The Quantized Hi-Hat

After years of quantizing my beats, I've recently been quantizing only the hi hat and leaving the snare and kick unquantized. For some reason (at least my ears), it seems like the perfect balance between tight and loose, giving the beat a cool human flow and just enough steady timing, minus the usual rigidness that comes with quantizing everything.

I should note that my field is more R&B, so this is probably all old hat for y'all. Just wondering if anyone else does this.

i quantize everything midiwise

i heard of peeps doing a quantize on the kick and snare and playing the hats live

sounds like you workin backwards but if it sounds good to you then its ok

i always play the hats live and quantize the bass drum and the snare because i'm not steady enough to play it live
Recently i tried to play hats,bassdrun and snare at the same time without quantizing, i got to practice a bit more but i think that the better way to have a human flow (sloppy joe style of broken progressive drums.)

i agree with aries. often i quantise the hats to the pattern i want and then go back and knock em out of time a tick or two, forward or back. it just makes one's drums sound so much more loveable if they're a tiny bit offbeat. it elevates drum programming. think jaydee, el-p -- 2 producers with a hugely different style, but both have great drums because of their use of the offbeat.

MOVE Those Hats At Least on Occasions........................

I think its funny how drummers strive, day in and day out, put thier best effort forward, to be perfectly on beat (if only they could do it, they would be content) and we make extra efforts to make sure our drums are not perfectly on beat in order to maintain that "human feel". As Alanis Morrisette would put it...

ironic......

Drummers I know strive day in day out to achieve feel. That is: playing within a given time frame (ie. beats per minute) put pushing and pulling to make it swing. maybe the drummers you know arent very good and just can't keep time

macthedoulos wrote:ironic......

BUT TRUE......................



TRUST THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ariesmale1 wrote:After years of quantizing my beats, I've recently been quantizing only the hi hat and leaving the snare and kick unquantized. For some reason (at least my ears), it seems like the perfect balance between tight and loose, giving the beat a cool human flow and just enough steady timing, minus the usual rigidness that comes with quantizing everything.

I should note that my field is more R&B, so this is probably all old hat for y'all. Just wondering if anyone else does this.

Yeah, we work the same, but I hardly EVER use quantize on anything, cuz it just screws with my sequences too much...

i'll have to try this...i've always been a slave to the sample...meaning i always start with the sample then put the beat around it...my homies tell me to never use quantize, but when i listen to Kanye's stuff for example, the hihats sounds too perfect to be unquantized...maybe i should get the core elements of my beat in place...kick snare hihat with quantize...then add the sample into it...i know each situation is different, but this way might be worth a try...good lookin out

i quantize all the time..my drums atleast.

for me the drums are my foundation i can't have them all wild and all over the place..because then the samples are gonna be off and its more work in the end getting the track to flow..

tdot wrote:i quantize all the time..my drums atleast.

for me the drums are my foundation i can't have them all wild and all over the place..because then the samples are gonna be off and its more work in the end getting the track to flow..

i'm starting to go in that direction...the producers i admire...kanye, premier...sound more quantized than unquantized, even though my buddies swear by no quantize...i'm gonna try starting with a quantized beat and then adding the sample, even if it means shaving a little off the top and/or end of the sample to make it fit...doubling the tempo will give me more space to adjust

Kicks and Snares: 16ths with 62 swing
Hats: 16ths with 58 swing
Samples: 32 triplets or 16ths with 50 swing.
For other things that I just drop in through out the beat: Freehand no quantzing.

grimaybeats555 wrote:Kicks and Snares: 16ths with 62 swing
Hats: 16ths with 58 swing
Samples: 32 triplets or 16ths with 50 swing.
For other things that I just drop in through out the beat: Freehand no quantzing.

man, i really appreciate this...this has been buggin me for a while...i can't wait to get home to try it...also, i listened to your beats man...liked what i heard...is Dre wearing makeup in that pic?