Losing Energy In The Recording Studio

[Just1L]

As I've never been in a recording studio I have a quick question about it. I find at home when I started recording I was using the metronome to keep time. It was like I was concentrating more on the clicks that what I was playing and felt my songs lost their energy. I then switched to finding the right drum beat and my energy problems went away. So my question, is it normal, or OK to use recorded drum beats in an actual recording studio or are they adamant you use a metronome? I'm a ways away from actually doing any real recording but I've been thinking about this for awhile and thought I'd ask.

Thanks!

[john]

Hi

Different people have different ways of working, but certainly a beat that doesn't suit your piece will change the feel. Beats are incorrectly emphasized and that fights with the track you record, making performances more hesitant and lacking the energy of conviction.

When I record I put together a beat that goes with the song as early in the process as possible... ie one of the first steps after recording a guide guitar and vocal or piano and vocal, sometimes recorded using a click track playing in my headphones. I then construct the beat against that guide track. Even if I was using loops I would still start with that simple guide. I know it's not going to make it to the final mix, it's just a guide for recording the other tracks. Sometimes I might just record a guide vocal and the click itself.

Why the metronome/click? For me that is more related to synchronising with midi instrumentation etc. All real instruments is another matter. Bands communicate visually as well as through the music. Well rehearsed bands can "go with the mood" using subtle variations in tempo that after the fact can be difficult to recreate without the rest of the instruments playing... that is why back in the pre digital music days bands often made guide takes with the whole band playing before using the benefits of multitracks for overdubs and individual instrument replacement. Recordings that are made using the whole band playing certainly give a more authentic sound, but generally there are problems with isolation of sounds when doing that, especially in budget studios. In other words the bass spilling onto the guitar track... if you want to replace the bass it becomes harder to do as some of the old bass is present on other tracks!

The fact is it is easier to deal with adding sequenced digital tracks if the real instruments have played to click. That simple fact has added to the lack of tempo variation in modern music as a means to communicate feeling through music, probably more than any other factor. In contemporary music there is very little accelerando/deccelerando. This isn't always compatible with some music genres as it robs too much "feel".

So, what to do... to a great extent depends on what you want to end up with and how you are going to provide it. For example, ideally you might want a real symphony orchestra to playing accompanyment, in reality you are more likely to play those parts with a synth. If that is a detailed arrangement that could be numerous instruments arranged in a sequencer.... and here you run into the need for the real instruments to play to a click track.

You can of course program accelerando or deccelerando in midi... it's just not as straight forward. You can also record midi tracks heedless of the precise tempo, varying with the real instruments... but just wait until you want to print a score, or edit the midi notes... and you will instantly think "I wish I had used a click track"!

So the answer is you have to be flexible in your approach but think ahead to the needs of the song and it's arrangement, and plan your recording accordingly.

In days of the past studio time was expensive, so bands generally had to practice and experiment in rehearsals... now with the profusion of home studios of a good quality bands/writers can afford more experimentation in the recording studio and then (depending on the needs of the recording) take the results of the home experiments into the studio and use that as a starting or reference point.

Certainly only the rich or well sponsored bands could afford to go into a studio unprepared.

A bit of a ramble but I hope I made sense!

[john]

lol

You MIDI user you!

That maybe true but the reasoning is the same, the ease of additional instrumentation in a multitrack environment... when you may find that only you are present from the band during the recording of your part... playing to a click keeps things tight, but it does play havoc with pieces where the emotion of the vocal performance in part dictates tempo... ie the other instruments are keying off the vocal interpretation. That might not be a common thing these days, but it is a factor, even if it is just for part of the song. That sort of thing plays havoc with multitrack recording where visual cues may be missing (incidentally using a video recorder can be useful, record the original performance to playback synched to the audio recorder when doing overdubs) during later sessions. You can see why a lot of pop music is devoid of those subtle variations.

