Recording to a click isn’t for everyone, but what if the mix needs tempo-based effects? We show you how.

Why Not Use A Click?

There’s no doubt that recording to a click makes life easier when it comes to editing and mixing. Not only is working to the grid more conducive to editing tasks, but also to the use of creative effects where time parameters need to correspond to the track’s tempo. Some engineers and producers will ask an artist whether they ‘do’ clicks, whereas others are happy for the artist to lead on that. One thing is for sure though, and that is there is nothing to be achieved from forcing the issue with performers who are not comfortable with it. While there are some surprising examples of artists who record with them, for many, sacrificing uniformity is the aim of the game anyway, so why kill the organic flow of a ‘felt’ performance?

The No Click Trick

Performances that were recorded without a click do not have to forgo some of the tempo-based effects that can add rhythmic sensibility to things like tremolos and delays. Tempo-mapping can help prep a recording for grid-based editing and tempo synced effects, but for the latter, a quicker approach can be employed.

Gating can produce tempo related tremolo with the right sidechain signal that is sourced from a rhythmic element whether it is recorded to a click or not. By extension, gates that can generate MIDI data upon opening can also be used for other effect-based sync duties.

Getting A Source

Generating a sidechain source and how that is routed into the audio plugin doing the effect will vary depending on your DAW, but the principle is the same. Any sidechain conditioning can be applied directly to a send from the sidechain source if the DAW allows. Alternatively, if a duplicate track is employed as the sidechain input, its main output can be routed to the bus feeding the effect processor. As a third option, a send can be used from this track as long as the track’s main output is muted or otherwise routed away from the main outputs.

Sidechain Conditioning

Getting a nice clean sidechain signal sometimes needs a bit of cleanup before going on to the destination, and sometimes can itself benefit from some extra gating to distil the audio into a more basic form suitable for sidechain use. If needed, delay can be used on this sidechain signal, either to generate simple rhythmic figures for the destination, or for more complex elements when multiple taps or ‘delay designer’ type tools are used.

Listen For Yourself

Watch in the video how we use this technique to get a tempo-synced tremolo effect for a pad.

Tempo Sync Off Grid

By employing this technique, the engineer or producer has a best-of both worlds approach. The recording benefits from a natural performance with emotive push and pull, yet is afforded tempo-based effects that follow the music without the need for tempo mapping or otherwise tying the music to the grid. While the initial setup can take some tweaking, once set, saving the channel strip or audio plugin presets will make the whole process quicker than tempo-mapping the whole session. Not only that, the scope for experimentation means that you could find yourself using this technique even for those sessions that do live on the grid…