“Should I record to a click track?” – YES! Don’t even think twice about it.
But I know click tracks suck – but they have so many benefits. And today I want to highlight the 5 biggest ones.
If you’ve ever hated the idea of recording to a click track, this video is for you.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
I never felt the need to use a click track although I have used them, I will add that after 50+ years of playing and training others to play without a click. you do make some valid points. Thanks Brother 🙂
Regards and respect;
Harold
I’ve played just for practice with a buddy of mine (a keyboard guy), who owns one of those workstation Korgs with crapload of pre-programmed drum tracks and “intelligent” bassline generators. He does have a metronome feature in his Korg, but never uses it. What I noticed is when he plays to a drum track & bassline, his sense of syncopation is all over the place. I guess the drumtrack+bassline playing on auto just just makes his sense of time all sloppy & lazy. Conversely, I’ve been a DAW-centered musician for almost thirty years, so playing (and listening) to sequencer-driven music has given me a sense of time & ability to syncopate that makes my buddy all perplexed. So, yes, it does go into making you a better musician – at least in terms of time-keeping – when your “clock” is built on computer-generated timing references.
I wasn’t recording to a click track, as I felt that I had good timing, though you have convinced me that it makes complete sense to give it a go, after all, my timing is at stake, great video, thanks for all your help.
My problem with playing with a click track is that when I play live with other musicians, they always want to rush the heck out of songs. One of the most technically adept drummers that I have played with nearly doubles the tempo I count the song at. Needless to say he is last on my list of subs to call.
Hi Graham.
Twelve minutes and twenty seconds of the utmost good sense.
Nothing to add.
You absolutely nailed it!
Like I have said in the past, I truly enjoy your talks, but I can’t watch your videos! Whatever you do to your eyes is so distracting that I have to turn off the screen to learn. But like I said, I do enjoy listening to your talks.
This are the reflections of a “ringlight” at the camera.
Graham,
Thanks for your discussion on click tracking. I’ve heard it said that nothing swings like a metronome. I’m wondering what your thoughts are for recording a song where the arranger has been creative with the timing. I believe that is a good tool to make a song interesting or catch the listener’s ear. the song may stop for a second or if the song suddenly slows considerably and your click track marches on, do you just go to bar whatever and change the speed in your DAW?
Thanks Again
Most DAWs have a conductor track. You can control any aspect of the tempo, change meter, whatever you need to do. Speed up, slow down, change to odd meter. You could go from 4/4 to 6:8 to 7/4 to whatever all controlled by the conductor track, and the click , can be set to follow the conductor track,
Can you add it after the fact? I often begin with a drum track that is quantized but it sounds like the grid marker might be something I should know about.
no my drummer complained so much I couldn’t take anymore ,I tried to explain how important it was but he just couldn’t do it but in my next project a click is going to be mandatory end of story. I am going to forward this to my band members so you can tell them how important it is so thanks Graham, so as always keep up the good work
Hard to argue with those points. I usually record a simple drum loop that I can flesh out (or weed out) later and play to that, because the actual clicking noise of a click track sounds so inorganic. BTW, from 10:19 on in the video would preach (i.e. we can’t approach perfection without an external standard) thanks so much for keeping the juices flowing!
the first thing I do with a new composition is set the tempo I want to record at with a click…it’s a truth teller and everyone not just the drummer needs to learn how to play to a click and from there learn how to play with feel meaning on top and behind the quarter note without a sense of rushing or dragging the tempo
Graham
Hi. Although I have to confess I don’t always use a click track, I also have to confess that you make really really great points.
QUESTION: what do you say to vocalists who don’t want to use a click track. They can sometimes be a little “precious” and need sensitive handling – so what’s a good incentive for them that doesn’t make them feel bad.
Keep up the great work. Many thanks. George
Hi George; My thought is, if all the previous musical parts/backing tracks were recorded with a click, then that part has been taken care of for the vocalist; the click is in the music.
To a vocalist who doesn’t want to record to click-track, if the instrumentation is as tight as you want it (including recorded to “time”), you can then turn off the click track for such Vocalist and the person can sing purely to the music – which is already on-time. I do this with such Singers all the time.
Totally agree.
Thanks for the video on metro.great way for me to start working and understanding why one should be used and advantages of using one. PEACE.
I have Superior Drummer 2, and what I like to do is find a sample or series of samples that are close to the drum feel I’m going for, and use that as the click track. In other words, playing to a drummer (a perfect one in terms of tempo – being software based) instead of clicks.