Anyhoo..... lol

[Ferry0123]

I only use the metronome to record my voice to avoid picking up sounds from other instruments that you hear while recording. Till now the voice has been the only instrument I ever recorded with a microphone, for bass and guitar I always have plugged into my sound card, since I don't own amplifiers yet.

As I'm a one man band, I have never recorded drums and instead I used drum samples to base most of my songs on. I always take care the drum samples I use (existing beats) have a fine beat to play to (in the right tempo/bpm) and so I don't need a metronome to play to. Those beats (I import them on an audio track in my recording programm Logic and I can give those samples the speed I want) give me lots of energy, despite the fact they go on and on without a change. The only variation I made so far was to have some fills here and there by

1. other samples (audio files), for example fills

2. midi (having attached sounds like kick/snare/crash to keys on a keyboard device).

That has worked for me so far. As long as the feel to the drums are good, however they can still improve, it's good while you're in the process of finishing your songs. The 'worry' is when you want to have your songs recorded for real, when every track must have it's right melody, its right rhythm and so on. Like you, I haven't reached that stage yet, but I will in a few weeks. Anticipating on that I'll be working with a real drummer who knows what a good rhythm needs: play a bit behind the beat, a bit ahead of the beat, or right on the beat when warranted, and a sense of which is best at any given moment. He will play drums on a keyboard based on the drum samples I chose to play my songs to. This may seem funny to some, but the sounds of the different drum parts are not to be distinguished from real drums.

Hope this helps.

[Just1L]

Thank you all for the excellent advice/suggestions. Basically my method is to work the song out on guitar first. When I start to record the first thing I do is find the exact drum loop and tempo I'm looking for (or the closest loop to the beat I need). My plan for the studio was to have a beat for each song I do and listen to that through the headphones while I record the guitar and basically everything else after that. I would do a scratch vocal in the process at some point. When that was done, I plan to add real drums over all of that. And then for the final, do the vocals so they can respond/react to all the subtleties of the bass and drums. Like I said I'm still a long ways from doing this but I like to have all my ducks in a row and try to eliminate any surprises that may pop up. Time is money!

[TapperMike]

Hi,

I used to do everything from scratch, But it was killing me by the time I finally got to lay down the lead.

In as far as vocals are concerned if you're wearing decent headphones you shouldn't be concerned with leakage. Vocals should go into the mix last. The mix that you send the vocalist doesn't have to be your final mix.

I really hate looking or working with drum loops. I am never satisfied with them. I much prefer working with midi. Contrary to popular belief yes you can have different tempos and time signatures in the same song when using a DAW if your are smart about it. You can also swing and humanize the beats. Most don't think to look or look which is why they miss it. It's just a matter of mapping your song correctly in your DAW.

Here is where I think many would be producers/musicians fail. They are to eager to hit the big red button. They think they can write as they record. Honestly it's better to develop your ideas before you record to work out what will and won't work.

I prefer to work with midi for drums.

[Just1L]

Thanks Mike. I'm not really satisfied with Drum Loops or Midi. To me nothing beats real drums. I guess I'm a bit anal on that. I just think of the great drummers and bands that rely on them and I don't see how the energy could be duplicated with loops or MIDI. It could be I'm just an old guy and resisting the whole MIDI thing. I know some people do have pretty good success with it. Although the more I think of it, I guess I'm a bit hypocritical with that since I do plan on using keyboards at some point to duplicate flutes and strings!

[TapperMike]

I've played with and recorded good drummers, great drummers and terrible drummers. I was called into handle a mixdown of a rock group several years ago. Long before time correction tools like those found in ableton live came on the scene. I spent 3 months trying to do manual corrections for one single. It was all about a sloppy drummer. I begged and pleaded with the band leader to get someone to come in and do overdubs and he wouldn't buy in. So I finally had something useable after toiling night after night and they burned the CD. One month later the drummer calls it quits.

