Count off

Second shortest count off, "& four &", followed by one measure of drum beat for reference.  Play (high tom-tom rather than voice) 

A count off, count in, or lead-in is a verbal,^[1] instrumental or visual cue used in musical performances and recordings to ensure a uniform entrance to the performance by the musicians^[2] and to establish the piece's initial tempo, time signature and style.^[3][4] Although a count off usually lasts just one or two bars,^[2] it is able to convey the music's style, tempo, dynamics from the leader (such as the conductor, bandleader or principal) to the other performers.^[3] A count off is generally in the same style of the piece of music—for instance, a joyful swing tune should have an energized count off.^[5] A misleading lead-in, one which indicates a different meter than that of the piece, is a false trail.^[6][7] Counting off is evident in musical genres other than Western classical and popular music; Ghanaian ethnomusicologist J. H. Kwabena Nketia has observed the benefits of such techniques in West African music.^[8]

A two-bar percussive and verbal count off played on a closed hi-hat

A silent count off, such as those given by an orchestral conductor using a baton, may be given as a value "in front" (i.e. "eight in front" refers to a count off of eight beats).^[9]

In recorded music, the final two beats of the count off (one, two, one—two—three—four) are often silent to avoid spill onto the recording,^[2][10] especially if the piece has a pickup. The count off is typically edited out after the recording has finished.^[11] There are, however, instances where the count off is deliberately kept on a recording—sometimes even edited onto a recording. In the case of "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles, the count off was edited onto a different take of the song.^[12] A recorded count off can be made by musicians through an open microphone or through the studio's talkback system,^[13] the latter being done by non-performing personnel such as the producer or engineer. The inclusion of a count off in a studio recording may give the impression of a live performance, as on the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise" (1967).^[6]

Pre-count^[14] and count-off^[15] are functions of digital audio workstations which give an amount of click track—typically two bars^[15]—before the recording begins.

Examples

• "Let's Dance" by Chris Montez (1962)
  • The song's verses accent upbeats on beats 1 and 3 and vice versa for the rest of the song, so drummer Jesse Sailes counts it off as "one—two—one, two, three".
• "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles (1963)
  • Paul McCartney's count off of "one—two—three—four!" was recorded on the ninth take of the song, and then edited on to a different take comprising the rest of the song;^[16] George Martin liked the "spirited" raw live feel of the count off and decided to have it spliced onto a better performance.
• "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs (1965)
  • The song features a bilingual count off of "uno, dos, one, two, tres, cuatro".^[17]
• "Taxman" by The Beatles (1966)
  • George Harrison performs two count offs on the track—one is to set the tempo (and is most audible on the fourth beat), and another is for effect (it is off-tempo, "secretive-sounding", and layered with coughing) which was added later.^[18]
• "A Day in the Life" by The Beatles (1966)
  • John Lennon used a droll count off of "sugarplum fairy, sugarplum fairy";^[19] the count off was not part of the take included on the album version (on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) but was first released on Anthology 2 in 1996.^[20]
• "Give Peace a Chance" by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band (1969)
  • The version recorded for the Live Peace in Toronto 1969 album features Lennon beginning with a count off in German: "eins, zwei, ein—zwei—drei—vier".^[21]
• "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" by James Brown (1970)
  • The song begins with a few seconds of spoken dialogue, which Brown ends by saying "can I count it off? One—two—three—four!"
• "I Don't Wanna Face It" by John Lennon (1984)
  • The third track from Lennon's posthumous Milk and Honey album features a "characteristically free-form" count off of "un, deux, eins—zwei—hickle—pickle".^[22]
• "Patience" by Guns N' Roses (1988)
  • The song begins as bass guitarist Duff McKagen gives out the count off. "One, two, one, two, three, four".
• "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals (1998)
  • Gregg Alexander counts the song off with "one, two, one–two–three–OW!"^[23]
• "You'll Never Meet God (If You Break My Heart)" by Carly Hennessey (2001)
  • Co-written by the New Radicals' Gregg Alexander, the song echoes his introduction to 1998's "You Get What You Give" with a count off of "one, two, one–two–three–OW!"^[23]
• "Vertigo" by U2 (2004)
  • During the final two bars of a four-bar drum introduction Bono counts off the song with "unos, dos, tres, catorce"—the Spanish for "ones [sic], two, three, fourteen".^[24][25][26]

See also

• Upbeat

References