Recording Drums Last Options

[mellotron]

would it be possible to record everything BUT drums to a click track, then burn these files individually to a cd (or better yet just bring the whole external hard drive) so the session will still contain multitrack files, bring all these files to another studio and track the drums to the pre-recorded tracks and click? or would the drums have to be recorded first in order for them to sync with the song?

[Teiwaz]

In the old days, we all used clicks & metronomes.

Now, however, as Bart S pointed out, it's not the best thing to give a drummer when laying down live drum tracks. A click has no "groove".


It tells us the basic 1-2-3-4 occurences in the bar, but what is in the silences in between? Is it a shuffle groove, a swing groove or straight 16ths?

Playing to a click can be hazardous to the 'emerging' groove, as the bassist may or may not "put his own impression" of a swing in the spaces, but the groove may not be consistent...ie: his 20% swing factor may at times be a 10% swing and then he may drift into a 25% swing elsewhere. Then the drummer has to play to THAT!!! Oops. Shit groove results when adding live drums!

It is always wise to put down a 'mockup' loop of the groove you are aiming for the drummer to play. If he's good enough, he will lock to that loop you play him through his headphones while he's recording live drums and because everything else was played to that loop (bass, guitar keys, vocals, wobbleboard, egyptian nose flute, etc) the live drums will slip right into the track like a missing piece of the jigsaw.

Use a click and the piece of the new live drum jigsaw more than likely will not fit into the 'groove's puzzle'.