• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Click Tracks... To use them or not?

#83
I was talking to the drummer on this morning's session, and he reminded me that his introduction to a 'real' click was on a Larnell Harris session in about 1971 in LA that was engineered by Bill Schnee. (Before then, when he would work at Motown B, they would put a Seth Thomas metronome in a closet with a mic on it). The box used was made by Urei (probably for guide pops for film scoring).

Kids, click tracks were used in pop and R&B music 35 years ago...
 
#84
For any jazz/fusion gig i've ever done, the drummer never played with a click. Anything else however, the drummer always uses a click, live or in the studio. I like it that way. I know just about every single country artist runs off of a click, and most pop artist do the same.
 
#85
Click Track - YES!! But it depends on the music style (already stated, quite well) and really the drummer. I've played in bands that have used clicks RELIGIOUSLY for 20 years, but it was the approach, that necessitated it, not a lack of playing well. And, every drummer I've played with who could "cook" while playing with a click, could cook just fine without...The drummer HAS to practice with it for AWHILE or chances are it will feel totally crap. If he plays naturally a little on top of the beat, you drop the click back a beat or so, if he plays in a heavy, behind the beat style, bring it up a pinch. All the drummers who use click stat that when you're "on" the click disappears and it is a reference point at best. I love playing with drummers on clicks because I'm picky about how my basslines feel. Tempo that changes makes some basslines just not feel right, since they were composed at a certain tempo, give or take a couple bpm's or so.

This is a GREAT topic and really hits home for me, so I HAD to chime in.

Using a click also helps with getting any effects timed to the song: I'm sure some of you have had vocal or guitar delays, or tremolos be way out, time wise ? So I think clicks are cool for that alone. But jazz...you never know, but I don't think I've heard any jazz with an arpeggiator keyboard pattern in the music. For pop music, I love when good players play well with programmed stuff, IF they make it feel great.
 
#87
ldiezman said:
For any jazz/fusion gig i've ever done, the drummer never played with a click. Anything else however, the drummer always uses a click, live or in the studio. I like it that way. I know just about every single country artist runs off of a click, and most pop artist do the same.
Click to expand...

For live gigs, not nearly as many country artists as you apparently think use a click. Sure, the click is used to get a tempo for the count-off, but it doesn't necessarily run throughout the song..
 
#88
Wow guys. I never checked back on this thread until now. Here's how it went down. We tried it with the click track in all our head phones on the songs that don't require any tempo changes. None of us were happy with it. Totally stale. It was in time, and correct according to the song. No one played anything wrong, but it was dead. This was also where we recorded it piecemeal style. We determined that we need to be in the same room jamming together in order to capture our energy. So we miked all the drums. We DI'd, miked, and took a line out from both channels of my bass pre amp. We miked our guitarist amp. Keyboard player played directly into the mix. Vocalist was in another room. Drummer had click and mix in his headset only. We all just had the mix. It worked out really well. Until our singer hand a drama attack and decided to quite the band. :rollno: We had actually hired a dude with protools and all this crazy stuff, and found that being under the pressure to record (read we were paying him by the hour) was causing us to hurry and rush. When we just used our guitarists digital 16 track, things worked out better. We've added a new vocalist/guitarist now, and we're still working him in with all our original songs. We want to get him comfortable before we jump in again. Someday... Someday... You'll hear about the great Fuzzymoto... LMAO. :eyebrow:
 
#89
It takes a little while to loosen up to a click track and groove. It's usually not something you can just jump into in a recording session. We use click tracks all the time now because we use a lot of time oriented effects (you ever heard a song where the delay someone is using is way off? Bleh.....so we do our best to avoid that and after some practice it is actually helping us write some really spaced out stuff. For us it works great and I think most bands should use them because it eliminates the blame game, period.
 
#90
Like several folks on here have said, playing with a click is a skill to be learned and gotten used to. If you record hip hop or R&B or play it live you usually dont have a choice.At the least you'll have to lock in with loops and sequences which is kinda the same as a click...
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back