Metronome - Fucking use it

[WeHaveFreshCookies]

No matter how great you think you are as a musician. No matter how clock-like you think your timing is. You will NEVER be too good to use a metronome. Quite frankly, I'm tired of people thinking that they're the exception to this rule.

Recently, my friend asked me to record a drum track for his band's new song. I thought it would be relatively simple, but no. I don't think they EVER used a timing device in the production process. The song ended up being 113 BPM or something weird like that. Okay. Annoying. But not TOO big of a deal if it stays steady. Well it didn't. It fluctuated up and down throughout the whole song by a couple of BPM. Not something you notice if everybody is playing together live. But when you're trying to record separately, it's the most massive pain in the ass you can possibly imagine.

A similar thing happened here. A user PM'd me requesting a drum track. He emailed me the song and it was pretty good. Until you looked at the timing. 91 BPM with fluctuations going as high as 97 BPM. It was a disaster.

I told them both to start over and use a metronome. But a lot of time and frustration could be saved if they would just have gotten over themselves and accepted that even the BEST of musicians should use a metronome.

USE A METRONOME!!!!

Metronome

[Buoy]

Preaching to the choir much? I think almost everyone in this forum use a sequencer with a built in metronome (some don't even record any audio)

Anyway that's a pretty big box for a metronome. Here's mine

[WeHaveFreshCookies]

At 8/29/10 05:46 PM, SBB wrote: Preaching to the choir much? I think almost everyone in this forum use a sequencer with a built in metronome (some don't even record any audio)

Anyway that's a pretty big box for a metronome. Here's mine

Aye. A mini rant of sorts. But it's always amazed me how many people will say "I've got a metronome in my head" or something of the sort.

Anyway, that's actually my best friend. Lots of awesome features on that giant box.

[SlaveLabor]

OMFG I can't agree with you ENOUGH!

People always do that shit on here. I ask them if they need my drum services, and they give a song to redo the drums for, and don't give an BPMs to work off of. They just think I can do it by ear and it'll be good. I gotta tab the fucking thing first, get the midi out and see if it fits, if not then I scrap and start over.

I hope more people read this fucking thread and stop asking me to redo their drum tracks without a BPM.

BTW, I always use a Metronome. ALWAYS.

[WeHaveFreshCookies]

At 8/29/10 06:14 PM, SlaveLabor wrote: OMFG I can't agree with you ENOUGH!

People always do that shit on here. I ask them if they need my drum services, and they give a song to redo the drums for, and don't give an BPMs to work off of. They just think I can do it by ear and it'll be good. I gotta tab the fucking thing first, get the midi out and see if it fits, if not then I scrap and start over.

I hope more people read this fucking thread and stop asking me to redo their drum tracks without a BPM.

BTW, I always use a Metronome. ALWAYS.

Well if it's at a steady 120, or something more common, it's not so much of a big deal. But if your song is at 90, or something a little less common. Or if there's a lot going on, give me BPM!!!

Hopefully people reading this thread will gain a better understanding of what we need.

[PERVOK]

I thought this was common sense?

[Back-From-Purgatory]

At 8/29/10 06:28 PM, ZENON wrote: I thought this was common sense?

What he said.

Honestly, the only time I don't use a metronome is when I'm recording ideas, rough cuts, or song ideas with a lot of time signature changes. It's just too much of a pain in the ass to lay out a rough draft of a song with 5+ time signature changes (God forbid any tempo changes as well), so I generally wing it until I have the song all planned out.

But aside from that, even professional musicians record to a metronome, I've never heard of a (good) professional artist that doesn't.

[Chris-V2]

Yes and no. I wouldn't use one for recording a group at the same time, for instance. If they cant keep time with each other maybe they should try harder.

Recording to a fluctating backing can be hard, but it can be do-able if they're consistent.

But ultimately if you're "building a record" you're best of setting up a click and maybe programming in some tempo changes if you want them.

[Envy]

As a drummer, you should expect that

Because no one else knows how to keep time.

But I know what you mean, and it's annoying as shit. Vocalists are the worst with it. Sure, you can channge tempo all you want as a singer, but you have to realize the musicians behind you get annoyed (especially when they take creative rights during a live performance)

[Lashmush]

well, for jazz and other genres like it, i dont think a metronome is that helpful really. other than that, sure, why not?

i dont use one yet, since my sequencer pretty much just goes "BPM kthxplz?" and I go "FINE, GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" and set it to some arbitrary number through the process of punching the closest child I can find and measuring how many ccs of bloodloss it suffers.

then i light myself on fire and start composing like any respectable musician.

[Calamaistr]

god the stupidity of some people, just because YOU are incapable of having natural rythm doesnt mean everyone does, and that you perhaps find a few people here and there that say they do but really dont also doesnt mean everyone doesnt.

[stratkat]

well yeah, but if you record the drums first it doesn't really matter as drums perform the duties of a metronome and more.

[RoyalRave]

Metronome could be a great help, but it isn´t obligatory to record a song in the right tempo, bro.

