Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Get in the Groove: Recording to a Time Grid

People usually talk about recording to a "click track" - which is usually a metronome click on every beat and a louder beat on the first beat of each measure.

The advantages? You have a ruler held up next to you, so you know exactly when the beats should be, so you end up playing more precisely. This is especially important if you are going to be doing any "cut and paste" in the editting.

I hate the "click track." I can't groove to a metronome. I want something a bit more substantial for me to sink my teeth into.

What I usually do is to create a drum loop. I used to use the BOSS 707 drum machine to construct these, or pull off drum loops from various sites on the internet, or even pull them off of electronic keyboards. I've used Hammerhead (free, with a simple user interface).

Now I make them with FruityLoops sequencing software. I can get something that sort of sounds like real drums, with something a bit more suggestive of a groove instead of just a beat. I then open up my recording program, set the "Beats Per Minute" to the tempo of the LOOP I just created, import the WAV file for a single play of the loop, and then copy it over like 100 times. THEN I use this loop as a ruler to help me play straight.

Not every sort of music will work with this approach. The most important thing is to find a groove track to loop, which you can relate to while you play.

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