Published by PitchChanger · Updated · How these guides are made
How to use this workflow
Identify the first full bar
Use the score or a clear phrase accent to find the downbeat. The recording’s first sound alone does not establish it.
Count through a preparation bar
Set four beats per bar for this 4/4 example, then listen through a full group.
Enter before the accent
Sing a one-quarter-note pickup on beat 4, then land the next phrase note on the accented beat 1.
A quarter-note pickup at 80 BPM
At 80 quarter-note beats per minute, each beat lasts 0.75 seconds. Taking the first full downbeat as t = 0, preparation counts 1, 2, 3, 4 occur at −3.00, −2.25, −1.50 and −0.75 seconds. The pickup enters on that final count.
For an eighth-note pickup immediately before beat 1, enter on the “and” after beat 4 at −0.375 seconds. These negative times are a rehearsal coordinate system relative to the downbeat, not negative timestamps to enter into the app.
Swipe or scroll sideways to read all columns.
| Relative time | Spoken count | Action |
|---|---|---|
| −1.50 s | 3 | Keep counting |
| −0.75 s | 4 | Quarter-note pickup |
| −0.375 s | and | Alternative eighth-note pickup |
| 0.00 s | 1 | First full downbeat |
Keep the accent cycle aligned
The metronome supplies grouped clicks; it has no pickup-length field or automatic song alignment. Prepare one complete group and enter manually on the intended count. For this exercise, do not restart the click at the pickup and accidentally make it the accented beat.
A pickup may have several notes or occur in another meter. Count its actual duration backward from the first full downbeat using the score’s beat unit. Stop the click after practice; changing grouping alone does not identify an unknown recording’s time signature.