Drummers. Help my Friend.

[Eclipse]

Everyone, please tell my friend right here in this thread how important practicing to a click can be. he doesn't believe me that it can help. I'm a guitarist, and practicing to a click had helped me immensely.

He needs other people to tell him this. Thanks!

 

[Winspear]

Click or go home.

Even if you don't regularly practice to one (which you should!!), being able to play perfectly to one is a necessity. Especially in a modern metal setting.

As an aspiring audio engineer, I can tell you one thing that many will agree on. Don't you dare come into my studio without a click track

 

[Winspear]

You should also practice with a click at half speed or something. It helps tighten up faster parts that you can't necessarily tell have a problem when you are playing them full speed. Unless you listen back to a recording.
I doubt that anyone has gotten double-kick tight enough for a studio without practicing it slowly to a click.

 

[ArrowHead]

He needs other people to tell him this. Thanks!

If he doesn't believe you, he won't believe us.

Instead, the answer is to RECORD HIM, and play it back.

 

[Winspear]

Instead, the answer is to RECORD HIM, and play it back.

This. Though sometimes they still wont hear it.

I've tracked an album with a band doing loads of retakes and editing on all instruments. They know they weren't up to the standard. BUT they think that the finished edited product is tight so there's no issue. It's not tight - there is an issue. I edited it tighter than anyone could over many days. It's impossible to polish a turd.

He may be satisfied with what he hears back of himself. If that's the case, try and compare it in a mix to a professional drummer, if you have a method of doing so.

EDIT: This area of the forum doesn't get many views so you might not get many replies. If still in doubt, he should email a bunch of studios and ask their opinion

 

[Eclipse]

Thanks everyone.

 

[iRaiseTheDead]

Tell him if he doesn't practice to a click and play tighter, it'll screw the rest of the band's performance if you lose tempo or timing

 

[nicomortem]

tell him to try recording drums with no click track, and then to edit his drums along with the other instruments. haha or tell him to play for a few more years and ask him how he feels about click tracks then! I used to have the same attitude about click tracks when I had been playing drums for only a couple years. once I starting recording drums though, I knew I had to man up and start using a click track, like a real drummer.

 

[Edika]

The only reasons not to practice with a metronome are:
- You have practiced so much with a metronome that you have actually become a leaving metronome and every constant repeating sound, motion, image is translated to a rhythm in your head.
- You are insanely talented and have the above effect without practicing.
- You don't play music that has to be too accurate.
- You have no desire to do a professional recording.
- Someone else will record the drums in a professional recording that CAN play with a metronome.
- You will use SD or some other program to "record" drums.

If those don't apply start practicing with a metronome or stop wasting your friends time.

 

[ArrowHead]

Record him. Play it back to a click. Show him where he goes in and out of time. Now explain to him how in a recording situation, with these variations in tempo it will create some restrictions. Time based delays and effects will sound wonky. Clip editing, moving parts, etc... will be a bit more difficult as things don't line up to the grid, or measure markers. Any drum replacing or adding of samples will become a little tougher, and quantization will be more difficult.

In other words, there's a benefit to playing with a metronome in the studio. Many bands don't use one, many drummers don't use one, but now that we're past the days of editing tape with razor blades a metronome is a valuable asset to any band thinking about going into the studio. Better yet is creating tempo maps/custom clicks for your tunes. Makes it easier for the drummer, and easier to set up your session in the studio.

 

[no_dice]

Anyone who plays any instrument can benefit greatly from a metronome, IMHO.

 

[nicomortem]

I would like to add, that a lot of guitar players, including myself at one point, do not think they need to practice to a metronome, or click track...but when you are playing with a drummer in the studio or recording guitar parts to click tracked drums, your shortcomings in timing will cause a problem. Once I started seriously drumming, I also starting practicing guitar to a click track, after 20 years of not worrying about it.

It also sucks as a drummer, to have guitar tracks of your band recorded at a certain tempo, and then have the guitarists come into band practice and play the songs at a different speed than you have them recorded. It really sucks, and most guitarists immediately blame the drummer for being "off" and never even bother thinking about weather or not they are playing the song the correct tempo. Something to think about......

 

[The Reverend]

I second nearly all the ideas here. Recording to a metronome isn't easy if you're not used to it, and it's the best way to get a solid, tight track down. Not to mention the obvious benefits over time to being able to play consistently, even if you're not listening to one.

Another benefit is being able to use tempo to track your progress. For instance, being able to play 16th notes at 140 one week for a solid minute, then playing 16th notes at 148 for a solid minute the next week or so. If your drummer doesn't care about getting cleaner and faster, he's got a problem.

 

[Epyon6]

Everyone, please tell my friend right here in this thread how important practicing to a click can be. he doesn't believe me that it can help. I'm a guitarist, and practicing to a click had helped me immensely.

He needs other people to tell him this. Thanks!

This is a simple answer-

Do you wanna be:

A) George Kollias (who uses a metronome)
-or-
B) Lars Ulrich (who doesn't even practice his basic rudiments or drum skills and doesn't use a metronome)

Can he decide?

 

[Epyon6]

P.S. EVERYONE; (I don't care if you play the damn ukulele) should learn to a metronome. BUT it is most important for drummers, if you learn a false sense of time it will take a long time to fix. For guitarists its not as difficult because drummers help keep guitarists in line with tempo. Thats our job as drummers. If you dont have that, your not a drummer, period.

 

[Lives Once Abstract]

at our practices we use an audible metronome through our pa that is also hooked up to our drummers headphones. and at shows our drummer always has a click track through some in ear headphones. YOU MUST USE A CLICK TRACK FOR CONSISTANCY.

 

[Amalloy]

Yeah, this is a no brainer. Drummers are supposed to keep time - and if your time sucks, you're wasting your time, and the time of anyone you play with.

Whenever you're doing on drums, it's essential to always do it with a metronome. Practice, writing, jamming even - Use a damn metronome.

Hell; Even Gene Hoglan (The Atomic Clock) uses a metronome.

 

[StewartEhoff]

A good drummer holds a band together. Professional recordings without a click-track is impossible, you will fall out of time somewhere without one. Better he gets used to it now than having to adjust and waste not only the producers time, but your own time.