On Stage - Do You Use Click Tracks & In Ears?

Cuban

Senior Member
I hope to soon return to playing live, something I have not done since 1985!

I've been using the Roland click on my V-drums when playing tracks that I practice to, but I now need to apply it to someone else's material, so I've just picked up a Tama Rhythm Watch and am looking at some Shure SCL2-CL.

I am considering using the click track and in ear monitors live, especially as there could be a lot of intro backing tracks and sound effects to stay with during tracks.

My question is how many drummers do this these days?
I know most major band drummers will, but how about at club level, do you guys playing those venues do this?

Any tips, suggestions, pit falls etc?

Thanks in advance.
 
I haven't seen it at club level, but that's not to say it isn't used. If you have a lot of automatically sequenced parts, I would recommend using one.
 
I would only suggest this if you have ample time to rehearse the whole band this way. While different types of monitoring can be a matter of preference mixed with necessity, it can be disastrous to have the band "fall off" the click if people aren't used to it.

I like playing with my Shure Iso headphones (almost like In Ears) but it doesn't give me a great feeling of security as to how my playing is blending, sound level, wise with other players on stage. You really have to rely on your sound guy to keep everything tight so you can tell how much to lean in to your kit.

I've had to pull them out and put them back in from time to time and it's no fun.

Since you've had a 20+ year hiatus from gigging live, take your time. Play unmic'd, mic'd with no in-ears, etc..

If you want to have a click going for just you then you've got to make sure everybody else stays with you. I can't tell you how many times, a guitar player, especially who is the leader of the band, insists on controlling the tempo. When I was playing with a band that had some complicated arrangements and all the percussion parts were pre-programmed on an Alesis by the guitar player, I brought in the click and everybody was OK with it. It was the perfect time to introduce it.

Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's nice to have the push pull feel of less than perfect time. Unless of course you're doing a lot of hip hop.
 
Hello,

I haven't posted much here (twice?!) but thought I'd respond to your question. The combo you are considering is pretty much exactly what I used for a while, although I don't recall which model of shure in ears I was using (the entry level price point).

Like you I had taken a big chunk of time off playing live and when I got back into drumming I spent much time playing with a click. I started using it with my band playing live as well and it definitely gave me more confidence. This was at the dive bar level as well.

I eventually gave up on it for the live setting because I was worried I was becoming to dependent on a click and with a few of our song there were parts where small tempo shifts were needed.

Whenever I practice alone I have the click on constantly.
 
Hi StG

I appreciate you coming out of the shadows to reply especially as what you have said puts me at ease.

I won't be using the click on all tracks or from start to finish, there will be too many tempo changes and as I discovered today, even the originals that we will cover were not at a constant BPM, so I'll use it as count ins and reference points during a track.

TTNW, I appreciate your advise and will certainly try with and without IEM

The original drummer is also very well known for his push pull feel, so I need to keep it loose.

Since this will be my first band in 25 years, I lack confidence on top of being rusty, so I am trying to get a head start on having all bases covered to give myself a bit more confidence.

Thanks guys.

Anyone else with live experience with IEMs?
 
With one band I always play to a click track - in rehearsal and live. It started as a part of preparations for going into studio, but we decided to stick to it for all occasions because it works for our music. We also intend to start using some backing tracks and effects, and that would be really hard to get to work without click tracks.

My suggestion would be to start using them every time you play the songs, with or without the rest of the band. Also, learn to play the songs by heart and to a click only, without depending on other instruments to remember all the parts and transitions. It's pretty difficult to pay attention to both the click and the band at the same time, so everyone else should be very disciplined in following you.
 
I've done it with three different bands.

I've always used headphones; I picked a pair that didn't isolate my from outside sounds very well, so I can still hear the band, and monitors. In ears would have been nice, but they used to much more expensive.
 
I use a click track sometimes at practice but not live. I don't know, it seems to take the energy out of a live performance.
 
Yes,

It solves the argument coming from another band member saying "You are rushing/dragging tonight. It wasn't that tempo last night." I am the only one who hears it and they should be listening to me for the tempo and not the other way around. I have also been in bands that use sequences live (which more and more bands are these days) which requires the use of a click track.

No energy is lost during a performance; they other members just need to settle down, shut up and play their own instrument instead of telling me how to play mine.


Mike

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At my last church we played in a very large room requiring amplification and the drums were in an iso booth. So I was very happy to learn they had a headphone monitor system.

I use a set of semi-isolating full-cup headphones when I perform with that band, so that I can adjust the volume level in the phones to where it's not competing with the sound coming off the drums. Since the drums are miked, if I need to hear them, I can turn them up individually at my workstation. (Yeah... every instrument and vocal gets its own mix, controllable at the monitor.)

We very rarely use click tracks. The various guitarists who lead the band on different weeks all have pretty good rhythmic awareness, since they mostly play rhythm parts.We also have a stellar keyboard player who can put a click track from his rig into a separate track for me if I need it, but his playing is so solid I usually just turn him up if I feel like I need the rhythmic reinforcement.
 
Never in a live situation. Not to say its a bad idea to incorporate a click track.Some bands use them ..some dont . If tempo is fast or slow,it can be quickly adjusted while the song is played. IMO, a click track disrupts the entire feeling of performance. I do use a click track in the studio tho~In live situations..our lead vocalist counts off the song..
 
We trigger backing tracks from a Roland SPD-S for a couple of songs. These have a click track in one channel (which goes into my headphones) and the track in the other channel (which goes out to the front of house).
 
We trigger backing tracks from a Roland SPD-S for a couple of songs. These have a click track in one channel (which goes into my headphones) and the track in the other channel (which goes out to the front of house).
Interesting, are these backing tracks complete tracks or just sections?
 
Interesting, are these backing tracks complete tracks or just sections?

We have three complete tracks that contain a click track, and some samples that don't rely on a specific tempo that can be triggered at any time.

We're also working on dividing up the complete tracks (since they take up a lot of room on the sampler) so that we can trigger sections while playing. This may or may not work out, we'll see how it goes :)
 
We have three complete tracks that contain a click track, and some samples that don't rely on a specific tempo that can be triggered at any time.

We're also working on dividing up the complete tracks (since they take up a lot of room on the sampler) so that we can trigger sections while playing. This may or may not work out, we'll see how it goes :)
Once again, very interesting, thanks.
Are the tracks in question on your MySpace, I'd be interested to hear what you are triggering.

Can you report back later how the splitting up of the tracks in sections works?
 
Once again, very interesting, thanks.
Are the tracks in question on your MySpace, I'd be interested to hear what you are triggering.

Can you report back later how the splitting up of the tracks in sections works?

The track "No. 3" is one of the tracks that has a full backing track when we play it live. The backing track consists of all the keyboard and string stuff you can hear, a second "lead" vocal (an octave above the live vocal) in the chorus and parts of the intro guitar riff.
 
The track "No. 3" is one of the tracks that has a full backing track when we play it live. The backing track consists of all the keyboard and string stuff you can hear, a second "lead" vocal (an octave above the live vocal) in the chorus and parts of the intro guitar riff.
That Sir is a great track - really enjoyed that. Going to listen to your other tracks now as well (expect an 'add' )
 
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