Studio Drummer – Timing and Click Tracks

TIMING AND CLICK TRACKS

 

 

‘Time’ and artistry are the apex of abilities that are foundational for a studio drummer. Great time and great artistry go equally hand in hand.  Perhaps there are some drummers reading this that are unfamiliar with what this term actually means.  If you’re aware of what it is then bear with me for few moments or skip this section and move to the next.

 

For those unfamiliar with the term let me use a good example here that I know you’ve heard many times and that is a drum machine pattern. 

 

A drum machine pattern that is properly programmed of course has perfect time. 

 

The problem of course, is that it also has no feel, something that is essential to great music.  The mathematical divisions or subdividing as it’s called in musical terms is perfect.  If you take this drum machine with the existing pattern and slow it way down to say 30 bpm (beats per minute), the subdividing will still be perfect.  However there will be very large amounts of dead air or space between notes. Yet it is still perfect because it is a machine!

Stay tuned for more on this topic