Click track
An audible metronome played through headphones during recording to keep the performance at a fixed tempo.
A click track lets takes be edited and looped against each other and allows tempo-locked effects to line up exactly, which is why it is standard practice in commercial recording. Many musicians find it constraining at first, because it removes the natural push and pull of playing with other people. Some records are deliberately made without one so that the tempo can breathe, and the two approaches produce audibly different results.
Example: A guitar part recorded along to a steady electronic pulse through headphones, so it stays locked to the session tempo, was cut to a click track.
See also
Related
- PageMultitrack recording
- PageOverdub
- PageDAW
- PageAmp mic placement
- PageAudio interface
- PageAux send
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley