[Rwp] To Quantize or not to Quantize - that Is the (Non-technical( Question

[Matej Golian]

Hi guys,
this time I don't really need any technical advice, but I'd be eager
to know how you approach the concept of quantization. I know that this
is a general recording question and so if you think that this is not
the right place to ask this, just ignore this message.
So, from what I gather quantization is very common in today's
recordings. I understand that it's more frequent in certain genres
than others, but I guess that it's safe to say that everyone working
with music has to know something about it. Quantization should be used
to fix timing issues, so that sloppy recordings don't sound sloppy or
so that they sound at least less sloppy if possible. So far so good.
But the question is: how much to quantize?
I know that this is subjective, just as everything, but the general
opinion is not to overquantize. In other words, if I for example
record something as MIDI and than make every note absolutely perfect
(in terms of length and position), the result should sound robotic.
But is this really so?
Obviously, whether one perceives something as robotic or not depends
on a number of factors, but I get the feeling that in some cases it
makes no perceivable difference whether you quantize or not. Imagine a
recording of only 8th notes at 200 BPM for instance. Maybe it's only
me and my unseasoned ears, but it seems to me that human ears have a
tendency to perceive things as much more regular than what they
actualy are - unless the recording is extremely sloppy they in my
uneducated opinion seem to compensate for minor imperfections - thanks
to or because of their imperfect nature.
My point is, if I slow down a fast recording, I'm able to tell how
much it has been quantized. If it's too perfect I might say to my self
that this is too perfect to be a human, but does this really matter in
the end?
Sorry for the essay. I started thinking more about quantization,
because I'm finally working on my first recording and I quantized a
part of it, but not because I thought it sounded bad, but because I
had the chance to easily do it.
So my personal conclusion is to quantize up to the point where you
perceive something as perfect (to keep it human), but all in all this
topic still puzzles me.
Currious to know what you think.
Matej