Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Click Sound / Metronome to use with Loops

A few months ago, I made a video and posted it on YouTube that explained how I setup Ableton Live for use with a worship band. I've gotten a lot of great feedback about the video but one of the most common questions I've gotten is this:
Where did you get that click sound? Can I get a copy of it?
I know this probably sounds ridiculous to people who aren't familiar with using click tracks but a good click sound can really make the difference in being able to lock in with the tempo or not. When I first started using loops, I literally spent days looking for the perfect click sound. Out of hundreds of examples, I landed on using just 2 sounds.

The first one from the video is ClicksBeep.wav. I can't remember where I found this and I can't find it on the net now - so, if you created it and want me to take it down, let me know and I will. This click is a great basic sound that's easy to make stand out in the ear monitor mix.

When I need something more elaborate, I use Foundations from Loops In Worship. This is an awesome tool for creating great click tracks in Ableton Live (there is also a separate version available for Garageband. It is a fully functioning metronome incorporated into Live - you can adjust the subdivisions and accents. You can even use it to send one click sound to the vocalists and another to the drummer. Best of all, you can use your own click sound with it so feel free to drop ClicksBeep.wav right into it!

I posted another video about setting a 1-bar count-in on your click tracks that you use with sequenced loops. Check it out here if you haven't seen it yet.

Hope this helps - let me know if you have any questions. I'd love to hear what click sounds other people are using!