IMPLIED TIME-"All About You" Hi-hat time stretching
Implied time is a rhythmic technique that superimposes a new time feeling over the original pulse of a song. This is done to create interest or add intensity to the music. Although the mechanics of this can be somewhat difficult these ideas are heavily used in jazz music. Drummers and other musicians often play phrases that imply a different pulse for a section of music. Other times, they completely abandon the original pulse and “switch gears” to a new one. These ideas are not as common in pop music but one version of it is very recognizable.
The most common implied time in pop music is “half time”. Half time is acheived by essentially doubling the metric division. Normally the “back beat” falls on counts 2 and 4. By placing the backbeat on count 3, a half time feel is achieved.
A less common (in pop music) implied time technique is achieved by using rhythms based on dotted quarter notes. Dotted quarter note rhythms last 1 1/2 counts so it has the effect of ‘time stretching’. You can make the time feel slower than it actually is.
I used this technique on the track “All About You” from River Valley’s record Sounds Like Victory.
The bpm of the song is 134 and while we were in the studio I didn’t like how boxed in the groove felt. The general feel was ‘4 on the floor’ so the groove seemed somewhat trapped inside the 4/4 measure. Things repeated too often for my ears. I ended up keeping the four on the floor groove between the kick and snare but opened up the groove by using dotted quarter note phrasing in the hi-hat. This basically put the hi-hat part in 3/4 while the kick and snare remained in 4/4. Now, instead of the groove repeating every single measure it takes 3 full measures for the hi-hat to get back to where it started. It creates a much more open sounding groove. I used this during the verses of the song and went back to a traditional ‘4 on the floor’ groove on the choruses to release the tension caused by the implied time.
You can check out Sounds Like Victory here
Below is a transcription of the verses.
The audio of the intro and first verse of the song is in my previous post.