- You must sort out with the MD/Conductor
the tempo of the music, how long it is (how many bars), how many
beats in each bar and whether the music will speed up and slow
down. You must also sort out how many beats they want as count
in.
- Decide what the click is going to be in
consultation with whoever is going to be listening to it. This
is usually the MD and the drummer. Conventionally, a rimshot
(the side of a snare drum being hit with a wooden stick) is used
on each beat of the bar. Sometimes, they will want a different
sound on the first beat of each bar for emphasis. They may also
want a separate track for count-ins and bar numbers, particularly
if there are long periods of silence in the backing (e.g. if
it is used for chorus parts in a verse/chorus type song).
- Record the click track onto one track
of your recorder. The drummer or MD could do this 'live' but
a better way, if you have the facilities, is to use a computer
sequencer. With this you program in the number of bars and their
tempo, and 'record' a MIDI note on each beat. The advantage of
this is that you can change the tempo and the click sound very
easily. Once the song has been programmed, you can record the
entire song onto your chosen track. NB it is also possible with
some MIDI Timecode (MTC) compatible equipment to synchronise
the computer to the recorder and therefore free up your click
track. We would advise against this as it is an inherently less
reliable system, particularly in performance, as there is another
item (the computer and the link to the recorder) to go wrong.
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Click
Track - 2 - The Process - 1 - Record the Click 