Keeping a drummer in time with my keyboard
I'm a keyboard player in a party band, and I'd love to be able to use the kind of loop-delay sounds so common on modern processed recordings to fill out the sound. However, I face the immediate problem that it reverses the 'conductor' relationship we have with our drummer: ordinarily, we have no option but to follow his (thankfully very steady) rhythm.
I can get the keyboard reasonably synchronised to the drummer at the start of the song, but inevitably it drifts away after a few bars (the tempo is internally quantised to a whole number of beats per minute, so it's not the drummer's fault!).
The only solutions I can think of are
resync my keyboard to the drummer every few bars with the 'tap tempo' button, or
glare sternly at the drummer if he dares to drift away from my tempo (he just smiles and ignores me)
Is there a technique I'm missing to do this? I've seen bands where they do seem to use sounds like this, but I've never been close enough to see exactly how they do it.
(7)7 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
Your drummer should be capable of playing along to a rhythm set by another instrument rather than leading the tempo all the time. Can he drum along to a metronome?
If the problem is that the keyboard isn't always sounding the beat (maybe you have a couple of bars without playing, or just holding a chord without rhythm?) then you need to add something for him to follow.
I suggest adding a 'click track' to your keyboard output - ideally via a separate output that the drummer can listen to through an earpiece; he then plays in time to that, your keyboard is obviously in time with itself and everyone else can then follow the drummer.
If there's a lot of electronics going on that the drummer needs to always be in time with, then a click track on an earpiece is really the only option. This is pretty standard for professionals to use with in-ear monitors.
If the tempo doesn't vary immensely and the keyboard is only playing from time to time, then I don't think there's reason enough to introduce a costly in-ear monitor setup if you're not using one already. (Click tracks also take away a lot of freedom you otherwise have as a performer.) What you should be doing instead is to program your keyboard in a way that it doesn't rely on an internal clock being consistent through the entire song. You would program in the target tempo, but it wouldn't start keeping time until you trigger it by playing in time with your drummer.
If that's a bit beyond your keyboard tech, you might be able to get away with giving four beats of tap tempo in the bar before you come in each time, in order to resync from any drift that happened when the keyboard wasn't playing.
Someone should make a light that only blinks to the tempo of a source music signal such as a radio amp signal. No need for ear pieces, monitors, click tracks, none of that. My drummer wanders all the time and it gets on my nerves. I saw a video of the Beatles using a strobe that was basically a metronome light. Make it happen Number One! I would buy one yesterday.
Perhaps the issue is with the quantising: a 'whole number of beats per bar' is vague. If it is quantised to crotchets (quarter notes) it won't sound very groovy at all. It should probably be quantised to semiquavers (16ths), or at least quavers (8s).
In any case, if you are playing electronic dance music your drummer will really need to work at keeping steady time.
If you bring in a steady electronic beat to a live situation either the drummer should hear it clearly from the monitor or your sample must be very specific in terms of that tempo of the current song.
The live performance is never perfectly uniform in terms of tempo though many professionals play to a click track (especially pop gigs with light shows and dancers synced to the beat). If you leave the click track out basically everybody stays on the beat via drummer's backbeat (or whatever is significant with that particular tune). Otherwise a DJ actively takes control of the samples by modifying along the way and incorporating into the song just by judging the tempo of the drums and adjusting accordingly. Or the drummer specifically takes those samples into account as a click track and follows its lead. It's often doable but the mental load increases as the sample gets complicated. In the modern era, drummers include electronic pads to trigger the samples when they see it fit.
What you are trying to do is to sync two independent tempo selectors and one of them is organic. So you have two options:
As you mentioned, either you link your sample to a key on your keyboard and trigger it every couple of bars (or every bar if needed to resync) or let the drummer hear the sample cleanly so that he can sync with it. Or as others mentioned introduce a click track it can be his own track and you can introduce the samples depending on his backbeat. So the precision stays in your control while the drummer doesn't bother listening to your settings.
However, as you see, it's not that easy to just press a button and let the sample ring. 5 bpm difference can build up pretty quickly in a few bars.
Our old trick was to give the drummer a metronome being fed from the keyboard. Obviously not all keyboards will be able to output that, but if it does, give that a go. He needs a steady pulse if he isn't the one creating it himself :)
The number one job of a drummer surely has to be to keep time, particularly in a dance band. It should be a matter of pride for any drummer that he /she can keep time.Yes, lots of numbers move slightly bar to bar, but if the drummer can't keep it straight when neccessary, it's a shame! As a guitarist/bass player, I hated using click , or drum machines, but I'm certain it was good grounding for time-keeping.Sounds to me like he needs to be persuaded to play along in time rather than go his own way.All part of the learning and improving situation. Tap tempo-ing won't do your job, it'll only mess things up for the whole band.Trouble is, most drummers will always say they play in time.......
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.