I’ve told this story before but only because it’s a great story plus it deals specifically with this issue.

Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, one of the innovators of funk drumming, and a first call studio musician... who’s reputation extends into the realm of legend. If you don’t know who he is GOOGLE him. He can overdub drums to existing tracks (an extremely difficult thing, as most times everyone is listening to the drummer for time). Back in the ‘80’s I got to hire Bernard for a session we were producing... to “fix” the drum track. Bernard has “fixed” drum tracks for some of the biggest acts in the business! We got a budget from the label to get the job done — so I got to hire one of my personal idols — plus he was the best at what we needed to get done.

He passed along this gem about playing with a metronome... “If you’re waiting for it, you’ll be late, if you anticipate it, you’ll be early...”
What he’s telling you is when it disappears that is when you know you’re in the slot. Basically, you’ve got to learn to breathe in that space, you have to put in the time to where you are so comfortable in that slot. It does not come without Practice, Practice, and then more Practice.

Another way to approach this using technology beyond the metronome... credit for this goes to Phil Collins (drummer formerly of Genesis)... the iconic Intro to “In the Air Tonight” with its long vocal lead-in... it was originally to be done with that spacey feel and just vocals until the BIG DRUM FILL followed by the band coming in..... But singing in that empty space was not getting it for Phil, so he programmed that drum machine groove, initially just to keep the time and really it was intended just for his headphones (it was not intended to be used in the final track). Well, it started to not only feel right but sound perfect — and although originally just to keep the time and feel, it wound up being a part of that big buildup...

Use a drum groove (Arp) to play along with, something that gives you the right feel, the right inspiration. You can remove it after recording (as Phil Collins originally intended to do). It is far easier to play along with a drum/percussion part, than it is with a click-click-click of a metronome—just remember because it can be recorded to its own Track it’s very easy to Mute or Erase it...

It is all the bits and pieces between the quarter notes that gives the drum pattern it’s feel... it is this that propels the timing and makes it more fun than waiting for or guessing with a click and empty space.. it can be anything from a shaker to a Hihat to full on drum groove... whatever *helps* keep in time.

One of the design concepts behind including Arpeggios was to provide inspiration. You can use them as a guide track (remove them, or keep them) it’s up to you!. Hope that helps.

great story! that explains why I cannot really keep timing with the click track. A drum track is definitely much better thasn the metronome sound, but I probably suffer from general recording button anxiety too. as soon as I hit record my fingers tend to play the wrong notes...

I'm glad someone else posted this topic because I'm exactly the same! I very rarely record anything because I like to just play all my synths 'live' (just to myself in my house I mean) which means either setting arps going on a couple of synths and playing live on 2 others or a mixture of arps and chords held with foot pedals.

But sometimes I think that I will have a go at recording patterns on the Yamaha synths and using them as part of my live jams and that's where I too seem to panic! Something that I've played perfectly many times before pressing record I just start making a mess of !

Great advice from Phil though 🙂 I could even set a drum arp going on one of my other Yamaha synths and record on another so the drum track doesn't even get recorded... I must admit I'd never thought of doing that before.

I used to suffer the same 'panic' when I started out photographing wildlife. If I came across a rare event or bird that you don't see often, I'd start to rush myself in fear of missing the event and I'd make a mess of things. It was only after some time when I'd realised other occassions would occur that I got myself to slow down and take the photos like I would a static object. In many respects, it's quite a similar feeling to me but with the recording I'm putting too much pressure on myself to get it right first time.

There is no shortcut to experience.... practice, practice, practice. Like most things attempted the more you do it, the better you get at it. But you have to push yourself to the point it is second nature.

If you put the Performance Recorder in MIDI (SONG) record, you do not have to put yourself under that initial pressure that occurs when the red record light comes on... recognize you can just keep recording... don’t stop if you make a mistake ... just pull yourself together and keep going...
Record for as long as you’d like — the thing is realizing you do not have to hit stop... you can just jump back in.

So what if you are attempting to record the first 32 measures of a composition... you can record 500 measures...representing multiple attempts... Just continue recording — if you make a mistake, keep going, again and again. Eventually, you'll get enough data that is useable

Later on, while listening to the playback, you can identify the good spots (by measure numbers); you’ll notice the Song has a Start and End point to identify a LOOP. You can isolate just the good section... by setting these appropriately. When you’ve identified the perfect measures...

...use the PATTERN “Edit/Job” > “Song” > to GET PHRASE
You can grab just the good parts and bring just that data into a Pattern Scene.

This will take that “Red Light Panic” pressure off... and while you are doing it over and over, your getting your practice in... You can just keep playing until you relax... ultimately, you’ll have a few run-throughs that are perfectly useable. Thing is, never give up (never surrender)...