Drummer CAN'T play with a click... FML!

[NSGUITAR]

go

 

[ahjteam]

use different click sound and make it WAY LOUDER in their headphones.

 

[Perishh]

use different click sound and make it WAY LOUDER in their headphones.

^^ This

Also the latest drummer I tracked couldn't play to a click. We figured out the problem was

a) he had never played to a click before which didn't help; but
b) the tempos were too different from how he had usually played them

Since he hadn't played to a click before he was just playing the songs at the speed he felt natural to him, and the click was more of an afterthought. So maybe try fiddling with the tempos of the songs. Once we got better tempos he played slightly closer to the click and I just pulled everything forward/back a bit in editing.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

This is why you do pre-production and scratch tracks.

Get used to it.

 

[AdamWathan]

Yeah problem is likely that the tempo isn't what he's used to playing. These sorts of drummers you have to match the click to them, rather than getting them to play to the click What I would do is just get him to play the part, tap tempo that shit and then get him to retrack it to the same tempo he just played it at.

And make the click LOUD. Make sure it accents on the downbeat as well. Lots of awful drummers will fall off by a beat then catch back up but still be a beat off and they don't notice because there's no accent.

 

[NSGUITAR]

This is why you do pre-production and scratch tracks.

Get used to it.

Yes, I did do this. It didn't help.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

if you did preproduction you'd know he can't play to the click and have him READY to record beforehand.

What's he playing along to? just the click or click and scratch guitars?

Try in ear headphones next time too.

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

I had this problem too recording a punk rock band and we solved it by programming bassdrum and snare same way as he plays them and have the drummer play along to those tracks instead. Worked out great! That album even won awards and stuff

 

[gabriel g.]

is the drummer super bad or does he only cant play to the click?
if he only cant play to the click, but is ok drumming track without A click.

what kind of music is it?

 

[bartgabriel]

Yes, I did do this. It didn't help.

I try to do pre-production with every band I produce, and of course we work with scratch tracks. But sometimes drummer's ego is simply too big to admit that he is not good enough to keep the tempo. You know, if the drummer practise let's say 1 hour once a week, then you can do nothing.

 

[digitaldeath]

Another handy tip: If he's trying to play fast with his feet but is just fucking up and slowing down because of that, ask him to primarily focus that his hands stay on time with the click ie. Snare, hats, accents etc.
If he can't play the part, ask him to simplify it with his feet, then just copy & paste the kicks in how they should go.
I'd only recommend this if you don't have a lot of kick in the overheads (which I'm assuming you don't) and aren't using room mics. Works great when you're going for that generic, metal drum sound.
Also, it puzzled me when you said that you love blending in real drums...if anything you want to get these sounding great at the source and only blend in samples if they're required.
+1 on real overheads/cymbals too - especially hi-hats. I often like to open my hats up a nice bit and I find that SD2.0 just never gives me the "rockin'" hi-hat sound and vibe I'm looking for.

 

[JamesNorman]

i tend to give the drummer beats in between the main click notes so the drummer can actually hear when the next main neat is coming, if the drummer is playing quarter notes and the click is on the quarter note, it not gonna be obvious enough for the drummer to hear...... so i do 16th notes with the click acceneted on the quarter notes, so the drummer can actuakky hear the click when he is not playing!

if a drummer says i carnt hear the click it doenst mean i neeed it louder!

Try it and let me know how it works

 

[drew_drummer]

If you've got scratch guitar-tracks, you could ditch the click... let him play it along with the guitars, then slip-edit the fuck out of them later on.

 

[Russtopher]

If you've got scratch guitar-tracks, you could ditch the click... let him play it along with the guitars, then slip-edit the fuck out of them later on.

This. Kind of a "worst case scenario" but it can be done. I did that with a drummer who had decent time, but couldn't ever get comfortable with the click. I had him track along with the guitarists playing scratch tracks to keep him in place. Took about 3.5 hours of slip editing per song, but it worked and we got the EP done.

 

[AdamWathan]

I've edited tons of drums that weren't tracked to a click, it's not really hard if the drummer is at least in time with himself.

It's particularly easy in Pro Tools, just use "Identify Beat" to tempo map small sections, then Beat Detective on those sections but don't fill gaps or crossfade. Do this for the whole song without ever filling.

Then when you are done, set all the drum tracks to "Ticks" instead of samples but with elastic audio completed disabled to avoid stretching and take those small sections and decide on an "average" BPM for that part of the song. Say you did the verse in 4 chunks, and they were 142, 144, 141, 142. I would set all of those to 144. Now Pro Tools will move all the regions around (still perfectly on the grid) to line up with the new gridlines at that tempo. Always pick faster rather than slower so avoid bad sounding edits.

Anyways do that for the whole song and you'll be left with something perfectly edited to the grid with consistent tempos for each section. It makes BDing particularly easy as well because now every section you do is already confined to exact bar|beat segments since you used them to tempo map.

 

[metalfanat1c]

I've edited tons of drums that weren't tracked to a click, it's not really hard if the drummer is at least in time with himself.

It's particularly easy in Pro Tools, just use "Identify Beat" to tempo map small sections, then Beat Detective on those sections but don't fill gaps or crossfade. Do this for the whole song without ever filling.

Then when you are done, set all the drum tracks to "Ticks" instead of samples but with elastic audio completed disabled to avoid stretching and take those small sections and decide on an "average" BPM for that part of the song. Say you did the verse in 4 chunks, and they were 142, 144, 141, 142. I would set all of those to 144. Now Pro Tools will move all the regions around (still perfectly on the grid) to line up with the new gridlines at that tempo. Always pick faster rather than slower so avoid bad sounding edits.

Anyways do that for the whole song and you'll be left with something perfectly edited to the grid with consistent tempos for each section. It makes BDing particularly easy as well because now every section you do is already confined to exact bar|beat segments since you used them to tempo map.

Thank you for making me love this forum again.

 

[SentencedToBurn]

either record scratch guitar tracks

OR

have him play to a tambourine loop or something

 

[ahjteam]

Say you did the verse in 4 chunks, and they were 142, 144, 141, 142. I would set all of those to 144.

Any particular reason you chose the fastest one instead of the one that is the most frequent (142) and closest to the average of those four (142.25)?

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Its cleaner to speed up than to slow down.

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

I've used the following methods to combat this:

1. program them. easiest.

2. program the drums, have them play cymbals separate. they hate it. it can be fun to give them a taste of their own medicine and make them suffer though.

3. get them to play it without hitting the kick, of course you've gotta go 100% sample after that though.

4. play them yourself after they leave.

I think I've met one single drummer 4 years that could actually play his shit and play it tight.

but of course I've met five hundred drummers that think they are the shit and know everything about everything. if i had a nickel for every time i heard "the click must be off"