Drummers and click tracks... do they go together?

[Black neon bob]

Right, in the bright future, i want to record some real drums for my toxic grind machine project...

Basically everything i have now, will be replaced, and the songs that are there now have to been seen as demos and structures.
Guitars, bass, and drums will be replaced, i will keep in the synths, fiddle with them a bit, but im happy with the basic settings on them...

Thing is though lads, im going to need a drummer that will drum these songs on a clicktrack... most songs are one set BPM, but some have multiple levels of BPM as well.
Now, no clicktrack is always a option, but seeing as how the synths are lined up fine, and i bounced them from MIDI to audio, i would rather keep them as they are and record drums to the clicktrack on each particular song.

See, how hard or easy would this be for a good and solid drummer to record his drums on?

Any experiences here? especially with BPM's that vary per song?

cheers!

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Q: What do Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, and a Drummer that can count to four all have in common?


A: They're all figments of your fucking imagination!

 

[stringy_]

Q: What do Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, and a Drummer that can count to four all have in common?


A: They're all figments of your fucking imagination!

Me: Hey man, count us in.

Drummer:

1...2...4...

1...3...4...

1...13...

1...2...3...5...

1...2...3...4...




I'm what is commonly referred to as a "target-rich environment," so I should keep my drummer jokes to myself, I suppose.

 

[Nebulous]

Right, in the bright future, i want to record some real drums for my toxic grind machine project...

Basically everything i have now, will be replaced, and the songs that are there now have to been seen as demos and structures.
Guitars, bass, and drums will be replaced, i will keep in the synths, fiddle with them a bit, but im happy with the basic settings on them...

Thing is though lads, im going to need a drummer that will drum these songs on a clicktrack... most songs are one set BPM, but some have multiple levels of BPM as well.
Now, no clicktrack is always a option, but seeing as how the synths are lined up fine, and i bounced them from MIDI to audio, i would rather keep them as they are and record drums to the clicktrack on each particular song.

See, how hard or easy would this be for a good and solid drummer to record his drums on?

Any experiences here? especially with BPM's that vary per song?

cheers!

A **solid** drummer should be fine. A drummer that can't keep time is not something you'd refer to as "solid".

 

[everybody's x]

I have recorded some amazing drummers. Very few of them can play to a click. I think it is what "separates the men from the boys." When it happens it is a thing of beauty but it doesn't happen that often.

unfortunately

 

[deathtotaliban]

I've only recorded really 1 drummer who knew what he was doing playing to a click track.

 

[Metal Overload]

Why don´t you record one guitar with a click track, and then let the drummer record with the guitar track and not with the clik track

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I do not have the skills to play crazy metal drums to click. But you bet your ass I can play simpler beats to a click.

I am willing to post proof if you want.

 

[Tachy]

I record always with the click and with a recorded guitar track at click...I send at my drummer this two track....the guitar is for reference and the click is for the tempo.....for me and my drummer this is the best way to record tight drumming....

 

[Glenn Fricker]

In all seriousness, I usually have a group play for a few weeks to a click before they come in to record. That is, they run a metronome thru their practice PA & work it out on their own time.

 

[EdwardPayne]

It's horrible to see how many drummers out there who can't play to a click track.. I've got some examples that get lost in the first trum fill. I think that is a proof for their skills.

Fortunately I've worked mostly with drummers who are good and can play to a click track.

The worst scenario ever was this drummer who tried to play to a click track, just a simple 4/4. He went down to just try hitting the snare on each click and when he got surprised from each click, just as it would randomly show up in his headphones I said - "Maybe we just skip the clicktrack" .. amazingly.. hahaha..

 

[moose209]

As a bassist who used to be a drummer in ensembles and orchestras when he was a kid, I found it very hard playing to a click, unless it was visual. A drum tutor I had set up a tuner, you know the cool korg style Cylon chromatic rack unit ones, just out of my vision, in peripheral vision, and input a metronome to it. WOW, you can really nail it like that. Seriously it is so easy, I was so use to following a conductor that this became the only thing that worked.

This got me thinking. When in a previous incarnation I was working with a drummer who was shit with a click, we made it so it was kind of subliminal, just under everything else in his headphone mix, so he would only notice it if he was out, it damn fucking worked. Try it. If the drummer is using it as a refernece rather than trying to mimick it it becomes part of his performance. Perhaps it works the other way around too, as in nothing but click.

But it never beats practice, and working out how it can work for you.

 

[Aaron Smith]

My drummer is pretty much spot-on with a click track, so I'm quite lucky to not have to mess with drum editing very much. I barely have an appetite to work with drummers who can't keep themselves tight. Whether someone is a drummer or a guitar player or whatever, it's really hard to impress me at all if they don't have a really sharp sense of rhythm.

 

[GeertSamuel]

Hey Bob, can you maybe send me some songs without drums...I'd like to just try some stuff out if I may... ..you write killer songs

 

[Gnash]

Haha! I just wrapped a three week drum tracking session. Two weeks were, the drummer practicing to a click! He hates me.

 

[GeertSamuel]

Mastering the click is hard....but I got taught to play with click since I starte drumming....I still practice everyday with it...cause it's important as a drummer to keep time properly!

 

[Deus.exe]

It's not impossible but it takes patience (and threats when necessary).

Due to our usage of Synth and samples we had to coerced or drummer into using a click pretty much at all times (except during the writing process). Strangely enough it only to a week for him to pretty much nail all of our songs with a click. We are pretty proud of him for that concidering all the harrowing "Drummer vs Click Track" stories i've heard over the years.

 

[Fabbio]

I have absolutely no problem working with a click track.

Until I found a solution that made the clicks audible in the full band practice (Zoom Rhythm trak, I choose a splashy heavy on the high frequencies and recorded a 4 beats pattern to utilize as a loop or in a tempo map, through in ear headphones -sony, the white ones with the little rubber thingies that go into the ear cavity- all fixed on me with tape, on the neck and ears), I struggled to hear the hits on a regular metronome. Lots of errors. As soon as I was able to hear the clicks loud and clear... ...bingo!
It's just that it requires a little practice.
I'm sorry a lot of you get to play with such poor musicians that cannot follow a click.
In my band we use the metronome on a lot of songs but we have two or three songs in freeform. Both ways are enjoyable.

 

[PhilR]

I'd say there arn't many drummer that get to play their full kit to a click. Fuck knows I rarely get to play my kit at all thanks to my neighbours making it impossible to play at home. If I wanted to get tight on a click it would have to be during regular band rehearsals, which would be disruptive as hell.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I'd say there arn't many drummer that get to play their full kit to a click. Fuck knows I rarely get to play my kit at all thanks to my neighbours making it impossible to play at home. If I wanted to get tight on a click it would have to be during regular band rehearsals, which would be disruptive as hell.

There lies the biggest reason:

Drummer don't practice because they usually can't because of one or all of three reasons:

They are not rich enough to own two kits- one at practice space one at home.

They have neibors who would call the cops on them, even if they were playing an e-kit.

They don't make time to practice (these are the undesirable ones)