To Quantize or not to Quantize that is the Question..

Here's my expericence with it:
At first i thought quantizing sux 'cause it really drew my beats off rhytm so i decided no more quantizing and did everything without it. This led to patterns not being whole bar measurements and that kind of headache...

On top of that, the more i listen to the radio i realize that alot if it is quantized..snare falling on the 2 and 4, hats placed at every other 1/16 increment, so on and such forth. Usher's Confessions part 2 is great example of what i'm talking bout in the use of quantization.

So now i'm back doin quantizing and i wanted to know how ya'll felt bout this and how it relates to professional hip hop/r&b music and any tips/tricks

yah, ive only been doing it with hi hats...but i wanna learn how to use it with kicks and snares aswell

its sure as hell pieces your sequences together

how can your patterns not be whole measures? are you not using a metronome? is the quantize really drawing your beats off rhythm, or are you playing off beat? I'm not trying to be funny. Playing in time with a click is one of the hardest things to do. All quantize does is lock to nearest note value. (16th. 32nd, etc.) Your timming has to be in the ball park of those values or what you play back after you quantize will sound "off-beat".

Weather or not to use quantize is a production decision. Do you want a loose/human feel to the track, or do you want it to feel air tight. Sometimes its a good idea to mix it up. For instance, you can quantize your kick and snare with a slight swing, but lay the hat or shaker loose and behind the beat.

ddot_SFV wrote:how can your patterns not be whole measures? are you not using a metronome? is the quantize really drawing your beats off rhythm, or are you playing off beat? I'm not trying to be funny. Playing in time with a click is one of the hardest things to do. All quantize does is lock to nearest note value. (16th. 32nd, etc.) Your timming has to be in the ball park of those values or what you play back after you quantize will sound "off-beat".

Weather or not to use quantize is a production decision. Do you want a loose/human feel to the track, or do you want it to feel air tight. Sometimes its a good idea to mix it up. For instance, you can quantize your kick and snare with a slight swing, but lay the hat or shaker loose and behind the beat.

yeah i think quantize makes your beats much more flexible and u can make grooves better when u freak it right. u have to use swing and the eariler and later settings. also u have to quantize certain things at diff rates. like for percussive noises i use 1/32, or like a bass line ill lock in at 1 /16, or a basic hat pattern at 1/8. U can really get creative with it. I love that sh**

about swing......when ever i've used it, it just sounds dumb.

would anyone care to give me a kick, snare and hihat pattern that uses swing that sounds good?? just so i can get an example?

what?

uh, let's see, just about anything premier's ever done, tribe called quest, wu-tang...

yeah with quatizing and step edit u can make rugged ass drum patterns. Like first bang the beat out then goto step edit and edit your hits. like velocity, filter, all that jazz

i meant an example of a pattern, perhaps 1 bar loop

like
hihats- every half beat
snare- 2nd and 4th beat
kick- 01.01.00, 01.03.00, 01.03.48


so if i used that pattern what swing parameters would you assign to what instrument in a way that sounds good? i'm askin just as an example


i mean i know swing is to make it sound offbeat but whenever i use it it sounds offbeat in a bad way

cybernaga595 wrote:Here's my expericence with it:
At first i thought quantizing sux 'cause it really drew my beats off rhytm so i decided no more quantizing and did everything without it. This led to patterns not being whole bar measurements and that kind of headache...

On top of that, the more i listen to the radio i realize that alot if it is quantized..snare falling on the 2 and 4, hats placed at every other 1/16 increment, so on and such forth. Usher's Confessions part 2 is great example of what i'm talking bout in the use of quantization.

So now i'm back doin quantizing and i wanted to know how ya'll felt bout this and how it relates to professional hip hop/r&b music and any tips/tricks

so u cant keep your snares at 2 and 4 unless you use 1/16 quantize? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOOLOLOLOLOOLOOLOL

There ain't no "magic" setting I'm sorry to say. Either you have the "vibe" or you don't. Some cats are born with it, some cats aquire it along the way, some/most wouldn't know what it was even if they fell into a pile of it. I'm not trying to be discouraging or insulting to anyone, but that's just how it is.

mkbaproductions: uhh im not sure what ur laffin @?

ddot_SFV: I agree with u that there is no magic setting b/c if there was every1 wuld b superstars. Also what i meant by "off beat" is that for example: w/o quantize i can bang out a 4 bar drum loop but at the end of the fourth bar (beginning of the 1st bar) it wouldn't loop correctly b/c of where the notes were placed. This i know is my doing b/c i wasn't playing on beat enough, but wat i was saying was that with quantizin it allows u tomake sure everything is tight.

yeah i think quantize makes your beats much more flexible and u can make grooves better when u freak it right. u have to use swing and the eariler and later settings.

Yea lately that's what i've been doing. I find that some percussion though are left best un-quantized (bongos, conga, etc...)

If it doesn't loop right and your pattern came out how you wanted it, it means your BPM is off, too slow if there is silence, too fast if they overlap. Quantize has nothing to do with it.

I'll record everything quantized at 1/16 usually, then go back and manually adjust the swing settings. I will always drop the snare on 2 and 4 later about 20 ticks or so to give a slightly lazy feel.

Swing sounds dumb??? c'mon man that one of the best parts of the MPC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You just got to make sure you don't over do it. I never adjust the swing past %60. You want it to be subtle. Usually I'm around %55 or so.

to call swing dumb is very ignorant. Its one of the most revered features of the mpc and makes it very powerful. It dont work like magic though u gotta freak it. just play with it.

elmacaco wrote:If it doesn't loop right and your pattern came out how you wanted it, it means your BPM is off, too slow if there is silence, too fast if they overlap. Quantize has nothing to do with it.

Ahhhh see u learn somethin new everyday..good looks