Synchronise a daw to a click track allergic drummer

[Reezekeys]

Now then, my drummer uses ears so he can hear.... What he did was count it off with 2 measures (8 stick clicks) and I had tap tempo setup on the Arturia and it always worked to keep us in -sync

 

I had a tap-tempo "group" set up in Bidule where I could tap along to the music for a bar or two, then hit a pad on my A800 Pro to start a percussion loop. It was a lucky day when 1) I started the loop exactly on the downbeat, 2) the loop's tempo exactly matched the tempo of the music and 3) assuming I got past #1 and #2, the loop didn't start drifting after a few bars. Of course there was no sync reference on the bandstand - we were all playing freely. It might have worked better if I had sent a separate feed of my percussion loop's audio to the drummer - but this was a very informal weekly jazz jam at a restaurant; we didn't have the extra gear to make that happen.

 

Speaking of tempo and click.....

 

We do a few songs where I have to fly in a string part that is specific to the section of the song.

 

Just like in my Won't Get Fooled Again example: I use tap tempo to control the "playback" tempo in Mainstage where the track lives.

 

How long was that string part? You tapped along to the drummer's stick clicks at the start of the song and your flown-in part stayed locked with the whole band playing freely, through the entire length of the tune? Or did the drummer have a click in his ears for the duration of the song?

[EscapeRocks]

I started tapping tempo a couple measures before I started the track.

 

I'm very lucky in that my drummer is like a metronome. He stays locked.

[Reezekeys]

Let me get this straight â drummer does "stick click" to set a tempo, you tap along so Mainstage gets it, then you start a track and the drummer is listening to said track and playing along with it, correct? He is slaving to you?

 

That differs from my situation where i'm in the middle of a song, tap along to the current tempo and start a percussion loop that the drummer doesn't hear well and doesn't play to! Staying in sync was more a matter of luck!

[ElmerJFudd]

Speaking of tempo and click.....

 

We do a few songs where I have to fly in a string part that is specific to the section of the song.

 

Just like in my Won't Get Fooled Again example: I use tap tempo to control the "playback" tempo in Mainstage where the track lives.

 

Dave. When you do tap tempo, do you do this while the arrangement is on stop and then tap tempo ahead of time and set it to go on the down beat your ready for? Or do you tap tempo live throughout the section or tune?

 

Just saw your second post. I think you answered it.

[cp-the-nerd]

Good luck dealing with that backing track situation. I played Wont Get Fooled Again in my cover band and it was the only song in our entire roster where the drummer had to follow the keyboard and it was a constant source of frustration. Sure when we nailed it, it was really spectacular, but getting out of sync on a bad day really drained the momentum out of practice and you rarely put a high risk song into a live set.

 

The drummer was great, but making the keyboard exactly loud enough for him to hear clearly but not loud enough to overpower the mix was hard enough in the consistent practice space, but sorting that out at a gig was damn near impossible.

 

When we've pulled that out, I was using my iKMultimedia B3X, and playing it thru my Arturia ARP2600V for the "slice"

 

Now then, my drummer uses ears so he can hear.... What he did was count it off with 2 measures (8 stick clicks) and I had tap tempo setup on the Arturia and it always worked to keep us in -sync

 

My solution was super low tech. I played the organ tone through a boss tremolo pedal set to max and the tempo knob stayed where it was at all times. Our guitar player always had personal issues with dynamics and volume creep, so he would constantly end up drowning out the drummer's monitor during louder parts of the song. It was just a bad set up.

[cp-the-nerd]

Let me get this straight â drummer does "stick click" to set a tempo, you tap along so Mainstage gets it, then you start a track and the drummer is listening to said track and playing along with it, correct? He is slaving to you?

 

That differs from my situation where i'm in the middle of a song, tap along to the current tempo and start a percussion loop that the drummer doesn't hear well and doesn't play to! Staying in sync was more a matter of luck!

 

The drummer's ability to hear clearly is paramount and that was our problem as well.

[Docbop]

Let me get this straight â drummer does "stick click" to set a tempo, you tap along so Mainstage gets it, then you start a track and the drummer is listening to said track and playing along with it, correct? He is slaving to you?

 

That differs from my situation where i'm in the middle of a song, tap along to the current tempo and start a percussion loop that the drummer doesn't hear well and doesn't play to! Staying in sync was more a matter of luck!

 

The drummer's ability to hear clearly is paramount and that was our problem as well.

 

 

When our band finally got serious about time we tried rehearsing with a click. We just mic'd a metronome and it drove everyone except the drummer crazy. Finally we setup the drummer with just a single ear cheap earphone and that worked great. Not only did the drummer have the time, he became really good (with or without the click) at keeping the reining the band back into time.

 

I know for playing and recording I don't like earphones/headphones on both ears I want to hear the room. I had some single ear headphones or would just use regular phones and slide one earpiece back off my ear and against my head so it wouldn't leak into the room. Back in my recording engineer days I remember string players were same way and wanted click only in the cans and would use single ear phones or slide earphone off one ear. Also for me what is important is the sound of the click I hate bright sounding clicks, I prefer a lower pitched click it's less distracting to me.

[RABid]

Honestly, there is no excuse for a drummer not being able to play along with a click track. We all learned to play along with records and match time. It should not be a big deal at all. If the drummer does not want to even try, that is another issue. I learned to play drums by playing along with records. The next step of playing along with a click and some tracks is an easy step.