Band Recording to get the drum tracks down (only): Is this still the norm?

[Lee Knight]

LOL... I understand that Lee. I'm just saying if you're going to fix the {censored} out of it anyway, I STILL think you can often get a better starting point by not using a click, if the band is really struggling to keep up with the click to the point where they're too stressed to groove at all. That is why I try it both ways in a case like that.

 

I'm not expecting you to go there with me. I know that by now. I came up with a system that works. I'm not saying it's gold, but for my way of working with the total hack/grooveless, I can get them used to the click well enough that I can then do some pretty serious damag...uh fixing.

 

Now... one thing I would like to do is work with a band short on groove but long on curiosity, skill and vibe. I haven't done that but would love to do oodles of preproduction and just work a groove cram session with them. That sounds fun. Then record without a click. Set out to do just that from the start. FUN!

[Lee Flier]

I'm not expecting you to go there with me. I know that by now.

 

But I've BEEN there. I've done what you're talking about. I'm just saying I usually try it both ways and go with whatever gets the best vibe. Sometimes it IS with a click, if I try it both ways and they really do play better with a click. Some do... but more often they don't, that's all.

[Lee Knight]

But I've BEEN there. I've done what you're talking about. I'm just saying I usually try it both ways and go with whatever gets the best vibe. Sometimes it IS with a click, if I try it both ways and they really do play better with a click. Some do... but more often they don't, that's all.

 

I honestly didn't know that you sometimes use a click. I love what you do no matter how you get there.

[Lee Flier]

That's what I've been trying to say - I try it both ways, if I have a band that can't groove very well. It just doesn't happen too often that the click works better. I can probably count on one hand the number of times that's happened. But it has happened. It's not like I do what I do because I have some rigid principle that says I must do it that way - I work the way I do because 99% of the time I think it sounds and feels better.

[beatpoet]

Sometimes a band can't groove not because the drummer is sloppy, but because nobody knows what anybody else is playing. Each member is either playing for themselves or the whole band is in a war to see who is loudest. Quite a few times I've heard a sloppy bassist/drummer and if only they could have locked in (while not being click track tight), they'd have sounded passable. If you work on that, you get the famed push/pull thing which drummers like Jimmy Chamberlin and Steven Adler are known for.