Excellent tips as always Graham. I recorded my first two albums with drummer Joe Vitale, and I had the pleasure to record with bassist Tony Levin on my second album. As we record remotely, the first thing these guys will always ask you for is tempo. They setup their DAW to that tempo and they play exact. Would not be pretty if I was not playing to the click!
I almost always use a click track. I am currently recording a song where it slows down and pauses before going to the last verse. I just got rid of the click where it slows down and played it by the “feel” Once the drums were there for the slow down, they were the reference for the rest of the instruments. I brought the click back in for the rest of the song. Once you have the basic rhythm track down, you probably don’t need to play to the click for rest. But as Graham said, the click can still be useful for editing.
Five good reasons, Graham, with #5 and #1 being at the top. I’m astounded you left off what, to me, has been the main reason I rely on a click track: overdubs. I know you mentioned being able to drop in loops, but no mention of say, overdubbing your lead guitar track and having a click to work against. I also go through and manually stretch the click a little to give a turnaround into, say v.2, a little more natural feel. BTW, you totally rocque. Blessings.
Fantastic video, Graham. I spend years not playing to a click track/metronome and my timing was, let’s say, not good. A few years ago when I started recording in a DAW I started using the click track to record to make sure the timing was correct. This lead me to start practicing with a metronome and the difference in my playing is night and day. So, from years of experience not playing with one to now several years recording/practicing to one I would say you are crazy if you don’t use one. One side note, don’t worry about what you think others may or may not be doing (using click track/metronome) this will make you a better musician and that’s what we all want to be, isn’t it?
Two thoughts… one, a couple examples where I haven’t used a click, jazz and the aforementioned classical; both of which have a lot of ebb & flow in the music timing-wise. Although, using a click playing other styles has helped me with these two.
Two (proud dad moment here, so bear with me), my 15 year old just started playing drums and plunks on a guitar from time to time to get song ideas.
He started playing the drums in Rock Band a year ago and added real drums last summer. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago and he needs to record a project for school.
We go down to my studio and track his guitar ideas. I’m blown away…he NAILS the takes!!! I’m talking 85-90% spot on with the click.
I told him, “Do you know how many guitarists I’ve played with in the past 30+ years who could not do that to save their life???”
He then turns around the next day and nails the drum tracks to the click.. again almost spot on.
My point??? I told him that playing with a click and being a DRUMMER who plays to a click will make him that much better of a musician overall by far, because it will internalize and solidify the tempo within himself; which will be one less thing he has to focus on when he’s playing. He can then focus on using his ears to create groove and feel and… music.
And, he will get more work because of that (amongst other things, of course).
BTW- he got an A++ on his project. 🙂
I like many musicians don’t really like Click Tracks, but like you say, they make you a better musician.
I’m a drummer – percussionist and an ‘Old’ New Age kinda guy. (I am Younger than Mick Jagger or Keith Richards 🙂 but I’m up there.
One of my main gigs over the that few years is that of a relaxation, meditation “Sound healing/therapy thing, using Gongs, singing bowls, chimes etc. It’s sort of free flow rhythm (at least on the surface), but keeping a pulse a steady timing, rhythm is important, it connects breathing, and heat rate, so timing is important. I have found that hearing a steady rhythm is a very relaxing bit of ear-candy, it does set-up an internal tempo. and in doing so helps you find a tempo.
THE HATED CLICK TRACK has become my friend. It’s not only used when performing and recording, I sometimes use it in everyday life, working around the house or office, while driving or walking, it sets a pace, a rate, a speed and it also educates the senses, sort of like muscle memory for the brain. You get used to hearing the steady rhythm, it sincs your timing your breath, your brain. You become used to hearing the gentle click, it’s repetitiveness.
I have a small 2″ by 3” digital metronome that fits in a pocket,on a shelf or a desk, it even has a plug for ear-buds, so it’s quite portable. ow, I’m not saying this is a thing a do consonantly, it’s a tool that’s there for when I want it. An if you get into the habit of hearing a click in more places than the Recording studio or stage, it becomes friendly and relaxing, and no longer the dreaded, scarry click track from Hell.
I grew up practicing to a metronome every day practicing all the rudiments etc. I was surprised when I started playing in bands, that so many musicians don’t/haven’t practiced this way. Usually to the detriment of their timing skills, on hard passages. My music instructor was very strict about exact timing. It has helped me out though, Recording and doing live shows with clicks.
If anybody still has doubts about using a click track or practicing with a metronome, they should watch the Foo Fighters’ documentary “Back and Forth.” There’s a scene where Dave Grohl describes working with a producer for the first time. The producer kept making them re-record the tracks because they were making timing mistakes. The takeaway of the scene is that the band realized that (although they thought they were very good musicians) they still needed to work and improve their musical skills. So, if the Foo Fighters realized they had to work on their timing, we all need to do the same.
