Drummers Only

[moose23]

Judging from the replies from other folks the OP question has been perceived as:

Do you record with a click?

My response was not regarding the virtues of recording with a click. That is a whole other topic.
Great blog on that. http://musicmachinery.com/2010/02/08/revisiting-the-click-track

My response was to the idea of simply being able to play along to a click or a metronome.
Anyone who plays a musical instrument with any proficiency should be able to play in time to a mechanized pulse.

Such a great blog post that it needed posting twice.

[chlorpromazine]

Then if you are not making a distinction my statement still holds.

A drummer who can not play to a metronome is no drummer at all. Simply just a guy who bangs on stuff repetitiously who may or may not own a drum kit.

My response was to the idea of simply being able to play along to a click or a metronome.
Anyone who plays a musical instrument with any proficiency should be able to play in time to a mechanized pulse.

[gatorsnot]

Ego might come in to play for some if asked to play with a click.  "What?!?!? My meter isn't good enough for you?!?!?" But I can tell when a drummer doesn't have a good internal pulse and it annoys me.  Being able to play with a click is a good skill to have. 

[core9]

As a bassplayer, I follow the drummer, I don't set the tempo, except when there is no drummer.

Ideally you should  be able to play(record) with a click and without.  Nothing but good will come from practicing, mostly, with a metronome.  And that goes for guitar players too.

...and either way I haven't met a guitar player yet that can keep a tempo without drums.

Well we haven't met in person, but I play guitar and when I drum I PREFER to play to a click, it really frees you up to do some really tricky shit, and long fills. 

I know so many drummers who can't, or are scared and intimidated by a click, I tell them it's their friend not enemy......

My favorite is when I am engineering/producing a band and the drummer is telling me that the click is speeding up/slowing down!

[Discö Rice]

Bleh. I'd rather hear a band that plays tight with each other moving organically around tempo-wise, than a band that records exclusively to a click and really sounds like it.

[Harm]

My favorite is when I am engineering/producing a band and the drummer is telling me that the click is speeding up/slowing down!

If he says it's slowing down he's probably into speed metal!  

[Harm]

Bleh. I'd rather hear a band that plays tight with each other moving organically around tempo-wise, than a band that records exclusively to a click and really sounds like it.

I agree and when you lay the drums to a live track clicks aren't needed, the music is the click and when the click is there it is all good!


Actually, this is needed to determine if there is a real click.

[jibberish]

i SWEAR my alesis drum machine speeds up and slows down.

hahahaa.   no shit, practicing to a metronome is tough and i believe worthwhile, so i do it a lot.

if i am going to get messed up, it is in the little fill between phrases, like right before the next verse or whatever and man having the beats forced in really helps me time that right. often i lose or gain 1 beat and that is bogus to get off phrase. basically wrecks the song.

[VOLVO)))]

We just feel it out, I'm not even sure if I can properly count time hahaha.

[hashbrowns]

I remember reading somewhere that brann dailor uses a blinking light on his rack instead of a click in his ears. This lets him give the song life and swing but still can let him know if they're speeding up too much cause a lot of mastodons music is just on the verge of speed metal and if sped up would lose it's groove. I thought that was a pretty cool compromise between the two schools of thought here. Anyone ever try this? I'm thinking about to trying to rig something up like that.

[core9]

Bleh. I'd rather hear a band that plays tight with each other moving organically around tempo-wise, than a band that records exclusively to a click and really sounds like it.

If done correctly that sterile rigidity is non-existent.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying YOU HAVE to use a click, but as a drummer it really actually helps you to groove more if that makes any sense.

I remember reading somewhere that brann dailor uses a blinking light on his rack instead of a click in his ears. This lets him give the song life and swing but still can let him know if they're speeding up too much cause a lot of mastodons music is just on the verge of speed metal and if sped up would lose it's groove. I thought that was a pretty cool compromise between the two schools of thought here. Anyone ever try this? I'm thinking about to trying to rig something up like that.

I have never heard of that before.....seems pretty cool though.

[Hemisaurus]

weird, I have a strobe light in the jam room for exactly that purpose, I didn't want the mic's picking up any click.

[Discö Rice]

Bleh. I'd rather hear a band that plays tight with each other moving organically around tempo-wise, than a band that records exclusively to a click and really sounds like it.

If done correctly that sterile rigidity is non-existent.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying YOU HAVE to use a click, but as a drummer it really actually helps you to groove more if that makes any sense.

fixed.
It doesn't help me groove more. I have good meter and I'm tight with my band. That doesn't mean it won't help you, I just find it distracting.

[Hemisaurus]

hardest part for me, as a non-drummer, was figuring out the tempo to set the metronome / drum machine to. i found a tap tempo app on the iPad, that tells you the tempo you tap at, and life is much easier, but it also surprised me what tempo I was tapping at vs. what tempo I thought songs were at, no wonder I had issue with the drum machine.

[jibberish]

the most fun for me is getting the delay time and the drum machine time even with each other

by fun i mean "way more tweaking needed than it should have been"

[clockwork green]

Judging from the replies from other folks the OP question has been perceived as:

Do you record with a click?

My response was not regarding the virtues of recording with a click. That is a whole other topic.
Great blog on that. http://musicmachinery.com/2010/02/08/revisiting-the-click-track

My response was to the idea of simply being able to play along to a click or a metronome.
Anyone who plays a musical instrument with any proficiency should be able to play in time to a mechanized pulse.

Didn't you guys have some issue (was this why he was fired) with Ben for not wanting to play to a click back in the weevil days?

[Hemisaurus]

the most fun for me is getting the delay time and the drum machine time even with each other

by fun i mean "way more tweaking needed than it should have been"

That's why digital delays with analog controls are so much fun

[franksnbeans]

Guitar players should learn how to use metronomes too.

[Discö Rice]

Judging from the replies from other folks the OP question has been perceived as:

Do you record with a click?

My response was not regarding the virtues of recording with a click. That is a whole other topic.
Great blog on that. http://musicmachinery.com/2010/02/08/revisiting-the-click-track

My response was to the idea of simply being able to play along to a click or a metronome.
Anyone who plays a musical instrument with any proficiency should be able to play in time to a mechanized pulse.

Didn't you guys have some issue (was this why he was fired) with Ben for not wanting to play to a click back in the weevil days?

Guitar players should learn how to use metronomes too.

Shitstorm a-brewin'.

[hashbrowns]

Guitar players should learn how to use metronomes too.

I can from my days playing speed metal.

[Metal and Beer]

[RacerX]

Guitar players should learn how to use metronomes too.

Nope. Even if they can play to a click track, Metro Gnomes are complete douchebags. Rural/Suburban Gnomes rule.

[Discö Rice]

Guitar players should learn how to use metronomes too.

Nope. Even if they can play to a click track, Metro Gnomes are complete douchebags. Rural/Suburban Gnomes rule.

I see what you did there.

[neighbor664]

Guitar players All musicians should learn how to use metronomes too.

fixed it for you

[Hemisaurus]