
That means they have to be loud and easy to recognize.įor some musicians, the harsh metronome clicks can be distracting when you’re trying to feel the groove. Change the metronome soundĬlick tracks are meant to be heard clearly over the other elements in your mix. Here are four tips to help you use click tracks more effectively. With that in mind, using them well is important for getting the most out of your recording sessions. But they provide the foundation for the tempo that gives your song its groove. 4 tips to get more from your click tracksĬlick tracks might seem like a minor detail in music production. Unlimited mastering & distribution, 1200 royalty-free samples, 30+ plugins and more! Get everything LANDR has to offer with LANDR Studio. The reality is that it’s perfectly possible to play expressive rhythms and stay locked into a tempo. They can easily move sections around the timeline without worrying about losing the feel of the groove.įinally, the idea that metronome clicks make music boring is mostly a myth.

Not only that, tempo-synced audio gives producers much more flexibility during audio editing. Even if a few tracks are slightly out of time, the song feels tighter since each track references the click. The result is a loose and scattered feel without a sense of rhythmic unity.Ĭlick tracks fix it by providing a locked tempo for the whole recording session. While it might feel easy to do while jamming together in person, it’s much more unpredictable when multitracking. If the drummer speeds up and slows down throughout the song, the other musicians will have to match their timing. Without a tempo reference from a click track there’s no common pulse to line up new tracks.įor example, most producers lay down percussion tracks early in the production process. Multitrack recording only works if each new layer syncs up with the last. If you’ve ever tried to play along to a recorded track that’s not in time, you might know what I mean. It can be true in some cases, but the benefits of tracking to a click are hard to ignore. It’s tempting to think that metronome clicks make music feel soulless and sterile.
PRO TOOLS METRONOME PRO
When they do, they’re usually in the form of a special VST plugin like Logic’s Klopfgeist or Avid’s Click II in Pro Tools.īuilt-in clicks like Ableton Live‘s metronome typically appear as part of the transport pane that can be toggled on and off. Today’s DAWs create tempo tracks automatically, and they often don’t appear as a separate track on your timeline.

In the analog era, metronome clicks were recorded to a spare track on the tape machine to create the timing reference. They also let producers move audio across the tempo grid without throwing off the rhythm. Unlimited mastering & distribution, 1200 royalty-free samples, 30+ plugins and more! Get everything LANDR has to offer with LANDR Studio.Ī click track is a DAW feature that provides a tempo reference for musicians to keep their parts in time.Ĭlick tracks are used to sync overdubs with previously recorded material.
