Recording to a Metronome

A

An0ny25

New member
Hey,

I record guitars (and have almost always practiced), with a metronome but when it comes to recording I'm having trouble nailing things on the first, sometimes 20th, try. I record only to the click because it's even more off when I track to the song or just drums. The technique, performance, articulation, dynamics.. it's all there EXCEPT for the timing. It isn't severely off, sounds in time when I'm recording to the click. but when I look at the wav I can see the transients are slightly off to one side or the other. A bit subtle, a non-trained ear wouldn't hear anything out of time.

I'm wondering how to get better at recording to a metronome. As I'm concentrating on this it is getting better. But I'm curious how I need to hear the metronome differently or adjust myself to lock into the groove properly. I don't want to be nailing parts only because statistically speaking 1/30 tries are likely to be satisfactory.

I've time stretched, recorded smaller chunks, recorded single notes, etc. There are a lot of solutions around this, but I'd like to get better at the fundamental level.

Does anyone have advice? I've been recording every day for like a month, but maybe just practicing with it separately from tracking? I'd like to consider myself an 'advanced musician', but this is really time consuming lol.
 
Are you sure this isn't an audio interface latency issue? Because if it sounds in time when you're playing but is off on the recording, that kind of hints at something technically wrong instead of blaming your playing :)

But agreed, playing to a click is annoying and kind of hard.
 
A couple questions: Are you fluctuating ahead of and behind the beat? To put it another way, are you on both sides of the grid? Or are you behind the beat the whole time? If it is the latter, like krushing said, it may be latency. Also, does it sound echo-ey at all while you're recording? Like the audio is lagging a little? If so... latency.

On the other hand, I have been recording for 12 years, and I have gotten better with playing with a metronome every single year. The more you do it, the better you get.

But here's a tip: Play along with a metronome while recording and concentrate on trying to play perfectly in time. After a few bars, stop the recording and analyze your wav forms. Try to get an idea of your tendencies. When do you speed up? When do you slow down? I did this with the drums and realized there was two or three fills/grooves specifically that I tended to speed up when doing. Once I figured those out, I could adjust my playing accordingly and fix it. It's tedious but it helps. Still, I don't think there's a replacement for time.

Oh, one more tip: your goal for playing to a metronome is to make it "disappear." When you are absolutely nailing the timing, you won't even be able to hear the metronome. (Unless it's like blaring.)

Hope that helps. (And check on the latency, just in case!)
 
Practice makes best! Making music is a big learning curve and it never stops.

I have been told by many professionals that playing to the click with help finding your own groove but is also important to be right on.

Big drummers for instance are big because they know how to be right on!

Yes it takes time... But be patient with yourself and make sure to also check all your settings on the software your record with (basic user manual will do).

Hope this helps.

Cheers!
 
Great tips so far. I would add-- "What does it _sound_ like?" Unless something is really egregiously wrong-- don't look at waveforms! Listen to your playing! Is it on time or not?

I would think that practicing with drums (whether programmed, or pre-recorded like "Drum Drops" or "Music Minus One" or "Band in a Box" type tracks) would be better than practicing to a click (unless you are a drummer yourself). Groove comes from playing with a rhythm section, not playing perfectly with a metronome.

One Pro Tip (tm): Whether playing with a metronome or with a drum-track/drum-machine or some combination, it is much easier to "lock" when you double the click. You need to subdivide the beat by playing 16th notes instead of 8ths, or 8ths instead of quarters (unless you have _perfect_ metronome time, never use a quarter-note click only). Pro Tip #2: Put some strong, relatively high-pitched instrument or sound, like a woodblock, tambourine, or cowbell, on the upbeats or "off" beats. This gives you a nice time reference for when you _do_ "make the click disappear." Many of the rhythms we play are downbeat oriented, which masks the quarter notes or essential time feel of the click or basic drum groove. Adding an upbeat rhythm instrument (which you can remove later, if you want) gives you a much stronger time reference.

GJ
 
I have been recording guitars for a while now, and I can say that even I run into that same problem. We are only human, so being ever so slightly off of the rhythm is very natural, and is supposed to happen. You will never be able to nail it 100% as if it was quantized to the grid. That being said, as long as you are very very close, almost indistinguishable like you said, than I shouldn't worry too much.

It never hurts to keep practicing though, practicing always helps. I know from my experience that I keep getting tighter and tighter as I play and record to the metronome.

You seem like you're very good, enough to go down this deep to the super minor details of the timing. Keep up the good work!
 
All I can say is practice practice practice, and if it's so subtle, why not edit the sound? Ableton's warp editing or Logic's flex-time should do the trick. I mean, it's what they're there for!
 
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