Is it common for drummers to record to a click track?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RobertPhilbeck
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This may be an old thread but the original question is still as relative today as it was when first posted. It's an old question but it still gets discussed at practicaly every recording session, so it seems worth keeping it alive.

As a guitarist I would rather play along with a "spot on" click rather than a sloppy drummer, whoever says guitarists don't use clicks hasn't met me.
 
WTF people?

Use a click if it helps. If it doesn't help, don't use one.

How complicated can this be?
 
Supercreep said:
WTF people?

Use a click if it helps. If it doesn't help, don't use one.

How complicated can this be?
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+11111111111111111111111111111

If Obama wasn't already Preznint, I'd be voting for you...

:D

When I do collabs, a click of some sort is mandatory...

When my band did our last CD, we laid down the essentials all in the same room and then some of the guitar, sax, and flute parts were overdubbed later... No click at all... But we have been playing together for the last 5 years and have a great chemistry... Not to mention that I ALWAYS practice to a metronome and am pretty anal about the tempo/meter/pulse as well as Gerg's fave:

GROOVE

:p
 
I make the guitarist play to a click track then record the drums with the guitars and click track then redo the guitars and that's how I do it 90% of the time
 
Well, since this old thread has sprung to life...............I am a fan of click tracks. It keeps everyone (in particular the drummer) at a steady tempo.....which makes later overdubs, etc. soooo much easier.

Clicks have been around for so long now, I don't think any musician should have a problem playing with a click. They "secret" is to play with the click......rather than to be ruled by the click.
 
I just finished 16 drum tracks for my bands album... I had my piano/organist and bass player lay scratch tracks to a click, then I layed down the drum tracks to that.... It was a nightmare! Bassist and keys were so off from the click half the time that while I was tracking, I had to be aware of and separate in my head, the lyrics for changes, the scratch bass n keys for feel and the click for timing... playing to a click was the ONLY easy part! Next time around, Im laying down sequenced drum patterns for the rest of the band to record their tracks to, and then lay the drums down after!
 
The real way to successfully record to a click is to practice TO a click.

Being spot on with a click is a skill in itself. One that many drummers would do well to learn.

It doesn't work in all situations though. Sometimes a tune will sound more alive if as many good musicians as possible can lay down the beds live.
 
I do.. if in the studio or using a backing track live....which it 99% of the time.
 
PhilGood said:
The real way to successfully record to a click is to practice TO a click.

Being spot on with a click is a skill in itself. One that many drummers would do well to learn.

It doesn't work in all situations though. Sometimes a tune will sound more alive if as many good musicians as possible can lay down the beds live.
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I found that out the hard way. Being as I had much experience playing guitars to a preprogrammed beats and clicks, and used to practice my rudiments with a metronome, I figured it would be a no-brainer to play drums to a click with prerecorded guitars. I WAS WRONG!!! CLICKS ARE RELENTLESS!!! I definitely practice to clicks now.
As far as speed of click goes, I generally prefer eight notes on a standard 4/4 piece. However if it is an extremely fast tempo/busy part, I'll stick with quarters. Like wise if it is an EXTREMELY slow piece (especially ones with extended silence and/or off time stop-and-go type parts), I'll often ask the engineer for 16th notes on the click. There is no real defined rule for it though, just whatever seems easiest for my brain to process. If I have to think about the click then it probably isn't right.
 
CharlesThomas said:
This is a topic that gets people really bent out of shape. Seriously!

However, my opinion is that anyone who doesn't think playing to a click is a good idea either a) doesn't have good enough timing to do it or b) hasn't really worked in a studio before.

I've been recording for about 15 years, in an my opinion, clicks are necessary to getting really tight recordings in a multitrack setting, especially in songs with breaks that require everyone to come in at exactly the same time.

If you have the facilities, technique, and equipment to record everyone in the band simultaneously where you can all visually cue off each other, you may be able to get away with not having a click. Other than that, I'd STRONGLY recommend using a click.

If your song changes tempos, it's a simple matter with almost any drum machine to program a click that will change tempos where the song does.

Eighth note clicks are MUCH easier to follow than quarter note clicks in most cases, but if your song's really moving along, eighth note clicks get annoying.

Use something higher pitched like a cowbell or a calave and you'll find it cuts through things better and is more difficult to lose.

Be sure to have the click only as loud as you need it, and also that you have decent sealing headphones or else you'll end up hearing click track picked up by vocal mics, overhead and tom mics, and especially acoustic guitar mics.

If you're (and especially your drummer is) not used to playing with a click, take the time to rehearse with one for a while prior to recording with one. We usually run a drum machine into a channel of the PA at our rehearsal studio and play with a click as a band for about a month before we go into the studio until you stop even hearing the click because it becomes second nature.

Good luck!

CT
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Everything he said.

and...

Click = Metronome. Been around for hundreds of years for a reason.

Not to boast, but my timing is very, very good. Still can't imagine not using one when recording.
 
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Greg_L said:
Yeah cuz who doesn't have those guys laying around? :rolleyes:


P.S. - this thread is over 8 years old.

P.S.S. - Use a click.
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OMG! I didn't even notice! Too funny.:p


Sometimes things get slow, and what's old is new.
 
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I can"t program a click to our music as it has a lot of gradual timeing changes and sometimes our songs are different every time we play them as we work on a lot of visual cues and feel ... They also just seem to mechanical...

:D
 
Absolutely, All the drummers I know and studied with practiced to a metronome, That's how they developed their time.

Toker41 said:
Everything he said.

and...

Click = Metronome. Been around for hundreds of years for a reason.

Not to boast, but my timing is very, very good. Still can't imagine not using one when recording.
Click to expand...
 
The click may be mechanical, but the playing doesn't have to be.

Minion said:
I can"t program a click to our music as it has a lot of gradual timeing changes and sometimes our songs are different every time we play them as we work on a lot of visual cues and feel ... They also just seem to mechanical...

:D
Click to expand...
 
Guitarist use tuners, drummers use click tracks, pianists have to hire a pro.
 
I play to a click and find it easier if I do it to a double time click. Seems to keep me in da groove. :cool:
 
Clickety Clock.

I spent years wondering how to record my own songs and get them tight, especially as a guitar player recording riffs with no tempo in mind, then I went into a proper recording studio and saw how it's done.
When you are writing Music people don't seem to realise that the spaces between the notes are just as important, which is why I always record guitar riffs and bass to click tracks also when you want to put a drum track down later it's much easier as you have the tempo and then you can go on from there. As for drummers well a bad drummer with good timing is more likely to get a job then a good drummer with bad timing unless you happen to be playing free form jazz.
 
leevalenti said:
a good drummer with bad timing
Click to expand...

There's no such thing!

(but I think I know what you mean :p)


I always record to a click track, and always set it to the pulse of the song. That way the metronome becomes part of the song, and not just a time keeping device. One thing Dave Weckl mentioned was to visualize yourself walking down the street, moving to the click. Strange, but I'll often do it when I'm not "feeling" the pulse.
 
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