Good Metronome

[blake1]

I've been a bit obsessive about time lately because I've been playing in a rock band and the tempos have to be spot on.
We don't get to rehearse much and I know the tunes well but I have to count everything off. It makes a big difference on some of the tunes if I'm off by a couple of metronome markings because some tunes are really slow or in the cracks.

Wondering what metronome is good for live gigs? I have a split sec. between tunes to count off the song and if my heart is pumping too fast I can get the wrong tempo. (slightly but, really changes some feels).
I thought of getting the new Yamaha programmable one that just came out. You can program the names of songs and it even vibrates the tempo if you want to put it on your belt or touch it.
Any suggestions?

[Randy walker]

I use the Dr Beat but have heard great things about the Yamaha Clickstation.

[Dazzler]

Good topic Blake. This is something that I've been wondering about recently too. I just had a search and found this information on the Clickstation.
What metronomes or drum machines would you recommend for gigs where you're playing say back to back pop songs all night with a large band and dancers, where tempos are vital? Also, what machines can you suggest if you want to take it a step further and program in whole songs with different percussion for example in different sections of a tune?
Incidently, a friend of mind brought round his MPC a while back and demo'd it for me. That seemed fantastic and all you'd need as it's a sampler and you're not limited to on board sounds. The 'swing variator' is just incredible and is responsible for a lot of the changes that are occuring in modern hip hop and RnB. Check out some samples of [ame="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000035X1M/qid=1071631216/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/002-7697719-6701636?v=glance&s=music"]Voodoo by D'Angelo.[/ame] This sound is SO fresh and is like no other feel you've heard. It sometimes sounds clipped and wrong, but why? It feels SOOO good!

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 16, 2003 10:21 PM: Message edited by: Dazzler ]</font>

[sashal3]

Voodoo is one of my all time favorite recordings...Incredible!!!!

[PocketPlayer]

Something non-electronically that has helped me is humming the chorus of the tune before the song. Preparation also helps. "Begin with the end in mind."

When at practice, visualize playing the gig itself and count in...if it doesn't work, STOP the train and start over. If it's not right at rehearsal, good chance it won't be right LIVE, that is if you want the tempo to be at a certain meter.

Lastly, I have taken it upon myself to be the man to hold the time in place. At a recent LIVE gig, I felt the energy from the other guys and knew the guitarist was nervous. He rushes big-time, so I really clicked my sticks hard to emphasize the time and then stuck to it. I wasn't going to let them push me out of the zone the song sounds best in. Of course, at times you have to let it rip and that usually means speeding up. Yet even then, I am controlling things.

[royerin]

Good topic, I too am on the lookout for a new all-round metronome. Thanks for the info on the Clickstation.

Voodoo is a great disc.... [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[wolfgang.at]

I?ve been using the Tama Rythm Watch for a long time and I?ve also tried the Yamaha Clickstation recently. The Yamaha has more features than the Tama, but in my opinion it is too fragile for the road (those tiny wobbling faders, ...)

[blake1]

Can you program the song name into the Tama? I don't want to dial up the tempo on the gig. I want the song listed and just dial up by the song's name or abbreviation.

[sergus]

I have tama rhythm watch and it doesn't allow you to write the name of the tunes. it has 20 memories that you can store the tempo and time signature and that's all. also you only have time signatures from 1 to 6 so forget abou the sevens and so on.

[FuseU1]

Sergus is correct about the Tama Rhythm Watch [i have the RW-100]...the bad thing is that you indeed cannot program it in many odd times [except 3's, 5's, & 6's, altho you might not necessarily think of 6's as odd, even tho technically i suppose it is]...also, you have to make your song set-list [up to 20], numbering each song in order of play sequence, & program the tempos into the TRW according to each song number - so you have to have the numbered song list handy at the gig itself [or memorized of course] to bring up the tune # for tempo/time sig [from 1 - 6 only] - tapping the "program" button once after each successive tune to bring up the next tune in numerical order...it also has knobs to adjust the beeps [click] according to 1/4's, 8ths, 16ths, & triplet feel; & also the loudness of the downbeat in accordance w the other beep subdivisions...the beeps themselves have 2 settings, a high & medium pitch [no HH, shaker, tamborine [img]eek.gif[/img] , or cowbell sounds here]...& the LCD display is not backlit, so you'll need a small light for dark rooms/club gigs to see it...of course, i bought mine back in the mid-'90's...

Right now I'm playing live along w a click [HH] generated by the Roland MC-80 Mini-Micro-Composer [for the last 3 yrs. or so], because all of the live stuff has accompanying tracks ["band in a can"], but you don't need one of those for srictly metronome purposes [img]wink.gif[/img] ....

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ December 17, 2003 09:10 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>