is this even possible? It sure as hell better be...

[WEBCYAN]

In the dragon cave i mentioned how i was recording guitar and bass to a click track and then would have my drummer play over that. Well...a poster in that forum said that's impossible.

He said that no drummer can do that.

That cant be true. Right? I mean, Im 99% its possible and Im sure Ive heard of many other bands doing the same thing.
I heard half of deftone's "white pony" was done that way and hell, all of APC's mer de noms was.

so...is he just wrong or what? I know that I can easily play "drum" using my hands playing over a click track and bass and guitar. Why would it be any different for drums?

[joro]

Web,
My on-line collaborators do it all the time...
but,
you have to be dead on...
the tracks have to be in time for the drummer to get the beat...and keep it..Listen to 3000 miles....the drums were added last...

[Dave52]

I record at home on my own, and I obviously have to lay everything down one instrument at a time. It is very difficult for me to put down the drums first without some sort of guide as to where I am in a song.

So I tend to record rhythm and clean guitars to a click track first, then I do the drums later. Also I have young kids, so I can't unleash the kit whenever I want, but I have to take every opportunity I can to record...

So yes it is possible, but the drummer has to have very good timing. The other question that is raised is, what's the difference between playing to a guitar and click track when compared to just a click track...?

Hmmm....

Dave.

[Dr_Sbaitso]

The last two songs me and a friend recorded we added the drums at the end... basically because the drummer never showed up. we didn't use a click track for one, and let the guitar drift a little, and recorded just of the guitar. it sounded fine, but then again, its not super heavy drumming... very minimalist stuff.

[Buck62]

My partner and I always do the drums after the rhythm guitar and bass have been recorded.
Most of the time we used a click track, but sometimes we'll do it on "feel" when recording the guitar parts.

Although I'm a guitar player, I play all the drum parts on all of our songs, and I find it easier to play along this way.
I drummed every song on this page using the "guitars first" rule...
www.mp3.com/themacbrothers

[TimOBrien]

If your drummer can't follow a click track....

...get a new drummer.

[Roel]

Once, a few years ago, I played in some bigband project of the local music-school... The best local drummer I know played in it too. He used to plug in a metronome in his ear WHILE rehearsing with that whole bigband. His timing was awesome.

I've also seen some bands with real drummers, playing along with a sequencer using headphones with a mix coming back from the PA and a clicktrack.

Good drummers have no problems with clicktracks...

[AlleyCat]

Usually, we lay down a scratch track of keys and guitars to a click first. Then, we record drums with the click track (and the other scratch tracks). Finally, we go back and re-record the other intruments to the drum track with no click. It seems redundant, but this takes advantage of some of the subtle nuances of live drums and gives more "feel" to the song in the other tracks. I like the result...it gets rid of the sterile sound of songs that are played so rigid to a click. Our drummer has no problem playing to a click, so there's no obvious variation in timing...like I said, it's subtle but it works.

[beaverbiscuit]

Originally posted by AlleyCat
It seems redundant, but this takes advantage of some of the subtle nuances of live drums and gives more "feel" to the song in the other tracks.

Plus, it seems to me, you get the added benefit of working out arrangement anomalies. You know, maybe the cymbals in this part kind of get in the way of the acoustic guitar, or that great big power chord stomps all over the cool conga/timbale bit you came up with. If you're playing in real time, and you know your song well, you can actually avoid drum parts that you know in advance will cause problems. Obviously if you're doing programmed drums in step time, there shouldn't be an issue.

[apush]

I can't play to a click. But, like it was said earlier, a good drummer can. My drummer uses those metronome headphone thingies during practice and shows. He's been using them for years. When he's playing without them he can actuallly tell you how many BPM's he's playing at. It's a neat trick.

[TexRoadkill]

"He said that no drummer can do that"

Whoever said that is probably a bass player.

[cominginsecond]

It's not that no drummer can do that, it's just that it's very hard, and the end result is often sterile and a lot more like a drum machine than a human. You have to have a drummer that is technically at the top of his/her game to pull it off and have it sound musical

[LI Slim]

It's not just that you need a good drummer to do this. The guitarist and vocalist are better off playing off the rhythm section; you get into a better groove that way (sorry for being so technical). One thing you can do is give the drummer a recording to listen to, then let him record the drum part with the song in mind, and then rerecord the guitars and vocals.