Seriously noob question!

[Lateralus359]

Hey all! Been a long time reading this forum learning stuff off you guys but i've come to a little problem. What's the best way to set up the tempo(in bpm) for a click track? Say if some band comes in with a song and they want to record the drums to a click would you set the timing of the click to the snare or the kick or what? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[AdamWathan]

You set the click track to a pulse that follows the tempo of the song, not matching it up with specific hits from a drum part or anything... It's playing to a metronome, just a tick on the quarter notes of every bar in most cases.

 

[crosstalk]

Hey all! Been a long time reading this forum learning stuff off you guys but i've come to a little problem. What's the best way to set up the tempo(in bpm) for a click track? Say if some band comes in with a song and they want to record the drums to a click would you set the timing of the click to the snare or the kick or what? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Clicks usually go 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 and sound like CLICK click click click CLICK click click click. If the drummer is playing regular time at say 120bpm, then a basic beat would be kick on 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4.

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
CLICK click click click CLICK click click click
Kick Sn Kick Sn Kick Sn Kick Sn
Hat Hat Hat Hat Hat Hat Hat Hat

A drummer/band member should be able to count/tap it out saying "1 2 3 4" while tapping their hand to find the tempo. Can also be done "1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +"

Sorry if I dumbed that down too much or made no sense.

Basically everything goes to the click, not just the kick or the snare. It's more likely that the hihats/ride/crash will be closely following the click. Kick and snare will fall on and between the click.

 

[Ancient_Acolyte]

if you don't know what a click track is or how it should work, imo, you should not be recording bands...

ffs..is it a full moon or something?

 

[darthjujuu]

if you're understanding of timing/music is such that you can't tell where a click should fall, you'd probably be best off just recording without one. i started off never using one. the result will sound...noticably sloppy in most cases, compared to other studio recordings that are edited properly, but you can still learn all the other aspects of recording/mixing first without it and then get more involved with tempo maps and editing later. some of the guys on here may disagree wholeheartedly with me and rightfully so, but if you're just dinkin around for fun (and not getting paid) then just wing it for now and if you become more advanced, then you can progress into more "legit" editing techniques.

completely going against what i just said, the easiest answer to your question can be found in youtube studio blogs where you can see a drummer tracking from a control room and hear what the click is doing. alot of times with technical bands, a drummer will think he's really good, until he has to do something to a click and then fail miserably. ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU FORCE DRUMMERS TO PRACTICE TO A METRONOME BEFORE COMING TO THE STUDIO! Someone recently posted a really awesome studio drum tracking video and now I can't find it, it was really techy and the drummer was just stomping the hats along to the click the whole time... really good demonstration of how weird/off a click can sound to techy drums when really it's dead-on if the drummers good enough. anyone remember this?? i forget the name of the band and who posted it =/

 

[chonchball]

if you don't know what a click track is or how it should work, imo, you should not be recording bands...

ffs..is it a full moon or something?

+1

 

[Lateralus359]

I think if you read my first post you'll see that i said HOW do you set up a click track properly,not what it is. I know what it is ,else why would i ask the question? Also a bit harsh with the old "you shouldn't be recording bands" comment.
Thanks to darthjuju and crosstalk for their advice. I mainly record myself using ezdrummer as a click track and adjust the temp until it feels good for my songs but i was interested on how it should be done for real drums if i ever decide to get someone to record them for me.

 

[grywolf627]

... Also a bit harsh with the old "you shouldn't be recording bands" comment...

It was a bit harsh, especially coming from someone with only a few posts on this board.

 

[gabriel g.]

I just take quaters without accent. So the drummer can( or better should) play like everything on it.

cheers

 

[mick thompson]

general snare & you'll be fine unless your playing staccato styled stuff in like 7/19 or something nuts.

normally you'll be fine for a 4/4 which is what most crap is written in. if its a dodgy signature let us know and we'll help you out

 

[Fox Mulder]

It was a bit harsh, especially coming from someone with only a few posts on this board.

I noticed that the last few posts by this guy were solely for the intention of insulting people. Insecurity, I must say.

 

[Ancient_Acolyte]

Hmmm..

Seems like a massive set of 'double standards' here. As long as your post count is high, then you can say what the fuck you like without repercussion...

A lot of the recent posts here have been inanely stupid (and mostly in CAPS) which in my humble opinion, exacerbates the dilution of previously excellent forum and informational resource

At the end of the day, if you're asking a question about whether or not you should use a click track timing for the snare or the kick is, again in my opinion, ridiculous; especially if you are charged with, or at least taken the responsibility of, recording a band

From now on, I'll just hover here and nick all of your great SoloC/Nick Crow/Impulse/DFH regurgitations...

 

[crosstalk]

I just take quaters without accent. So the drummer can( or better should) play like everything on it.

cheers

This is also a good idea. Personally, hearing the accent throws me off and any of those thrown in 3/4 and 2/4 etc measures can be done easily without the beat 1 accent.

 

[John_C]

Hmmm..

Seems like a massive set of 'double standards' here. As long as your post count is high, then you can say what the fuck you like without repercussion...

A lot of the recent posts here have been inanely stupid (and mostly in CAPS) which in my humble opinion, exacerbates the dilution of previously excellent forum and informational resource

At the end of the day, if you're asking a question about whether or not you should use a click track timing for the snare or the kick is, again in my opinion, ridiculous; especially if you are charged with, or at least taken the responsibility of, recording a band

From now on, I'll just hover here and nick all of your great SoloC/Nick Crow/Impulse/DFH regurgitations...

he asked a genuine question, so we help.

Take your elitist bullshit elsewhere