The best decision to make before starting a recording process

Many people would argue against using a click track for recording. For us it has been the best decision we could have possibly made. We are lucky to have Stenda Kukkonen as STUD's drummer. He's been playing to click for a long time and that allows us to do the same when recording.

Before starting to record the tracks to a song it is very important to have the tempo of the song right. The best you can do is to play the songs with the band and try different tempos to see which works best. Even the smallest adjustments can matter. If the tempo is not right, playing the song can feel forced, whereas once you get it right, it feels easier to get into the groove of the song.

Getting the tempo right should be done even before you start to make the demo of the song. Here's why: setting the right tempo and using the click track in both the demo and the actual recording, you can use some parts of the demoes for the real tracks. We did just that. Whole bunch of vocals, guitars and keyboards we recorded for the demoes ended up on our upcoming album. Many times a demo track can have a perfect take for a certain part of a song, would it be a vocal line or a guitar solo. So, there's no reason to redo that part just because it came from the demo (Later on I will tell more about the demo phase and how it's evolved since we made the first album).

It didn't stop here for us, and here's a real bonus. We are using the same tempos when we play live so that we can use some background vocals and keyboards we recorded for the album as backing tracks in our live show. This boosts our live sound remarkably and it's possible only by having a drummer that can play to the click. So, get your tempo right early on and stick with it, and you will have all these benefits at the end.

-Mika

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