Recording drums with bass player in the same room

Not to completly change the subject but someone should do a sticky on pre-production. Or is there one?

I mean there are so many people that are asking questions on how to record but it seems that alot of them arent even really prepared! I mean no offense to anyone but if you've started a project and you just then figured out your drummer or whomever cant play to a click ,or who goes first and how etc, then the cart is way ahead of the horse. I dont know if the digital age is killing pre-production because its easy to fix stuff later or what, but it sure seems that way!

Anyway, just a thought.
 
I record mostly Middle-Eastern and Greek music and we record to a click/clave/blinking light. Yes our time sigs change a lot but the pulse has to remain the same, i.e. a 2/4 is half the time of a 4/4 and a 6/8 is twice as long. I have friends that play classical Indian music and that is insane because they may change time sigs, but it is the measures that remain a constant so a 2 beat measure sounds really slow next to a 4 beat measure (I just can't think that way). Bop jazz is often much more fluid with the time, but a click can be used as reference (although it is annoying). Singers are usually the ones that screw up the time because they don't like to follow a beat much less a click. I actually prefer a light to an audible click. It's less intrusive in my ears.
 
If I'm going to work with a click, I'll make a simple drum loop and work off of that.
 
Greg_L said:
You can set markers in your DAW to speed it up, slow it down, change the tempo gradually or quickly, and change the time sig all together. It's pretty easy and any competent drummer shouldn't have any trouble playing with one.
Click to expand...

Howdy dude! Good advice. I've had folks rag me for using the clicker, calling it a "crutch". Hell, we use a lot of stuff for recording that we wouldn't use live.

I also liked what you said about "dancing around" the click track, too. Ya don't have to stay glued to it, just use it as a reference to get back to your base beat.
 
to simply answer the original question .... run the bass direct and simply listen to it in headphones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top