Whilst I respect your view, there many who do not like Foo Fighters, and there are bands that never used clicked tracks. When Ringo Starr was asked to use a click track, his response was “I am the [email protected]#*€$¥ click track.”. To my knowledge he never did and they have sold 800 million albums world wide thus far – when someone beats this record (forgive the pun) using click tracks, then we can take another look.
Seems my post has not been allowed by Graham, in which I said that the matter is subjective. The point of a conductor is to keep up to 83 musicians in time with each other.
And many recent recordings of pop music demonstrate how music is killed by a metronome for they are as square as a draftsman’s T. For the convenience of recording engineers, each player has to record their part on a separate track while listening to a click track – a metronome – and the clicks are then used to synchronize the tracks while the technicians adjust them to their taste and mix them. I know talented young musicians who can’t do it; we can understand why. Nothing compares with a recording of a live performance in which the players provide each other with the time-framework. […] if you want to kill a musical performance, give the player a click track!
— Sir James William Longman Beament; How we hear music: the relationship between music and the hearing mechanism.
It’s probably because their producer was after a certain vibe or saw that they recorded better with a metronome. Check out Audioslave’s first album and listen to how the tempo drifts throughout the song. No metronome, and boy does it rock your socks off. It’s not a matter of right and wrong but more about good production decisions.
Don’t see why you can’t just use a simple drum loop, it’s not as obnoxious as a click track. Thanks for the vid!
Absolutely, as a home musician doing it all by myself, it just wouldn’t be possible without a click track, and I know, I did it without one for long enough. Having said that I still find playing to a click track very difficult so these days I use a drum loop from EZdrummer, so much easier. Since I’ve been doing that my timing has improved tenfold.
I have been recording to a click track for several years, and doing so has made me realize how I tend to get ahead of the beat. It has helped me to be cognizant of this when I play live and correct this tendency. Aside from the excellent points you made about aiding in recording and editing, playing to a click track truly does make you a better musician.
I use drum loops instead of a click. It takes a little time to find the right pattern, but it feels more natural and still locks in the performance.
I agree with Graham here. Most musicians speed up and slow down. Recently I’ve been trying to create some of my favorites from Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, etc. and found that I could not put anything in my DAW without first creating a tempo map. If you look at a tempo map at most songs today it is amazing how the tempo does change. Even with electronic music circa Depeche Mode (Never Let Me Down Again) you will find a lot of variation. With that you can’t copy and paste audio just like Graham said because it doesn’t fit both sections!
Creating a song from start to finish is so much easier and provides all the benefits that were explained, especially efficiency (time savings!) when you use a click track.
Sorry Graham, I cannot agree with you on this one. I’ve got twenty years experience in the studio and in theory there is nothing really better or worse about the rhythmic outcome of using a metronome. I consider it more of a production tool. It really depends on the feel you’re after and if the musicians record better with or without it. Great musicians use the pushing and pulling of tempo to their advantage to make a song more exciting or dramatic but that requires exceptional skill and musicianship. If you haven’t learned to do that yet, then yes, you might be better off with a metronome. Telling everyone that metronomes are better for everything is misleading. They are better for editing purposes but the important thing here is the music. Using a metronome for practicing purposes is good to sharpen your tempo skills. Recording with a metronome will give your music a more hypnotic, monotonous vibe and if you can successfully record without a metronome, you’ll get a more exciting a groovy vibe that will grab the listeners attention. Choose your vibe wisely.
I use a very simple drum loop. The DAW just makes this so easy. It is what works for me. Both are mechanical but the drum is more musical. Just gives a person a better feeling in my opinion. The main point is timing. Life is so much easier for a one man band when timing is on.
Like Bill Dooley said above one thing in the past that’s caused me to “just say no” to click tracks was quite simply the sound of them. Some are extremely EAR-atating to the point of being distracting. However I recently bought an electronic drum set that has a built in metronome that you can assign one of several different percussion instrument sounds to. THANK YOU! It makes it way more enjoyable. After drumming for about 40 years I now wish I had been playing to a metronome all along. It took me a couple decades (and maturing a little) to realize the #1 function of a drummer is to keep TIME! It’s not about all the fancy fills. But playing with the metrnome really helps me to see where I have a tendency to speed up or drag. The times I do stray from the tempo are when I’m getting so deep into what I’m doing I totally tune out the metronome. Which leads to a whole other reason I think could be added to what Graham said. It helps you to learn how to LISTEN while you’re playing. Gotta learn how to keep one ear on that thing, which takes practice. But great practice for playing with other people! There’s two things that separate the pros from the rest…. Timing and they know how to listen to each other.
