To swing or not to swing?

Over the past few weeks I have been doing my snares on 16th, hatts 32th and for the kicks I have turned
The TC OFF!. Boy what difference this makes in giving my beats more head nod and less of a generic vibe. Id really like to hear from other users what type of beats they make and what type of TC they use?.

I don't have any rules. Sometimes I quantize the kick on the first downbeat and the main snare hits, and play the rest in without TC. Sometimes I quantize the hats and shift them later. sometimes I quantize everything and requantize various parts.

Another aspect of swing is velocity. Sometimes you can give the impression of swing to a straight quantized beat by varying the velocity.

Since I always do the drums last, my main approach is to try and make them fit with the samples or keys that I started with.

mp3 wrote:I don't have any rules. Sometimes I quantize the kick on the first downbeat and the main snare hits, and play the rest in without TC. Sometimes I quantize the hats and shift them later. sometimes I quantize everything and requantize various parts.

Another aspect of swing is velocity. Sometimes you can give the impression of swing to a straight quantized beat by varying the velocity.

Since I always do the drums last, my main approach is to try and make them fit with the samples or keys that I started with.

yep

to me anything unquantized sounds offbeat

Grenozh wrote:to me anything unquantized sounds offbeat

What if it's unquantized AND on beat? That's what I think is the good stuff.

It sounds that way to me cause I come from a Dj's perspective, when I try to beatmatch and the drums in one song are all over the place it makes it hard to get it on beat

so when drum machines came out it made that far less of a problem because you don't have irregular timing as with an actual drummer

To me when you add swing your going backwards because we finally got this drum machine thing that can make your beats perfect but by not quantizing you are purposely making it wrong, thats my problem

Grenozh wrote:we finally got this drum machine thing that can make your beats perfect

Damn where can I buy one???

But jokes aside, thanks for the dj perspective, I never thought of that.

Grenozh wrote:To me when you add swing your going backwards because we finally got this drum machine thing that can make your beats perfect but by not quantizing you are purposely making it wrong, thats my problem

saying "You're making it wrong" is a bit much
I do see your point tho as far as beat matching is concerned

Grenozh wrote:It sounds that way to me cause I come from a Dj's perspective, when I try to beatmatch and the drums in one song are all over the place it makes it hard to get it on beat

so when drum machines came out it made that far less of a problem because you don't have irregular timing as with an actual drummer

To me when you add swing your going backwards because we finally got this drum machine thing that can make your beats perfect but by not quantizing you are purposely making it wrong, thats my problem

This is the greatest statement ever made on this forum.Nice one TYPO

I make my beats unquantized because I like them to try to feel as natural as possible. To say that someone can make a perfect beat is an unreal statement, no one will ever make the perfect beat because everyone has their own taste. To quantize or not, is not really a question. If you look at it from the DJ perspective, then also look at it from the drummer perspective, or even any instrument in a band. The only REAL way to quantize, is to use your head, not the drum machine. Saying that leaving quantize on is to make the beat sound right, is wrong. To make notes string together, then you'd probably be a music school teacher, or a composer. Honestly, the only reason I don't use quantize, is because I KNOW where I want my beat to be, and leaving quantize on only makes the beat off to what I really want. I usually freestyle my quantize and rhythm in my head, and not on the drum machine.

i dont think he meant 'make it off' time when he said 'making it wrong'. but anwyay i sometimes quantize but shift the notes, sometimes no quantize, sometimes just quantize w swing...it really just depends on what i want to do.

From a classic trained bass player.Swing is just fooling yourself.Really TYPO

But cant you make your beats swing by not quantizing? I can make my beats swing any which way I want with the quantize on, but sometimes the quantize throws you off...the 5000 doesnt have any swing and the closest thing swinging to the famous 3000 is the 4000 and sometimes thats off...so really, I dont even know what Im saying...lol...basically swing comes from the user, and sometimes you can program your swing into the machine.

i tend to do all my drums on 1/32 and bass on 16 but depends how intricate the bass line needs to be

Grenozh wrote:It sounds that way to me cause I come from a Dj's perspective,

What about a DJ from the 70's who was blending disco? There was no quantize being that drums were live. A good DJ could blend any record. If the blend is impossible, then its safe to assume you chose the wrong songs to transition into each other.

As far as drums, 9 out of 10 times I leave the quantize off. There really isnt a right or wrong way to produce. Just what sounds best for the specific track you are working on.