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Quantize - how rigid are you
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| Sonic_c |
Do you quantize everything to a 16th or whatever sometimes I play something in and by itself it sounds better unquantized bit of a human feel more emotion. This is of course due to the free feel of whatever I am playing but then i put it in the mix and its out sounds awful, so i quantize and im left with something that sounds ok but less emotion.
Any thoughts on how to get around this? |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
Varying velocity and volume on percussion and synths can also give your track a less "robotic" feel.
Unquantizing stuff tends to sound worse when you have lots of delay on the percs, since the "off" notes are repeated over and over. |
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| RichieV |
things that are 100% quantized sound awfull to me.
If you are'nt a musician and can't play something to save your life, there are plenty of groove templates around to make your music have life. You can even just use the midi parsing from stylus and apply that to tracks.
people don't realize how big of an impact the parsing of beats can have on dance music which is almost entirely rhythm oriented. Knowing how to manipulate rhythm can make a track at 120 sound more upbeat and "fast" than a track at 130. The rhytmic tension between tracks is what makes your track danceable.
Musicians practice hours learning how to play behind , in front ... of the beat so that it sounds energetic and lively or laid back and "phat" and all you have to do is put a groove template on your midi tracks.
I suppose the original culprit is bad ears so perhaps the availability of such easy methods won't quite help the musically deaf. |
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| Sonic_c |
Could someone tell me how to apply a groove in cubase sx3?
I used to use them all the time when i made house in reason4 but I never found out how in cubase? |
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| Tarpex |
Usually breakdowns are quantized for big corrections only, then pads / any kind of strings are mostly left as-is, everything else is quantized, at least the starts.
Try variating like four different note lengths and vary between them accordingly, a few 1/128' can make quite a difference, just make sure the note starts are rock solid on the line for everything that has a rhythm, else it sounds like a screwed up DJ transition :)
A lot of emotion comes with careful velocity curves too, I give velocity much bigger weight in achieving naturalness and emotion than quantization.
People have excellent rhythm up detection, you can try having naturally, un-quantized notes in breakdowns, but if they'll be out of sync where there's anything with a solid rhythm, it won't sound good... As I've said, try a few note length variations, but only slightly, that's mostly it for quantization :) |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| SonicC, what resolution are you unquantizing things at? Even very small changes can make quite a difference in the feel of the track. |
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| Sonic_c |
I played some chords in a stabby rhythmic way with a patch I made where the velocity afects cutoff on the filter. I deliberately played the notes in the chord at diff velocities to give a nice feel.
it ended up being a 1/16th pattern but it sounded better looser. |
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| owien |
| quote: | Originally posted by RichieV
things that are 100% quantized sound awfull to me.
If you are'nt a musician and can't play something to save your life, there are plenty of groove templates around to make your music have life. You can even just use the midi parsing from stylus and apply that to tracks.
people don't realize how big of an impact the parsing of beats can have on dance music which is almost entirely rhythm oriented. Knowing how to manipulate rhythm can make a track at 120 sound more upbeat and "fast" than a track at 130. The rhytmic tension between tracks is what makes your track danceable.
Musicians practice hours learning how to play behind , in front ... of the beat so that it sounds energetic and lively or laid back and "phat" and all you have to do is put a groove template on your midi tracks.
I suppose the original culprit is bad ears so perhaps the availability of such easy methods won't quite help the musically deaf. |
yeah good post i have to rely totally on piano roll for everything.
sonic i think you may find using the piano roll to co-create the things you want a way round your issue then maybe not |
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| Nightshift |
+1 for Shuffle/Groove
all u need rly. |
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| cryophonik |
| There are a few apps (e.g., Ableton, Maschine) that let you quantize by a percentage (usually 50%), which can make a big difference. The great thing about that feature is that you can quantize multiple times, each time bringing the notes 50% closer to the beat, thereby allowing you to dial in just the right amount of quantization. |
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| Sonic_c |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nightshift
+1 for Shuffle/Groove
all u need rly. |
Anyone know how in cubase SX3 |
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| RichieV |
the trick is that you create tension between the actual tracks. you don't just apply a groove template to the entire project. You have to do it strategically to certain elements so they push against other elements that are perhaps more on the beat. Quantizing something with a shuffle feel to the entire track sounds just as robotic and stale as something is completely straight.
again this is something that takes alot of time to get. It is unfortunate that people spend about 90% of their energy getting a good kick drum when their are so many more important issues that actually have to do with music. Applying the preset shuffle quantizing preset is like using an Ozone preset to master. It might sound a little better but it will never be great.
People spend so much time on the dumbest things. I remember the supersaw threads 2 years ago. The kick drum threads were almost as annoying. Is it really that hard to do ? I just don't get the obsession with things that are so rudimentary. |
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