultaneous Inputs and I don't have a bunch of mics anyway
 
Try tapping your foot along with the click as you play/sing....that way, you link yourself rhythmically to the click rather than trying to follow it.
 
Yes I'll try that too . Whatever works . Just thought of a great invention . An interactive drum machine which can lead/follow .maybe they already did? I guess that's a drummer in reality . Many thanks for the input
 
I have trouble starting from an actual drum beat because I find it influences the feel of the instrument takes. Unless it's exactly the right part for the song, but if we don't even know for sure what the song is yet, a general steady "click" is better for me. Course, it's never just a generic metronome sound either. I usually use either a high hat sound or a kick drum or something.

The click track is most important in the spaces where you're not playing. It's easy enough to overdub on top of a guitar that's pretty much just strumming the whole time. But if that guitar drops out and you're supposed to do a pick up or everybody's supposed to come back in the same place, it can be pretty tough. In a full band, you'd probably kind of look at each other and stuff, but when just listening back, you get none of those cues.

It's definitely important to practice playing to a click. If the only time you try to follow a real steady rhythm is when the red light is on and you're already kind of stressing about getting things right, you're gonna have a bad time. If you always play to a click track, it's just another day and you do what you need to do. And part of that involves push and pulling against the click. Sometimes even ignoring it altogether. A lot of times I find myself kind of dynamically redefining the subdivision that the click represents so that it's now maybe playing a dotted quarter, and I'm playing three eights between clicks. Maybe sometimes I count it like triplets. But I've literally been doing this my entire "career", so...
 
Yes I think the key thing there is having at least something like a hi hat on the beat and maybe a kik or something accenting the each bar . When I get a decent keyboard there'll be patterns in there for a guide track. I'm sort of going round in circles. I'd hoped really to record all songs acoustic and vox as core keep tracks then invent string /piano arrangements to go over them . Being a kind of vintage folk style I'd hoped to stay kind of organic as possible
 
Being a kind of vintage folk style I'd hoped to stay kind of organic as possible

It's one thing when you have band playing live, and everyone kinda "jogs" with the beat simultaneously, changing the feel, etc.
When you are recording individual tracks, one at a time....all you will end up with is sloppy timing if you don't have a reference to play against...so there's "organic" thing here, it's about timing.

Again...if you tap your foot...you're keeping time, same as a click would, and it's still possible to play a little ahead or behind the beat if you're going for a certain feel...but it's important that you have a reference if you plan to overdub additional tracks.

My preferred method is to lay down the drums and maybe a scratch rhythm guitar against a click track...and again, the drums can play "around" that click beat. There's no rule saying every hit has to be perfectly on the click beat.
Once the drum track is done...I turn off the click and play to the drums, tough in the past, I use always leave the click on, but then, I've been using one from my earliest recording days, so it's really a subconscious thing...I'm not focusing on the click ever, it's just there, in the background.
That's another thing...lower the volume of the click way down, so it's just audible, and not banging in your ears...and then I also like to pan it off to one side, so it's not there in the middle of my sound image when I'm tracking.

At the end of the day...any decent musician should be able to play with a click without issue, and it's just a matter of using it for awhile until you get use to it.
The more you avoid it, the more you will fear it. :)
 
If recording a "Jam" with random ideas and not an actual song yet I sometimes turn the click on and ignore it when it doesn't suit the idea I end up on . If recording an actual song section or whole song, I prefer to practice with either a click or drum loop before recording to get the tempo down, then record either without the click or with it at a very low level so if I go off a little it doesn't mess me up.
 
Yes that was an interesting tip. Pan the click out of the centre . I'll try turning it down too . I generally find its so thin and annoying I have it at max volume just so I can try hear what it wants out of me
 
If you find the click 'thin and annoying', just use it to create your own percussion loop. For example, record yourself banging the back of your guitar to the click for four bars, then make a loop of that to extend the length of the song.
 
Just a simple shaker loop might be a good option. It likely won't seriously send your composition in a different direction but can be more natural to play along with than the click. I've had some success with a couple folks that simply couldn't get playing with the click without getting frustrated, but it was equally obvious we weren't going to get anything done in a single take, so some rhythmic center was needed.
 
Like most who post here, I use a click and drum pattern. But even when I have full drums, I still keep the metronome on so I am not totally dependent on the drum pattern. I don't know why, but i keep the click almost 90% of the time when I am tracking.
 
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