Song Review / Recording Advice

AeolianEffect

New member
Good morning!

I just stumbled across this forum and look forward to diving into it tonight and learning whatever tips I can pick up from you guys.
I have recently recorded one of my first real projects and wanted to get some feedback/advice when it comes to home recording, specifically, click tracks and recording.

I typically record with my acoustic guitars and an AKG Perception condenser mic, which yields a good result.
However, my most recent mix engineer did express that he wished that I had recorded with a click track so that he could automate some things in the background.
Unfortunately, I've not found a good way to really practice rhythm guitar to a click track....I can practice scales and single notes, but practicing the type of strumming I'm recording seems so mechanical and unnatural.

I liked to -think- I was decent at keeping time during the recording of this track, and that it only varies ever so slightly, but I really can't be the judge with my own ears.
We inevitably went with the tracks I already laid down, because I play it the same way live every time....although, I am wanting to step up to the next level of playing there, so I really want to learn this technique to make the music as good as it can be.

What do you guys think, and also, how can I practice my next song to a click so I can record it a little more professionally?
I cannot link the song at the moment, so just do a quick YouTube search for The Aeolian Effect and check out the track "Believe", if you want to judge.

I record in a bedroom, for the most part.

I appreciate it!
 
Playing to a click or metronome is a learned skill and it isn't easy. I tell my kids all the time, practice with a metronome. They say they can't, that it's too difficult. I say get past that hurdle now while you're still young. Of course, they're probably playing some weird stuff in 12/10 time for a school grade or something. Can't blame them there....
:)

So how do you do it? For me, I'll have a new song mostly worked out when I want to record it. If i know the strum pattern is going to be difficult, I'll play the click and start strumming on just the one beat. Then I add in the three beat. I'll get locked in with the click, just those two beats, then I'll try to work into the strum pattern that I want for the song. I might have to rethink the pattern if it doesn't work in 4/4 time.

Also, it may not be a strum pattern, but a guitar riff that I have to work out. Come to think of it, it's mostly riffs that I have to teach myself how to play to a click.
 
I definitely want to learn!

I don't know - I kind of "feel it", and not the kind of feel it where you get way off track halfway through....haha.

I can usually take a couple quick plays through it and hear it in my head, then I just go from there. I just have no clue whatsoever how I would record the strum to a click.
It's not a complicated pattern, it's mostly up and down with a few variances in there.

In this last track, I can tell I was a little quick at the beginning...at least, to me. No one else seems to spot it at all, which is also confusing in itself, but a good thing I suppose.
I want to do the best I can do though, so I need to get it right!
 
Lots of my work is in recording click tracks for all kinds of events and shows, and playing to a click can be impossible for many musicians when they first try it. Some can adjust, but others just can't, and give up. It's similar to the added pressure of having a conductor. It sort of robs you of control, being able to adjust the tempo on the fly. You have the music in front of you,mind you have an eye on the conductor or the MD who is providing control. Click is worse because you know it cannot stop, or be bent. It forces you to listen to it, play with it and follow it if it changes tempo. The better clicks will have warnings in them. The word TEMPO then 2-3-4 as it suddenly has a huge rall or something. The bet ones will also warn you when you've had a chunk with rests because in a free playing band you have the ability to look at the others. In a reading band where you have never played the music before, you don't get this. Clicks are not always bad, but they're not for everyone.
 
I’ve had some luck with using something like a shaker loop for people that cannot seem to keep steady using a click. Or if you have a software drummer that has some beats that work and has a “humanize” mode it might work, too.

And, if your song is comprised of regular parts that repeat, you can just get it right one time or record multiple takes over a section to create a “comp” that is good enough. Then those can be used for a quick scratch track that can be replaced. The result is still something that allows parts to be moved around a bit in mixing but should take away the dread of the click since you only have to match it for short sections.
 
My advice to you would be to think about when you are strumming, do you normally tap your foot to keep time? If you do, then this is your mind and body finding the rhythm in what you are playing, and creating a natural metronome to keep in time to. View an automated metronome much in the same way - find a sound that works for you (I personally like sounds that stand out so that I don't lose time, but I also find a hi-hat type of sound works well and isn't as likely to be picked up through the mic on your headphones when recording) and just practice, imagining that you are physically tapping your feet to the metronomic beat in your ears.

Good luck!

M
 
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