In a move that could possibly be classified as 'pointless but also rather interesting', a blogger has used software analysis to try and determine which famous drummers play along to a click track when they're recording.
The research has been posted at Music Machinery, and features results generated by a 'click track detector' that the proprietor created using the Echo Nest Remix SDK. You really don't have to worry too much about the science, though, as all the information you're likely to be interested in is plotted on a series of graphs.
On each of these, the Y axis displays beat variation, while the X axis covers song duration. The researcher believes that comparison with a computer-generated drum track reveals that, while Nickelback and Green Day's drummers may well play along to a click track in the studio, Metallica and Weezer's probably don't.
You can also see examples of Ringo Starr and Jon Bonham's drumming which, surprise surprise, show pretty clearly that they didn't play to a click.
So, what should we conclude from all this? Not much really. Recording to a metronome is hardly a crime, and it's also possible that some of the supposedly click-happy drummers simply had their playing straightened out in software after it had been recorded.
As we said at the top, though, it is interesting - though we're still not exactly sure why.
(Via Boing Boing Gadgets)
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