Click Track for Drummers: Sound, Level, Routing, and Songs Never Recorded to One
· 5 min read
In most bands the click track is the drummer's problem. The singer hears the count-in, the guitarist hears the drummer, and the drummer hears a woodblock in one ear for the whole set. If that woodblock is set up badly, the drummer spends the gig fighting it. This is the short version of getting it right, from the sound of the click to the one case that trips everyone up: a song that was never recorded to a click in the first place.
If you are new to the idea, what a click track is is the two-minute version. This page assumes you already know you want one.
The sound: short, dry, and not a drum
The click has to cut through your own kit in a pair of in-ears. That rules out anything that sounds like a drum, because a snare-like click disappears into your snare. The sounds that work are short and dry with a hard front edge: a woodblock, a rim click, sticks, a cowbell, or a plain electronic tick. Pick one and stay with it across the whole set; a click that changes sound from song to song costs you a bar of adjustment every time.
Beat one should be different. Either a second sound or, simpler, the same sound tuned higher. Your ear picks up the bar line without counting, and a dropped stick or a fill that ran long is fixed on the next "one" instead of the next chorus.
The level: quieter than you think
A common mistake is running the click loud enough to hear over everything, which leaves you drumming to the click instead of with the band. Set it so that it disappears when you are in time and reappears the moment you drift. On most rigs that is a click sitting just under the snare in your ears. If you catch yourself pulling the click fader up mid-set, the in-ear mix is the problem, not the click.
Routing: click in the ears, music in the room
A click through the whole song only works where the audience cannot hear it. The standard file for that is a plain stereo track: click on the left channel, music summed to mono on the right. The left channel goes to your in-ears, the right channel goes to the PA, through a Y cable or two mixer inputs. Every phone, laptop and sample pad can play it and nothing has to run on stage. How the split file works and how to wire it has the diagram, and running a click live covers who else in the band should hear it.
The count-in belongs on the same channel. If the count-in comes from one source and the click from another, they will disagree by a few milliseconds, and you will feel it on beat one of every song.
The awkward case: a song never recorded to a click
Metronome apps and DAW clicks assume the song holds one tempo. Most songs recorded since the 1980s do, so the app ticks at 120 and the song sits on it. The songs that do not are the ones drummers complain about: a live recording, a rehearsal bounce, a backing track bought online that breathes through the choruses. A fixed click drifts away from those within a minute, and now you are choosing between the click and the band.
There are two fixes. In a DAW, tempo mapping: an hour placing markers by hand so the grid follows the audio, then exporting the click. Or a click track maker that reads the beats from the recording itself and puts the click on them, beat one tuned higher, exported click left and music right. The second takes about a minute and the click moves with the song, so you never have to pick a side. Step by step: how to make a click track from your own backing track.
Drumming to a click: three habits
- Subdivide. At slow tempos, hear eighth notes between the clicks in your head. A quarter-note click at 65 BPM leaves nearly a second between ticks, which is plenty of room to drift.
- Do not chase. If you land late, do not rush the next beat to catch up. Settle over two or three beats. Chasing turns one late note into four.
- Own the flam. When your stick and the click land together you hear one sound; slightly apart, you hear a flam. Learning to hear that flam and which side it is on is most of what "playing to a click" means. It comes in weeks, not gigs.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best click sound for drummers?
Anything short and dry that does not sound like your kit: woodblock, rim click, sticks, or a cowbell. Make beat one different, ideally the same sound tuned higher, so the bar line is audible without counting.
How loud should the click be in my in-ears?
Just under the snare. Loud enough to notice the moment you drift, quiet enough that it vanishes when you are locked in. If you keep turning it up, fix the rest of the mix instead.
Should the whole band hear the click?
Not necessarily. Many bands run the click to the drummer only and everyone else follows the drummer. The count-in at the front of each song is the part the whole band benefits from; the click through the song is optional for the others.
Can I get a click for a song that was not recorded to one?
Yes. Either tempo map the audio in a DAW, or use a click track maker that follows the recording. The second keeps the click on the song's own beats even when the tempo moves.
Click track app or a file with the click baked in?
An app has to run on stage, on a device that must not sleep, crash or take a call. A file with the click on its own channel plays from anything. For a set of backing tracks, the file wins; the app is for practice.
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