Drum problems.

[wakeupbomb]

I have a problem with some drum tracks. We recorded this drummer (we're recording the rest of the band soon) that couldn't play to a click track. We tried and tried but he just ignored the click. Is there something on par with Beat Detective that's fairly cheap so I can get his stuff to line up, or is there a way, short of chopping everything up, and sliding it to a grid that I can use? We have a decent sound, and after we mix it I'm sure the drums will sound good, we just need them to be in time, and they aren't. Does anyone have any advice? Have you had this problem before? What did you do?

Thank you all very much in advance for any help you can give me.


Oh, we recorded the tracks on Pro Tools. I also have Logic that I can use, so if there's any suggestion in either one of those programs that would be GREAT!!!

Thanks again.

 

[the inhabitant]

Chopping them up and moving them around will sound better than any kind of auto quantize feature that Protools has. It is a huge pain in the ass though. Lot's of editing with crossfades and what not. I'm doing some of it for the first time. You have to fill the little spaces that are created by your slicing and dicing with ambiance and so forth. I'm using Cubase so maybe things are different. That's all I know is that with Cubase, the auto quantize thing sounds like crap compared to doing it manually. Maybe the drummer can play with some other band membors playing direct (for isolation) in his headphones. Then he can play with good time because he's playing the real song instead of an imaginary one in his head. This might be faster than slicing up everything, depending of course on how much slicing you think you need to do.

 

[Anders]

like the other guy here said, if say the drummer plays along with the bassplayer and have the bass in his headphones it would probably be easier for him to keep time when he can not play to a click.

 

[mikemorgan]

It's a real sore spot with me.

I say if your drummer won't play to a click, find a new drummer.
If your guitarist plays out of tune, get a new one.
If your singer hits the same wrong note every time, can his ass.

Hey, nobody's perfect, but most of us are at least trying.

This click track thing didn't start with digital recording, but track panes have made it exceptionally clear when your screwed. If you ignore the "lines" and just listen to the drum track, is it workable? If it is, then "IGNORE THE LINES". Turn them off. Inform your bandmates you will not be using loops. They cannot line up. If they want old school, they will get old school. For that matter, just record direct to tape, it will sound better anyway.

My point is, you can't have both. You can't expect perfection from human beings any more than you can expect machines to make mistakes.