Do you HAVE to record drums first?

[jamacian]

I agree it might kick ass more, but a live band playing well without a click can sometimes be magical. That's what i'm looking for.

True. The thing for us home recorders is that many of us, like me, are recording everything or near everything themselves. I don't have the option of getting 3 of me to mentally connect in a room and make that live magic happen. Plus if for some reason, as this thread's subject alludes to, you need to replace drums afterward the click is mandatory.

different styles of music do well with different approaches, My music works well to a click. There are arguments on both sides to be made. Click playing takes a very click aware performer to make it work. It takes a lot of practice to get good at using a click.

 

[Cazzbar]

Agree with everything there, was a one man band for a long time and know about mr click, just happy to leave him alone now!

 

[FroogleDoop]

It certainly helps.

 

[slidey]

Actually wiseguy the original poster was talking about a drummer and if he could have a drummer PLAY the part after the song was mostly laid down. It wasn't that hard of a post to follow, very short. And for the record it makes no difference, a drum machine IS a click track. If you record to a click you will have no real issue with making the electronic track line up later. The ISSUE here is if a drummer can play to a click after the song is laid down. So what I said was right and for the record what you said was complete and total bullshit.

Indeed he did & as far as I can see the OP got his answers, & as per usuual the thread takes a detour & goes off topic. I gave the OP my 0.02cents & watched the thread go adding to it as I felt I wanted to.

OBVIOUSLY THE DRUMMER CAN PLAY THE PART AFTERWARDS, well a good drummer should anyway & have it sounding natural

& FTR everybody has preferences as is obvious by this thread & everybody has their own way of going about things & in the face of so many different ways of doing things NOBODY'S TALKING BULLSHIT

 

[jamacian]

Indeed he did & as far as I can see the OP got his answers, & as per usuual the thread takes a detour & goes off topic. I gave the OP my 0.02cents & watched the thread go adding to it as I felt I wanted to.

OBVIOUSLY THE DRUMMER CAN PLAY THE PART AFTERWARDS, well a good drummer should anyway & have it sounding natural

& FTR everybody has preferences as is obvious by this thread & everybody has their own way of going about things & in the face of so many different ways of doing things NOBODY'S TALKING BULLSHIT

Except you when you say "go figure".

 

[drossfile]

sequence of operation in my one-man project:
1. song is written and arranged on guitar.
2. entire song is recorded on guitar(s) with click track.
3. while listening to the click/guitar tracks on headphones, the drums are recorded many many many times until the take is acceptable.
4. guitar(s) is/are re-recorded.
5. bass, vox, keys, etc are added.

it's very difficult to pull off a solid drumming performance this way (no drummer is a machine), and so there will always be tiny imperfections. and every mistake is doubled--if your drumming pulls ahead of the click track by a few milliseconds, there are no musicians to speed up with you, so while you are performing/recording the drum track, you now have to pull back by those same few ms, thus doubling the mistake. but i'll tell you what, this method has improved my drumming exponentially, and my tracks are better off for that improvement.

 

[slidey]

Except you when you say "go figure".

go figure.................

 

[RAMI]

sequence of operation in my one-man project:
1. song is written and arranged on guitar.
2. entire song is recorded on guitar(s) with click track.
3. while listening to the click/guitar tracks on headphones, the drums are recorded many many many times until the take is acceptable.
4. guitar(s) is/are re-recorded.
5. bass, vox, keys, etc are added.

it's very difficult to pull off a solid drumming performance this way

Maybe it was difficult for you. It isn't difficult for everybody. I CHOOSE to do my drums last. If I thought it had less soul, I'd do them first. So, the botton line is.....speak for yourself.

the drums are recorded many many many times until the take is acceptable

That sounds pretty "soul-less" to me.........Not really, but it's no less "soul-less" than playing to a click...depending on who you talk to.

 

[drossfile]

Maybe it was difficult for you. It isn't difficult for everybody. I CHOOSE to do my drums last. If I thought it had less soul, I'd do them first. So, the botton line is.....speak for yourself.


That sounds pretty "soul-less" to me.........Not really, but it's no less "soul-less" than playing to a click...depending on who you talk to.

did i miss the point here? aren't we all "speaking for ourselves" here???? i don't expect anyone to take what i or you or anyone else says as gospel. we're just offering our own personal opinions here, no?

i was merely saying that it's not necessary to track drums first, but i'ts an endeavor to perfect the song after NOT tracking them first (which i engage in as normal practice).

and listen to what i do before calling the drumming soulless...if you listen and draw that conclusion, so be it...i was just offering my 2 cents on the subject at hand.

 

[scorpio01169]

is it me or is everyone missing this......but us older guys prefer feel, grove and emotion, therefore dont wanna use a click track. young cats not so much. not that you cant get emotion from a click track the thing is when we were younger the only time we used a metronome was when you were in school band. you would never see one in the garage or basement. now you have them on guitar tuners, computers and other gadgets. for me and any band that i have been in we record drums first and not to a click track. but then again i have never been in a band where the drummer sucked so much a click track wouldnt help anyway.

 

[Guitarer]

In most professional studios, the guitarist plays along with the drummer while recording so the drummer can better understand what part of the song they're at and stuff like that. In a project studio, usually a rough guitar track is done before the drums to act the same way, but I suggest you redo the guitar once the drums are finished.

 

[trancedental]

IF you do the drums last, & of course you will need a decent drummer to do this, you'll have to redo the rhythm guitars & bass in most cases!

 

[slidey]

IF you do the drums last, & of course you will need a decent drummer to do this, you'll have to redo the rhythm guitars & bass in most cases!

unless one is tracking to himself. I know in my own case drums are 90% of the time done last & the guide guitar quite frequently gets used which is why I make more of aneffort in recording the guide rather than just a piezzo signal.

I know of other threadsters who track to themselves & to my knowledge they record drums last. I don't know if they replace parts afterwards but if it is a solo venture then the parts should be pretty much right from word go....I like to put down lead guitar absolutely last after all the vocals have been done JUST THOUGHT OF THAT so that makes the kit 3rd last to be nailed on my list

but certainly I've had to track drums to things where I've had to follow a tempo deviation & it aint easy, so working as a band get the drums nailed 1st off & it should be plain sailing. I rarely record a live band to a click but damn near all of my tracked work is done to click or loop