click track jitters
 

The Praise and Worship leader dropped a bombshell in practice on Thursday: we're playing one of Sunday's songs to a tightly choreographed video. We practiced doing it by feel, but the collective urge to rush the chorus was too powerful.

I had to put my foot down. I said I'm practicing this song to a metronome, and I'm bringing the metronome on Sunday, and I'm playing TO the click track, and if y'all rush the beat I will have to IGNORE YOU and stay right where I am. 89 beats per minute. Be there or be square.

I've never played live to a click track before. It feels comfortable practicing at home, but I'm worried about the "live energy" aspect. We'll see.

Anyway, I know it will be good for us to leave our comfort zone. And...I can finally make good on my long-standing threat to bring in a metronome to resolve "perception of tempo" issues. People love to rush the space between notes.

People love to rush the fast notes, too ...

this thread is begging to be cloned. I just don't have the time.

Who the fuck puts down anything at 89 bpm?

Playing to click tracks is a skill all its own. I only do it when recording.

Jesus, clearly.

If I can get three beats with equal spacing in between, it's a miracle*.
(*have I mentioned I am a person without faith?)

For reasons that were impossible to resolve in the time we had to practice this morning, the click track thing didn't happen.

I'd click off the time, and almost immediately the band would launch off into a slightly different tempo. I tried turning my band monitor all the way off and turning the click all the way up (in headphones!) but I could still hear them through the plexiglass. Too much shit to process.

Here's what I ended up doing: I clicked off the tempo to the metronome, then I shut the click off and took control, manually. I watched the video to see where we needed to be, and wrangled the band the old-fashioned way. That way I could do my job without having to fight the machine.

The end result is that we nailed it dead on.

I had to make two or three adjustments, either dragging or rushing (almost imperceptibly) to keep us right on target with the video.

See for yourself - this is the video.
Note: somebody built this video with their Sims 2 characters.



Actually not a bad song.
The only mention of religion is the use of a Biblical parable. The subject itself is something I think about all the time.

I'm looking a picture on my wall right now that says "What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul" above a Muerto figurine.

you're getting weirder by the Sunday.

Dude, you're the dude that the song is about! You need Jeebus.

LJ makes baby jeebus cry!

Enquiring minds want to know if Flint is praying to little bitty teeny baby Jesus?

I'm not deranged enough to "worship" or "pray to" another human being.

I mean, it sounds like he was a cool guy; but if he could see how he is represented today, he wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I was actually referencing "Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby".

d'oh!