The Dreaded Metronome
Posted: 21 Dec 2009, 00:35
I wonder how many of us drummers who frequent this site have played to metronomes through headphones whilst recording or playing live and ever thought 'Bloody hell, this metronome is going out of time' ??!! Is it a secret musicians conspiracy? How comfortable do you feel playing along to them? (metronomes I mean, not musicians!)... I personally feel you tend to 'dumb down' your playing a tad, in order to concentrate on timing. I also wonder how recent metronomes have been in existence; I can't imagine Buddy Rich ever going down that road! It does have it's benefits though of course... apart from annoying us drummers! It aids the process of editing and moving parts during the recording/mixing process or playing to a backing track that perhaps can't be replicated live etc... I mean, listening to my band's recordings, there is definetely a marked difference between the tracks I laid the drum tracks down with a metronome and those that I played without one... I think the one's without have a more natural feel, whereas the 'Metrinomed' ones seem a bit more 'mechanical' to me, especially after a bit of 'tidying up' and chopping and changing on Cubase/Pro Tools... although the average listener probably wouldn't notice the difference or indeed care! We always record drums and bass together, with or without metronome. I personally take more satisfaction in listening back to a track you know you and the bassist have nailed 'live' in one take rather than one that has been 'doctored', through want of a better word. Opinion?