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

[Matej Golian]

Thanks Chris, it certainly makes sense.
Your answer only proves that there's no right or wrong way of doing
things. I guess I'm yet to find my 'right' way of doing it though.

2015-11-11 16:24 GMT+01:00, Christopher-Mark Gilland via RWP
<rwp at bluegrasspals.com>:
> You know...
>
> I agree.  I think it really just depends on the sound you're looking for.  I
>
> tend to do a lot of quantization, and I do mean, probably wayyyyyyy!
> overkill, but the thing is, for me, it's a must.  Even after about 5 years
> of major major practice, I still find that I am very very unsteady at times.
>
> I don't know why, but I just never seem to be able to follow the constant
> tempo, even with a metronome.  So, for me, it's a must!  For some however,
> they might be steady enough that it's not an issue.
>
> I think ultimately, it just depends on the song, the sound you want, and
> like you said... how humanized do you want it to sound over all.
>
> Also, remember, I'm not sure if Reaper can do this, as I'm  more a ProTools
>
> guy, but there should be a way to only quantize a certain selection of
> audio.  So, in other words, rather than quantizing the whole track, or for
> that mind, every track, just pick the parts which actually need that little
>
> push.  You may find that if it's minor... no pun intended... enough, it may
>
> be better then to just take the few beats that are off, and nudge them
> manually forward or back on the time ruler.
>
> Hope that makes sense.
>
> Chris.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Matej Golian via RWP" <rwp at bluegrasspals.com>
> To: "Reapers Without Peepers" <rwp at bluegrasspals.com>
> Cc: "Matej Golian" <matej.golian at gmail.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 10:02 AM
> Subject: [Rwp] To Quantize or not to Quantize - that Is the
> (Non-technical(Question
>
>
>> 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
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