Agreed! Thanks!
I absolutely agree that recording/playing to a click track/metronome improves your sense of timing. Just becuase there’s a click doesn’t mean that you need to play at a constant XXX bpm. All DAWS allow you to ramp the tempo into the chorus or whatever – it just needs a bit forethought in your preparation. After the recording/editing is done most DAWS can make small timing differences with out artifacts using elastic audio or its equivalent.
always UNTIL I HAVE A VERY PRECICE RHYTHM HAPPENING.
If the DAW “Click” options sound harsh or uninspiring:
I create a temporary track, listen to the Click while recording my own loop with a high hat & kick, or any sampled percussion sounds. I record this for a couple of bars, quantize, then copy/paste it across the length of the song. Now I can turn off the Click and use an accurate percussion track to play along to. Then I just delete that track at the end, or after I’ve recorded the real drum/percussion track.
Gary Booker, Yeah that’s the best option yet. The point being it doesn’t necessarily have to CLICK! Just something that keeps perfect time and allows you to align to a specific BPM grid. I once was asked if I could remove one bar from a song I was mixing (somehow there ended up being an extra bar in an instrumental bridge) that wasn’t aligned to a grid! Not fun at all but took it on as a challenge. Graham is absolutely correct. Waaaaay harder to do! I did finally manage to pull it off good enough so you couldn’t tell but it took a couple hours as opposed to maybe a minute max if it was recorded to a click track!
You are getting hard on us, but I am SURE you are right. I have always (unfortunately) played alone and never with a click. All the problems (in the mix) you have talked about I HAVE experienced. Trying to play with a click was very frustrating. I tuned it up so loud on my headset that it bled into my mics. I tried using drum loops, recorded me claping hands to a click…..and finally gave up…..well I guess I’ll just have to try again. THANK YOU for the truth
Graham is exactly right he explained it all, in Nashville we always use a click, learn how to do it plain and simple.
I always get my metro gnome to tap out a tasty beat for me when I record. That is, unless it’s a solo track with lots of tempo changes, in which case the little fella gets lost…
Hi! I have been using clicktrack for 40 years….BUT after all these guitar,piano,perc overdubs etc, I sometimes feel that the music needs a slightly faster tempo into Ref..and maybe down a little to the verse after Ref…
Also called dynamics..:) Only sollution then, is time stretch, OR that you know which part of the song needs a slightly tempovariations in the clicktrack.
Your 5 moments in using click track is absolutely right, but maybe most useful in creating a song ?
And many superhits from 70 are speeding up a little.
Great channel from you by the way 🙂
Great presentation, Graham. Thank you. Yes, click tracks do help greatly. I often set tempo and record that using an external metronome. I usually select it to be recorded as a clave; or, a cowbell; or, just a basic click tone. For one example, If my eighth note tempo is set and recorded at 120 bpm, I often record another tempo track at 60 bpm; and, I might even record a third tempo track at 30 bpm. I find that helpful toward getting a nice rhythmic balance for and with the feel of the music that’s being recorded.
Interesting video, Graham, and a lot of valid comments – many of them musical common sense 🙂
Seriously though, I think it is a typical case of “horses for courses” and yes, you should be able to play with a click track and/or metronome, if only to hone musical skills. As pointed out, ‘modern’ productions rely very heavily on a click and would be lost without it. Other styles of music can live without it but that should be an artistic choice and not because one cannot play with a click.
100 % agree with you. You just put it in another way 🙂
Click tracks are a must if you are layering instruments by yourself or with other musicians.
Because of modern electronic music (beginning with the 70’s disco to today’s hip hop, R&b, techno, pop and country) people tend to have less of a tolerance for timing issues.
Classical, bluegrass, metal and jazz are different but the better the musicians, the less you will notice any unintended timing fluctuations.
Another great video by the way, Graham!
Absolutely a good idea. I am new to recording – but I found out very quickly that I need a click-track to keep my recordings consistent.
I hate playing to a click. But I know the value of having a solid timing standard. I always create a perfectly in time virtual drum part. Same effect as a click, but it’s an actual drum line. I can humanize or even get a real drummer later.
Click tracks seem essential to me for recording. I frequently record music with meter changes and have found composing the click track in a music notation program such as musescore (free!) or finale (not free) helpful. Also makes controlled tempo changes easy.