To click or not to click

One of the first questions I need to answer when I’m writing something, especially when it comes to writing to picture, is the target tempo. Most of the time I’ll set up my sequencer’s metronome to sound while I’m recording–that way I’m somewhat close to the beats and/or beat divisions I need to hit. With this album, it’s much more circumspect. The intent of the album it not to be a certain tempo or to hit a certain beat; in fact, I’d almost say the intent is to become timeless. Hence, I’ve decided to write the entire thing without engaging a metronome.

This is a more difficult method of composing, in a way. I don’t have the comfort of being able to “fix” timing issues by having my sequencer align everything to a tempo grid. No, I’ll have to do it by hand. Yet part of me thinks I won’t “fix” anything at all because the tempo was felt at the time. I’ve grown to trust my instincts on a lot of things, and this is certainly one of them.

It’s a different beast. Kinda like trapeze without a net.