Recording without a click.

[Lee Flier]

As for modern tools that enable you to create a click after the recording, I have just two things to say: (1) I don't have those tools and (2) why? Actually in regard to (2), I guess one reason might be what our horn section did on the last track. They work fast and get a lot of tunes out in a day, so they do a lot of cut and pasting. They told me they put "Beat Detective" on the tracks I sent them to line everything up perfectly, then played once each on the chorus, verse, bridge, intro, outro, etc. then pasted onto the repeats, then undid the Beat Detective to put the ebb and flow of tempo back how it was.

 

Yeah, this is commonly done these days - background vocalists only singing a chorus once, etc. I hate it, myself. Like as if most productions these days aren't boring enough as it is - that's one of the reasons why. And frankly I really don't think it saves any time - it just means more time (and money) gets shifted to the mouse jockey instead of the musicians.

 

As for more "legitimate" reasons why one would create a tempo map after the basic tracks are recorded without a click - well, a lot of the reason people think they "have to" use a click when recording is because they plan to sync up MIDI tracks or sequenced parts with it later, and/or they want to paste a phrase from one chorus into another one and if the time doesn't match, it won't work... and/or they want to use time based effects that follow a tempo map. With Beat Detective you can do all these things without having to cut to a click. Your horn playing friends gave you an example of how to paste phrases, while the other scenarios can be accomplished by the use of the post-generated tempo map.

 

Of course there are also evil people who use Beat Detective to line up tracks perfectly to a grid after the fact... but we won't talk about them.

[WRGKMC]

I agree with everyone who says musicians should practice to a tempo track.

Its amazing how many musicians who cant maintain decent tempo. Mines pretty good on guitar and bass to the point where I dont even hear any kind of background beat it when I'm focused playing. I can dance circles around the tempo slicing it anyway I want during leads and such. Its something in the background you can focus in or out on as needed. But this only came about after many years of practice with a tempo device though. I doubt I would have developed those abilities without some kinda beat to ground me. Its good to put in reps to build up consistancy sort of like weight lifting. Take it away an play live you should have great results. Overdoing it can also have bad results though. For a long strech I didnt have other musicians to work with due to situations. When I finally got back into it I felt like I was towing other musicians along because I was so accute of their tempos tempos lagging or speeding up.

In a studio you just have to know who and when its best suited for by reading the musicians abilities.

[UstadKhanAli]

I agree with the last post, and also can't stand duplicating background choruses, guitar parts, etc. etc. over and over. I want to record music, not work on an assembly line.

[Lee Flier]

Overdoing it can also have bad results though. For a long strech I didnt have other musicians to work with due to situations. When I finally got back into it I felt like I was towing other musicians along because I was so accute of their tempos tempos lagging or speeding up.

 

I agree that some people get too dependent on the click if they practice with it too much, and become hyper-sensitive to small fluctuations in tempo. Remember, the goal with practicing to a click is NOT to have "perfect" time all the time; it's to be able to lock in when you need to, but let the tempo breathe when the music and the interplay of the musicians call for it. Otherwise, you might as well record to a click.

 

I also know a drummer who has always practiced to a click his whole life, never without one. If he goes into the studio and there's no click, he loses a lot of confidence and his time actually isn't all that great. So, definitely practice to a click for the specific purpose of working on your time... but not all the time!