Definition
The metronome is the device that ticks a steady pulse at a given BPM; the mechanical pendulum metronome was patented by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel in 1815 (hence the marking “M.M. ♩ = 120,” Mälzel's Metronome). In the studio we speak of the click or click track: the DAW's metronome sent to the musicians' headphones during recording.
Why use it
- Practice: develops internal time; without a reference we all tend to rush through exciting passages and drag through difficult ones.
- Recording: allows editing, comping between takes, quantization, sync with loops, delays and MIDI; necessary for working with samples and sequencers.
- Live: bands that play with backing tracks and synced lights use a click in in-ear monitors.
Progressive practice exercises
- Click on the quarter notes, play eighths and sixteenths: the goal is to “disappear” into the click (not hear it because you are right on top of it).
- Click on 2 and 4: like a backbeat; trains you for swing and the jazz/soul feel. At 60 BPM the click becomes 120 on the quarter notes.
- Click only on the 1 of the bar, then once every two bars: your internal time must hold everything else together.
- Gap click: 2 bars with click, 2 without (many software metronomes and apps do this). If you come back in off the beat, you have drifted.
- Click on the upbeats (the “&”s): forces you to feel the subdivision; very difficult at first.
- Displaced click: feel it as a triplet or as the “a” of the beat, useful for polyrhythms.
- Slow is hard: at 40–50 BPM the internal subdivisions must be solid. Work at low speeds before speeding up 5% at a time.
The click in recording
- Sound: choose a sound that cuts through but doesn't tire the ear (rim, short cowbell, woodblock). A click with a different accent on the 1 helps avoid getting lost.
- Subdivision: for slow songs (below 70 BPM) give the musician eighths or sixteenths; for fast songs only quarters or half notes.
- Pre-roll / count-in: 1–2 bars of count-in before recording. In FL Studio: the metronome icon in the transport panel and the countdown option before recording in the recording settings.
- Headphone volume: enough to hear it, not so loud that it bleeds into the microphones (vocal, acoustic guitar): risk of “bleed.” Use closed-back headphones and cut the click's high frequencies if necessary.
- Feel: with some musicians it is better to have them play over a drum or percussion loop instead of a pure click: it improves the groove.
- Songs with rubato: first create a tempo map and have the click follow the changes.
The click in FL Studio
- Turn the metronome on/off from the button in the transport; you can choose whether to play it only while recording.
- The metronome sound is changed by replacing the samples in the settings (or by creating a custom “click” pattern with your own sound routed to a separate mixer channel so you can send it only to the headphones).
- To send the click only to the musician: create a dedicated sound card output for the headphones and route the click channel there, excluding it from the master.
Practical example
Recording an arpeggiated acoustic guitar on Am – G – F – E at 64 BPM: click in eighth notes (that is, 128 clicks per minute), with an accent on the 1; 2-bar count-in; record 3 takes and comp them. Then try the same with a sixteenth-note shaker loop: compare which take has the best feel.
Common mistakes
- Always practicing at the same tempo and only with the click on the quarter notes.
- Click too loud in the singer's headphones: it bleeds into the microphone and is heard in the mix.
- Forgetting to turn off the click during export (in FL Studio the metronome is not exported, but a custom click pattern is: mute it).
Exercise
For one week, 10 minutes a day: days 1–2 quarter notes, 3–4 on 2 and 4, 5–6 gap click, 7 only on the 1 every two bars. Record one minute each day and measure the drift in FL Studio by comparing the transients with the grid.
Connections
“Tempo map, rubato and tempo changes”, “Quantization”, “Shuffle and swing: percentages”, “Groove, swing and microtiming”.