Sorry to have been away from this discussion for the past few days. I think the way in which the problem of the click track has been situated within a much larger set of practices, including multitracking, cut-and-paste operations, etc., is very productive. In some ways, it takes the heat off the click as an isolated issue (but, still, the click track’s association with the metronome and the long history of attitudes for and against its use makes it something of a special case).
I especially like Anne’s characterization of the groove as a set of layers, the click being just one possible layer. For me (and as Anne also suggests) the precision afforded by the click is also a kind of “feel” – a feel that may be more suited to some genres than others. But what is also interesting to me is the way in which the click itself is, ultimately, a layer that is later removed from the sounding groove and only manifests itself in the structuring impact it has had on other layers.
This places the click within the mutlitracking process as a temporarily sounding, structuring element. The click is not unique in this role – it’s a role that’s not unlike that of the vocal guide track mentioned by Rob in relation to Dunn; but Dunn’s problem is with having or not having a guide. In most sessions, the guide track is typically removed and replaced by a permanent, more nuanced vocal. But this can go beyond simple polish and nuance: I know of some sessions where the final vocal track was distinctly different from the initial guide in its accent patterns and phrasing. In case like this, the performance of the rhythm section is, in part, based around the members’ response to a musical layer that is not present as part of the final musical texture; and in its turn, the final, sounding vocal may change in response to the layer contributed by the rhythm section (and other players). So perhaps multitracking can be thought of as a structuring process that employs both sound (recorded) and silent / silenced (unrecorded) elements.
To some degree, every contributor to a multitrack session works within the realm of the virtual – they can only imagine what the rest of the track will eventually sound like; but the rhythm section occupies a peculiar place even within this process because its members work under a special set of unique (and often temporary) contingencies.
