The count in

[Nail Soup]

This came up on my FB suggestions.

A 13(!) minute video on counting into the song.

Any thoughts, opinions or anecdotes on counting in?

Should it be the drummers job?

[MacDaddy]

"Wuntoofreefaw!"

 

And a personal favourite that I have inappropriately used at the start of a pop song:

"One, two, three, Oi!"

 

[Trueno]

One band I was in… we’d pile on the stage, pick up our instruments and someone would shout “Go!” 
 

Worked a treat.

[Nail Soup]

The subject even got covered in Only Fools and Horses

 

[ead]

I enjoyed Quo's count in to Rocking All Over The World at Live Aid:   4 and off they went.

[knirirr]

I recall someone playing me a Macc Lads track some years ago, and the count-in at 0:25 stuck in my mind as being suitably in-character.

[Rich]

Our count-ins have become something of an audience participation thing... Dave will shout "onnnne, twoooo," and the crowd join in with the "one two three four"

[ubit]

I remember once someone in the audience shouted out 1,2,3,4 to us at a pub gig and we all started right on cue. It got a good laugh.

[Happy Jack]

I honestly wouldn't have believed it possible to make a 14-minute video on how to count in a song.

 

Now that I've watched (the first two minutes of) it, it's pretty clear that I would have been right. 

[Downunderwonder]

3 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I honestly wouldn't have believed it possible to make a 14-minute video on how to count in a song.

 

Now that I've watched (the first two minutes of) it, it's pretty clear that I would have been right. 

Thanks for saving me from clicking on it.

 

My drummer cocked up the count off one too many times, too badly by far. A slow ballad came over as The Chipmunks version.

 

He got a tablet with all the tempos loaded onto the setlist. Problem solved, but he still sometimes starts off 1, 2 and races 3 and 4.

[Happy Jack]

My drummer always starts at the right speed and all is good until he starts doing BVs ... as soon as he starts singing (which he does well BTW) his drumming accelerates.

 

[dclaassen]

I think I just lost more grey matter watching the first bits of this…and he is wrong about the Pearl Jam thing as well.  

[Nail Soup]

16 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I honestly wouldn't have believed it possible to make a 14-minute video on how to count in a song.

Yes, he could have said it all ina couple of mins.... but Kudos to him, he managed to stretch it to over 13 mins 😉.

 

It's ironic really........  we say that attention spans have reduced in the internet age, yet YT vids seem to thrive on this kind of bloated presentation.

[Buddster]

I did the live sound for a celtic rock band in the early 80s in the Bristol area.

In a thick Bristolian accent, the mandalin player would (shout) count them in "1,2,3,...1,2,3" ..for a 4/4 piece. 

I expect it was more for show as they all came in right and stayed tight. But it was funny.

[SH73]

It's like  the toilet bomb scene in Leathal Weapon 2, do it on 3 or  1,2,3 then do it.

[StickyDBRmf]

"Don't let the bass player count in." Personal experience I did the "cat-skinning" solo then played the first 8 bars and it kept getting faster & faster and I got reprimanded by the drummer 'cause it was too damn fast.

[Marky L]

Our drummer seems to think he HAS to count every song in. Unfortunately he doesn't often get the tempo right. One song we do, he hammers out a 1,2,3,4 at the start, first verse fast, then chorus slows down and then that's the tempo from then on. He has no idea he does it. I have the delight of bringing up that at the next band camp! (And much more too!!)

[JapanAxe]

I’ve known a drummer to count in a waltz with ‘1 2 3 4…’

 

Also never let Joey Ramone count in a song.

[Nail Soup]

11 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

Also never let Joey Ramone count in a song.

Dee Dee used to count the Ramones in....... and he's the bass player.

[Marky L]

5 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Dee Dee used to count the Ramones in....... and he's the bass player.

And that's as it should be.

[JapanAxe]

5 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Dee Dee used to count the Ramones in....... and he's the bass player.

You’re right! They all come in at the right speed, which is frequently different from that of the count. Now that’s hard!

[NancyJohnson]

Never let your singer count you in.  

 

Interestingly, never let the singer decide when a song should end, either.  We'd delight, while the singer held an arm up like Elvis, in deciding when to stop during a long ending.  Sometimes we'd just stop, other times he'd throw his fist to the floor and we'd be letting the ending carry on.

 

Oh, the hilarity.

[SumOne]

However it's done I wouldn't mind a voval count in sometimes.

 

One of the trickier things I find with Reggae is the count in (well, not vocalised - but the drum roll count in). 

 

A couple of examples: 

 

 

I've learnt it off by heart but I can't figure out the timing. Cymbol - Rest - Kick - Snare - Bass (leading note) - Bassline starting on the on the 1?

 

Or: 

 

 

4 beat drum roll, then 1 beat cymbol/rest with bassline starting on the 2nd beat? Again, I'm not really sure but have just memorised how it sounds.

 

[Nail Soup]

4 minutes ago, SumOne said:

One of the trickier things I find with Reggae is the count in (well, not vocalised - but the drum roll count in). 

Yes, I would struggle with it..... it's so short.... unless they do some sticks too.

[gjones]

I used to count in the songs because our drummer used to play everything insanely fast.

 

Of course he never paid a blind bit of notice.

 

He was like animal....

 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by gjones