click tracks?

[guitar junkie]

how do you feel about making a band play to a click track? thoughts shared about it would be very cool...

myself i use one once in a while and the other half of the time i don't even fool with it....

[Ronan Chris Murphy]

Its cool if the drummer is cool with it. Some drummers love playing with them and it makes editing easier if you have to do any, but if it makes the drummer uncomfortable, then I say no way.

[brandondrury]

I pretty much leave it up to the band. I'm producing a project that will end up taking a year when all is said and done. It's got to be monster pro. The band is open to whatever I decide on this issue so it's been a toss up. I'm leaning toward the click because I have this habit of letting less than great performances slide and then puking the next day when I hear what I let get through.

Brandon

[richiebee]

My band wanted to use a click track when we did our demo... I reminded them that one of the songs alternated between 7/4, 4/4 and 7/8 and that another alternated between 7/4 and 4/4, and another (which hasn't been finished yet) alternates between 5/4 and 4/4... that would mean going with a 1/4 click for most, and being a little screwed with the one with a 7/8 section. I convinced them that it wasn't necessary.

If timing is a huge issue or you need to sync up MIDI, I think a click track is vital. Otherwise, forget it. It reduces creativity.


Who says a song has to stay the same tempo all the way through anyway?

R.

[lumpy]

I hate them! If you want perfection, program a drum machine.

One of my favorite drummers of all time is the late, great Keith Moon. The guy was incredible and at his best whenever he was madly bashing the shit outta his Premiers all out of time and driving The Who with his energy. "Who's Next" is one of the quitessential classic rock albums. Some of the tracks required Moonie to play along with a click track. It worked on the album. Live was another story. Watching "The Kids Are Alright" the other day and while performing "Baba O'Reiley" on stage shortly before his death in '78, it was painful to watch one of the greatest bascially get de-balled trying to satisfy a fucking machine.

Not against practicing with a metronome though.

Lump

[brandondrury]

Normally, I'm not one to care at all about perfection. It's the last thing on my mind. I don't think a perfectly played record has anything to do with a perfect record (fill in the blank with your favorite record).

I have no problem with speedups and slowdowns necessarily either if it fits the song.

I'm scared that we'll have groove issues. I don't want people bobbing their heads and then losing it because the groove falls apart. A drummer that had spent years playing to a click would do fine, but what about a drummer who hadn't practiced to a click all that much.

Our budget for doing drums in Nashville is extremely tight. It has to be done right the first day.

A part of me just wants to slap the entire band into a room and go for it.
Another part of me is afraid I'll let something shitty slide and be stuck with it on a project that I've spent one year on.

Brandon

[guitar junkie]

you know over a weeks time i think i see where a click track really helps in pre production of a song, getting to the place where you can play it more than once, be able to hit the thing the same way twice live or on tape...

[Ronan Chris Murphy]

Some drummers love click tracks. If they have playe with them a lot and its comfortable then the tempo is one less thing to worry about and they can just focus on groove.

[earthboundaudio]

If a band leaves it up to me to decide I always go with the click track as long as the drummer can play to it. I think that a big part of the production is finding and locking in the perfect tempo for the song. I've spent hours upon hours with bands before to program the click track. Too me it's fun, espectially if your ramping the tempo a bit in the chorus or stuff like that.

[Geisler]

Originally Posted by guitar junkie

how do you feel about making a band play to a click track? thoughts shared about it would be very cool...

It's like that horse/water thing.? Some people can't play to a click, and there's no way to make them do it.

I totally agree with Ronan Chris Murphy though.? Some times a click can free the drummer to play more naturally, focus on the groove, and be more creative.? There's a big difference between locking into a tempo and playing every hit with machine-like precision.?

I did an album once where we used a click on one song because there were some instrumental breaks without drums.? Some say this song has the most "feeling" on the album.? There was a spot or two where the drums slipped off the click a bit, but the engineer cut the tape to smooth it out.

Check it out:
http://www.menet.umn.edu/~kgeisler/s...l_The_Rage.mp3

The opening track speeds up pretty significantly from start to finish, but I think it works for the song (still bothers me a bit though).
http://www.menet.umn.edu/~kgeisler/s..._Ballerina.mp3