[Prometheus]

It's not even just MIDI you can sync with a click track. Every single time-domain effect, chorus, echo, reverb, delay, flange, phasing, releases on gates and compressors, all can synced to the tempo of a song if it is played to a metronome.

Whether the over production of modern music is good or bad, I'm not debating that, but

The idea that you can't groove to a metronome is absolute bollocks. In this day and age if you want your tracks to be played next to the tracks produced in the mainstream industry, you have to record to a metronome, it's that simple.

If, on the other hand, you want to capture the energy and vitality of a band and are not concerned making a broadcast quality demo to impress an A & R guy, record it live by all means, although frankly I would think that any professional drummer should have a sense of timing that is equal to playing along with a click.

I for one think that the music industry has become far too techno conscious and the production values of today are totally anti-artistic and anti-intellectual. That said, I do make sure my work is compliant with certain industry standards, purely out of necessity.

[Triode]

Another thing relating to energy is once you're working to any form of click including drum loops: the actual tempo you choose has to be bang on where you'd naturally play it. Even being one bpm out can affect the energy of the track. I often tap-tempo-analyse an unclicked version that feels right to inform the choice of bpm for the drum track. It's too easy to be just one number out!

Also some songs just have to change tempo slightly to breathe.

[Prometheus]

I would actually urge people who are planning to get into doing studio sessions to practice playing to a click. A lot of inexperienced people will tell you that you can't groove to a click. It's absolute bollocks. Like anything else, if you practice using clicks you become good at it. There is a tremendous advantage at the editing and mixing stage to having a piece recorded to a click. It's impossible to do a tempo synced mix to a recording that doesn't have a constant tempo.

Here's an old trick I learned from an old sound engineer when I was a young sound engineer.

60,000 / bpm = number of milliseconds per quarter beat.

From there you can divide or multiply by two until you get to the length you want for the releases or delays on your time domain effects. This gives you a tight, tempo based mix. It works. It makes a difference. It's a trick that pro engineers use.

[Ray888]

It's a case of horses for courses and each individual needs to find what works best for them. It also depends on music genre.

 

I have found that when working with classical composers they have almost always used metronome to keep time. Personally I think a beat helps a lot in setting up a vibe for a song especially in Rn'B and Hip Hop.

[starise]

Wow talk about reviving an old post! 

 

Good subject though.

 

My .00002 is this-  I haven't found a metronome yet that can add swing. Swing is where the groove is much of the time. Playing swing to a metronome can be difficult because you're playing slightly off the beat. Even midi with a programmed swing can sound mechanical. This is why I opt for a real drum track on material that usually has swing in it like R&B. The drum track can be "pulled in" to a close timing with audio stretch technology. All drummers tend to drift some over time.

 

One of the recent challenges I've had has been taking a vocal with no music and adding a beat to it. In that case I tapped a tempo into my DAW software and then I had a tempo I could map to.

 

I take music lessons on violin and my teacher is always recommending I use a metronome. For classical music it seems to be a necessity. It seems to help, but I can't do it for long and stay sane. I would rather tap my foot.

[symphonious7]

On 3/21/2012 at 3:36 PM, Just1L said:

As I've never been in a recording studio I have a quick question about it. I find at home when I started recording I was using the metronome to keep time. It was like I was concentrating more on the clicks that what I was playing and felt my songs lost their energy. I then switched to finding the right drum beat and my energy problems went away. So my question, is it normal, or OK to use recorded drum beats in an actual recording studio or are they adamant you use a metronome? I'm a ways away from actually doing any real recording but I've been thinking about this for awhile and thought I'd ask.

 

Thanks!

Yeah it really depends on the producer.  Some producers seem real rigid in their methods, and seem to want to do things the same way every time (worked with one for years he was a nightmare) but others will really work with their artists, willing to do outside the box things things to make them comfortable knowing this helps the creative process.  So basically, find the second one, avoid the first one like the plague they suck your soul lol