Speaking of studio version song tempo… Does anybody know, did the band ever use click tracks in the pre-digital age?
I wonder how much thought and planning went into determining tempo, or if it was a very spur of the moment type of thing that just happened.
They used metronomes, a Rhythm King (early drum machine), and eventually click tracks (at Brother Studio).
Interesting. Would the metronome be used just at the start of the session to get into the right groove of a tempo?
Or would the drummer be listening to the rhythm of a metronome fed into headphones to play along with for the whole song?
Well, all of the examples I can think of (or at least know about) were when tracks were laid down without a drummer. For instance, you can hear the metronome on "Cuddle Up". The Rhythm King was used on, among other songs, "'Til I Die", and on that one the snare drum was added later. Dennis spoke about laying down piano with a click track and adding drums later.
