Click Track / Backing Track Issues...

[StarSonicEnt]

Hey guys.. Quick question...

I've been mixing a project for a band and they are wanting to use some of the tracks live. No problem....right? Keep the click on the left side and the backing tracks on the right... This way, when they take the signal out of their Ipod, minidisk, whatever, they will be able to split the click into in-ear monitors and the backing tracks to Front of House.... right?

Ok...here's my dilema. Even though I just assign the click to Output A1 and everything else A2, I'm still getting a little click in A2. With other music and whatnot going on over top of it, it would never be noticable, however, I'm thinking about lead-ins, breaks in the song, etc. How can I prohibit the click from coming out of Output A2.

FYI...I did just try panning it as well and that had the same result.


I'm using a Powerbook G4 and MBox 2. I have tried it on my 002 as well and still the same result.

Any thoughts would be GREAT!


Jason Killebrew

[The Dougfather]

Try printing the click to audio, set up a send to a bus from the click, create a mono audio track and assign the in to the bus you sent the click to. Hit record and the click will print to an audio file. Not sure if it will work but it's worth a try.

Cheers

[Naagzh]

I do work for band creating their live back-up tracks as well, and I never had this problem. I didn't even bother assigning to A1 or A2, I just left the track outputs stereo (A1, A2) but panned them as you did: click left, everything else right.

Are you sure that the tiny bit of click you hear on the right is in fact from the left? Or is it headphone bleed from when you tracked? If you're certain it's not bleed, then bounce to disk as you normally would, and import the bounced file into a new session (keep it 16 bit, 44.1 kHz). Then, insert silence in the right side of the backup track at the beginning and whenever there's a break. Consolidate, export the file, and you're done.

Just a thought here, but are you using any stereo-imaging or "widening" plugs on your master fader, like DUY Wide or Ozone or something?

A bit off-topic, but here's a way to make more money from the band: offer to create a voice-over guide track on the left side of the tracks. You can record yourself saying things like "Intro, 2, 3, 4" or "Solo... in 1, 2, 3, 4". You could voice-over a little reminder for every chorus, verse, change, turnaround, and ending. This way everyone who's using in ears gets reminded of the song's arrangement as they're performing. This is how the big live productions are doing it more and more.

By the way, I don't know what you're using for a click sound, but I created a very nice click with the Cowbell 3 in the Click plug-in (yikes!), while using an EQIII with a LPF set to around 800Hz (phew!). It takes the bite out of the click, so you can crank it in your in-ears and not get a headache. The band I work for finds it less distracting in general, too.