Creating a click track

[CDK]

Hi all,

I've been asked to create a backing back track with no drums and a click track for the drummer. How do I do this so only the drummer hears the click?

It's for a high school student who's more than likely going to be playing the track on a laptop for an exam.

Thanks :)

[reginaldStjohn]

You might have to give some more information.  Are many people listening to this at the same time so they need to hear the drum track but you want the drummer to not hear the drums all from within Cakewalk?  Do you want to export a backing track file that has all the instruments and the click but no drums to a file?

 

[John Vere]

In it's simplest format all you need to do is export a stereo wave/Mp3  file mixed without drums ( click track) in the left and then the with the drums ( click track) in the right track. This is called a "Split track" format that is pretty common. 

Then it's a simple matter of splitting the stereo signal which alas is not easily done internally within a laptop but very easily done through any external sound system. 

Complicated ways to do this would involve using an audio interface and sending the different mixes left/right. 

Edited May 16, 2020 by John Vere

[lapasoa]

You can record hi hat on a track as a click track. Then the drummer can play listening to the hi hat track. Simple like that.

[CDK]

On 5/16/2020 at 12:23 PM, reginaldStjohn said:

You might have to give some more information.  Are many people listening to this at the same time so they need to hear the drum track but you want the drummer to not hear the drums all from within Cakewalk?  Do you want to export a backing track file that has all the instruments and the click but no drums to a file?

 

There will be a drummer and a singer. They will both need to hear the track but only the drummer needs to hear the click.

I've been asked to create a backing back track with no drums so the drummer can play the drum part.

Ideally I would send them an mp3, yes, but I'm not sure how to route the audio so that will work.

 

[CDK]

Hey @Lord Tim, thanks so much for your message and sorry for my late reply!

Where does mastering come into the above equation? I guess I mix my track, master it, then set up my 2 bus tracks as you say above?

I also have no idea what this student is going to play the track through. It's for a high school so you never know. I would assume he'd need at least a 2 channel mixer, yes? 

[CDK]

So I do my panning/bussing at the mixing stage, then export that to an MP3?

[CDK]

Thanks Tim. Just to be sure I'm on the right track, if you take a look at my screenshot here, I'm assuming I pan the click left and the instruments right?

Should I convert the audio tracks to mono before exporting the final MP3?

[John Vere]

Split Track has been around along time. Locally I've been asked to make these for Schools and Churches. This was put on a Cassette in those days and then their sound person would just have to split the cassette outputs into 2 different channels of the mixer as Tim is saying. A simple matter of then sending those mixes to either FOH or monitors. 

In my acoustic duo we use backing tracks that  originate as finished songs we have recorded.  So they have vocals, guitars,banjos, mandolin, drums and keyboards as well as the Bass. When we perform we want  only the bass for FOH. So my split is with the Bass track Left and the "band" in the right. 

To make the split track my easy method is using Cakewalks Busses. 

The recordings have busses for drums, vocals guitars and bass etc. 

To make a backing track I mute the Vocals and guitar busses.  I then pan the Bass buss Left and the keyboard and drum buss right and export to a wave file. 

Note: I use mix recall to keep the 2 versions of the song. 

I then take it to a mastering step in Wave Lab where I analyze and make sure each song has the same average RMS level left and right. 

I generally use Wave for live performance but I make a backup to MP3. 

At the gigs I simply use a 1/8" stereo Y  2 x 1/4" into the mixer from my Netbook. A cell phone is sitting there as a back up with the MP3's. 

At some gigs I run the Bass output directly to a Fender bass amp. The drums/ keyboards are only sent to our floor wedges. This can also be applied to any monitoring system. Example run the click track directly to a powered speaker or in ear headphone amp.  

Edited June 11, 2020 by John Vere

[WolfmanAndy]

I create a click track in "Audacity" free sorfware, just 2 clicks, then export an mp3 from Audacity and import that mp3 into Cakewalk.

[Hatstand]

There is a way to record the metronome in CbB

Create an audio track and then go to the send section and send to a new aux track (there is probably a quicker way to create an aux track)

Set the metronome bus output to none and also set it to send to the new aux track.

Set the metronome to play on playback. set the aux track to record, and then start recording. You will then have a recording of the metronome on the aux track which you can output to a new bus and pan the bus to the opposite side to the mix