Natural Tempo Variations

[shoelessjoejackson]

I'm working with a band, they came in last week to do some scratch tracks and they had "found their tempos" but they did not account for tempo changes throughout the song, even though i had warned them about this.
they drove up from a couple hours away and their drummer came as well. i didn't have all day to find tempos and all that for them so we went ahead and set up the drums, i micd everything up and also set up the guitarist in my monitoring signal so the drummer could hear him.
tracking went pretty well so i like mine tones and all.
after they left i went through the songs and tempo mapped everything so that i could quantized everything and also have a click for guitar tracking and all that mess.

the band plays music like demolisher. (ill post a link from youtube to save the time and trouble of looking them up)
my question is, should i be worried about the tempo variations from bar to bar? or should i average out the tempos for each section and possibly have them come back to track drums a second time so that things are more consistant [which i nor the band would mind doing] or do something stupid like aggressively time stretching.
for this genre would the natural changes in tempo add to the vibe or take away from it?

 

[bryan_kilco]

How off are the changes? I think natural tempo changes always add to the vibe. Maybe post a clip?

 

[shoelessjoejackson]

the tempo changes every measure, from anywhere between 1 beat to sometimes 4 or 6 at the most.
i can post a clip later if it would be helpful. just have to get back to my house.

im just wondering what would work better for this style of music. i started the band with the intent to track things one way, and ended up with something different. and its my first time recording this way as well. so im really torn on what to do.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I'd have them retrack to the tempo map you made. If it's literally changing every measure, that's no good (my opinion).....but if you think it suits the style and fits the music, then leave it. I know making click tracks can be a huge pain but I'd map out the main tempo and maybe alter a few bpms here and there for the "vibe".

 

[CubanDude]

Every measure is really way too often. I vote for retracking as well

 

[ahjteam]

Making a variable tempomap is really easy.



But if you ask me, if the music works even without everything quantized, go with the natural flow.

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

If the tempo varies more than 3-4 BPM, it's either intentionally or badly played, that's up to you to decide. If not, then I'd go for an average that feels good to you and only program the changes that you feel are intentionally.

 

[shoelessjoejackson]

sweet thanks for all the help guys! i already have all of the songs tempo mapped, but i think ill just go through the songs and average out each sections of the song, and maybe ill leave small changes in tempos like for fills going into different parts or something like that.