[TimeBender]

I thought slot of the complications recording tracks one instrument at a time all by your own. I figured I'd use a sequenced beat first then guitar then drums because I have a problem with recording drums first. It's so hard to write and record music.

[Methreee]

I don't think I'm better than a metronome, but using a sequencer it is too easy to have everything quantized so I draw in the notes with no snapping and try to make really off-beat beats that have swing and rhythm to them, but sometime I over do it and it does sound like shit.

[Quarl]

My second dick is a metronome.

[Psil0]

I only use a metronome to figure out tempo, nothing other than that. It's not that hard to figure out where the beat is and maintain a steady tempo.

[S3C]

At 8/29/10 05:38 PM, WeHaveFreshCookies wrote: No matter how great you think you are as a musician. No matter how clock-like you think your timing is. You will NEVER be too good to use a metronome.

>creating an argument that no one's arguing to begin with

It fluctuated up and down throughout the whole song by a couple of BPM.

You cant work around fluctuations of a couple of BPM? I could understand if you were programming a drum track that lasts over a noticeable extended period of time, but if you know the track, you should be able to compensate. The human pulse is flexible and not rigid like a midi or factory machine. If you were to "humanize" a quantitized midi file, not every note would be exactly on beat to the thousandth of a second.

[la-yinn]

Don't think I've ever used a metronome. I hear the melodies I want in my head and from that point on twiddle with the BPM until it sounds good enough - then just sequence that bitch.

But then again, this is electronic music and BPM doesn't randomly change in a DAW.. I believe? That would be quite inconveniant, I imagine!

[Reaper93]

Real music, played live, is never perfectly synched. During the solo the guitarist is going to pump up the BPM, or want to, a few notches. The question is, then, as a drummer, do you LET HIM or do you keep the beat fullstop no exceptions. A lot of the time you're going to be a bit excited during the solo, too, and you'll speed it up. A few BPM this way or that doesn't matter out of a hundred or more. In fact, a good way to humanize a sequenced track is to up and down the BPM by up to maybe even 3 beats on the first downbeat of a measure (preferably 1 bpm at a time, but up to a few in either direction from the "official" BPM is fine).

It's funny, actually. The ones making music on sequencers try their hardest to get the music to sound more like a person is playing it while the musician playing music on an instrument tries their hardest to get their music to sound electronically sequenced. Irony, thy name is music.

[Calamaistr]

At 8/30/10 12:42 PM, Reaper93 wrote: It's funny, actually. The ones making music on sequencers try their hardest to get the music to sound more like a person.

This.

I do that myself, a good example is Strangled-when you start something. (final track of my strangled album) i had the piano way off the bassline for asmuch as there even was one.
I often want music to sound like a person is almost in a dozing state when they 'really play' it.

People that make music on an exact metronomical scale arent really making music but just sequence.

[Buoy]

At 8/30/10 03:35 PM, wtflolnoob wrote: However, when I'm feeling jazzy with a pad/piano/sax/whatever I will intentionally either not use a metronome or add a shuffle.

How do you go about doing that (not using a metronome) in a sequencer? Do you just disregard the sequencer completely? Or do you mean you just don't quantize

[Chris-V2]

At 8/30/10 03:35 PM, wtflolnoob wrote: For my drums, basslines and electronic leads I almost always use metronome/quantize. However, when I'm feeling jazzy with a pad/piano/sax/whatever I will intentionally either not use a metronome or add a shuffle.

Oh, and ReGroove fucking rocks.

Just incase you're ever recording someone with bad timing, it's common in jazz to set up a metronome so that the clicks are on beats 2 and 4. So if the track is 120 bpm you're talking a 60 bpm metronome.

[Buoy]

At 8/30/10 12:42 PM, Reaper93 wrote: Real music, played live, is never perfectly synched.

Many drummers use in-ear earbuds with a click track (metronome)- and then of course the drummer guides the rest of the band, leading to a pretty much constant tempo.

Also "real music" is a useless term that shouldn't be used, ever.

[Buoy]

At 8/30/10 03:53 PM, wtflolnoob wrote: I mean I don't quantize, unless it sounds bad. I'm a silly Reason user, you see.

Thought so :) Also high five!! And get Record, it's pretty beast

[Tianwell]

At 8/29/10 06:28 PM, ZENON wrote: I thought this was common sense?

Most people don't have it now-a-days sadly :/

[Krank]

how does i shot web

isn't the metronome thing obvious?

[WeHaveFreshCookies]

At 8/30/10 05:01 PM, Bjra wrote: how does i shot web

isn't the metronome thing obvious?

One would think. But never underestimate the stupidity of others. It's amazing to me how many people don't use it.

[Chris-V2]

At 8/30/10 05:30 PM, WeHaveFreshCookies wrote:

At 8/30/10 05:01 PM, Bjra wrote: how does i shot web

isn't the metronome thing obvious?

One would think. But never underestimate the stupidity of others. It's amazing to me how many people don't use it.

Well, it's not a defacto thing. Only if you're intending to do serious audio edits or in a live setting if you have triggered samples.

[Head-Full-Of-Acid]

fuck metronomes.