Zwan: Perfect recording, everything to a click track.

[Funbags]

First time I've seen this. Jimmy says; "With Zwan, it got to be about making the perfect recording ... everything to a click track"

Hmm

[run2pee]

Would u pls stop teasing and bullying with these threads? It’s not funny anymore

[Funbags]

Originally Posted by houseofglass11

Not funny and you’re a bully.

Sincerely,
Funbags

[Ram27]

someone posted a long time ago about seeing him at a drum clinic in like 2003 where he talked about this.

apparently for one song [declarations of faith?] they increased the tempo .25 bpm for each of the 4 bars of the prechorus so the chorus would be 1 bpm faster

[Disco King]

I've listened to Mary, Star of the Sea, like, twice in my life, so I don't remember how the drums felt.

But when it comes to the "click track vs. no click track debate," I think either avenue has its merits depending on what the musician is trying to achieve, and what the musician is most comfortable with. I think it's an oversimplification to go, "professional musicians always play to a metronome, not being able to keep in sync with one is a sign of being an amateur" or "click tracks always make music clinical and sterile, you can only have feel and soul if you play without one."

Like, whatever floats your boat, man. Chamberlin strikes me as somebody who probably doesn't like click tracks all that much and is freer to play how he likes without them, but I don't want to put words in his mouth, seeing as I don't think he's ever said that explicitly.

[themadcaplaughs]

Originally Posted by Ram27

someone posted a long time ago about seeing him at a drum clinic in like 2003 where he talked about this.

apparently for one song [declarations of faith?] they increased the tempo .25 bpm for each of the 4 bars of the prechorus so the chorus would be 1 bpm faster

I remember that. I think it was "Ride a Black Swan."

[Gooch]

My brother is retarded and when he plays drums he needs a click track. To insinuate that using a click track is somehow inferior to playing without one is very insulting. No one finds relying on a click track funny anymore.

[brothahi4L]

Who cares? Zwan album was crappy too.
Actually they dont need jimbo...they could use a drum machine.

[houseofglass11]

You have to play really tight to play to a click. I’m sure Jimmy had no issue with that. In the middle of recording an album with my band right now. Our previous drummer recorded the drums but they were lackluster and my new drummer is ten times better. He was able to retrack all the drums since we initially recorded to a click. Saved us a lot of money and time. It’s also a lot easier to fix shit if need be when there’s a click.

[houseofglass11]

brothabigcock I will say that your assessment of MSotS seems a bit harsh. Revisit the album sometime, it’s actually quite good.

[brothahi4L]

I did... typically 3 star album

[Ram27]

last fully listenable BC release

even tho it pales in comparison to the 2001 shows

[Joey Goldberg]

tbh i'd say Zeitgeist was a bit more listenable than the Zwan album for me, but that probably has something to do w/ the fact that it had a bit less BC smearing his new "i'm a reborn HAPPY Christian!" bs all over it

some gems on that one though, for sure

[Disco King]

Originally Posted by houseofglass11

You have to play really tight to play to a click. I’m sure Jimmy had no issue with that. In the middle of recording an album with my band right now. Our previous drummer recorded the drums but they were lackluster and my new drummer is ten times better. He was able to retrack all the drums since we initially recorded to a click. Saved us a lot of money and time. It’s also a lot easier to fix shit if need be when there’s a click.

I do remember Butch Vig saying that Chamberlin just could not play to a click track for the first two albums. I'm sure he can now, but it's not uncommon for jazz musicians, even highly skilled jazz virtuosos, to be incapable of playing to a metronome.

When I record shit, I also record to a click track. I dunno, it just makes tracking the different parts easier. "Oh, I want this guitar to come in at this measure." *Snap to measure and hit "record" instead of having to listen through the song to find a particular part*

If I played with an actual band, I'd probably prefer to try playing without one to get a bit more of a "groove," though.

[run2pee]

It’s pretty hard if u don’t learn to a click to learn to play to a click later, for me at least it’s hard af cause nobody ever told me about metronomes when i was young and dumb they just said hey son go play your stupid guitfiddle in the basement, who are u trying to be, eric clapton or something?

[brothahi4L]

Guys??? Does it matter? Jim and james arent contributing much. It feels like a bolly solo album...
Friday? New single? Machina reissue? Thouhts?

[incubator]

weird that they strived to make a perfect recording and then ran the whole thing through some special effects chain purpose built to make music sound dreadful.

[Funbags]

Originally Posted by Ram27

someone posted a long time ago about seeing him at a drum clinic in like 2003 where he talked about this.

apparently for one song [declarations of faith?] they increased the tempo .25 bpm for each of the 4 bars of the prechorus so the chorus would be 1 bpm faster

That's pretty cool! Jimmy's drumming on Declarations of Faith sounds like MCIS. It doesn't sound like it's recorded to a click at all.

Originally Posted by Ram27

last fully listenable BC release

even tho it pales in comparison to the 2001 shows

Agreed!!!

Originally Posted by Joey Goldberg

tbh i'd say Zeitgeist was a bit more listenable than the Zwan album for me, but that probably has something to do w/ the fact that it had a bit less BC smearing his new "i'm a reborn HAPPY Christian!" bs all over it

some gems on that one though, for sure

I like the Christian/spiritual aspect of it. If more Christian Rock sounded like Zwan, I'd probably listen to it.

Originally Posted by incubator

weird that they strived to make a perfect recording and then ran the whole thing through some special effects chain purpose built to make music sound dreadful.

The pre-master MSoTS tracks that are floating around online sound a little bit better than the final album. I'm sure if it were remixed from the masters, the album would sound much better. Pajo apparently has a CD mix of the album without Billy's overdubs, and you can actually hear the guitar parts he and Sweeney played.

GIMME THE REISSUE ALREADY BILLY.

[brothahi4L]

Funbags:..... most songs on msots are just dull, and boring.

He could haved mixed it differently, but the songs srayed the same.
3 star record, typically bully billy.
Sweeney seems to be cool, but bolly wasnt able to get along with him.

Why is love lies in ruin or other tracks not on zwan album?

No desire to listen to that christian republican crap

[Gooch]

Love lies in ruin is an amazing song

[brothahi4L]

Absolutely. Is there a good quality live performance circulating?

[Ram27]

[brothahi4L]

Thx ram

[T&T]

dynamic click tracks have been a thing for a long time. Click track doesn't necessarily mean one bpm for the entirety of the song (like the 1979 recording). I use Locic Pro recording software and it will let you do any tempo change at any moment to a precision of a 1/1000 bpm. I assume other recording softwares let producers do it.

I've been doing it for years and have tracks with 100's of changes. The idea of ramping up the bpm for the chorus is the simplest of exercises.

It's becoming more common today to have the untalented "artist" do his performance without a click (cause they can't follow it anyways). Then a click is mapped and a click track is CREATED and then all the other pro artists come in and follow the original recording and click track. if they can't follow a click, they're just not hired. (having also helps adding digital instruments and quantizing to the artists grid)

[run2pee]

Originally Posted by Ram27

My fave as well. Paz is a lil pitchy for the backing vocal but it’s like endearing y’know? God i loved this fucken band. Fuck u big willie for killing zwan and then tarnishing its legacy with a non sequitor album of pseudo-christian false-happy horseshit!

[cork_soaker]

i've never been able to hear a single one of these purported clicks

[brothahi4L]

Lol yeah..the album sounds like shit....christian cowfakepoop

[FoolofaTook]

There's a lot of foul language being slung round these parts.

Please tone it down. For Jesus.

[Joey Goldberg]

i've hung with Jesus, he's a regular pottymouth

[FoolofaTook]