Rick Beato on grid-based music (quantisation)

Someone's Dad said:

I can't speak for the collective, but I always try to bear in mind that "typing on the Internet" isn't my first language and a lot can get lost in translation. I got what part of the video you were referring to and how it related to your son's music (on a side note - exciting times, eh?). Always hope/assume that no-one is trying to be dismissive - if they are, it's on them, not you.

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It could be a simple "lost-in-translation" kind of thing, but I'm a veteran of the internet forum medium, (trumpet players forums, drummers forums, drum builders forums, shooters forums - I was kind of a junkie for a bit and had to cut way back.) and this seems a bit out of the ordinary to me.

I think that certain times of the year are more prone to this - I've noticed it a lot over the years immediately following the Christmas holidays - but I'm not sure what this is.

A few days ago someone took me to task and basically told me I was too big for my britches, and that since I'd "only" been playing drums for 10 years (It's actually 15 behind the kit, and much more than that if I include rudimental snare, but who's counting, right?) that I needed to check myself at the door.

I'm just wondering if I've done or said something heinous to the point where I've now got a target on my back, because this kind of thing has been happening for a couple of weeks. I'll try to contribute to the conversation, and then, "BAM!" Someone wants to make sure I know my place. Or something like that.

But getting back to our regularly scheduled program, I enjoyed Rick Beato's video a lot - I thought he hit the nail on the head...but I've only been drumming for 10 years, so what do I know, right? ;-)

trickg said:

No confusion - I know what he was talking about and I agree - I watched the whole video, beginning to end.

What I was referencing is what he posted at the end of the video with the songs "Back In Black" and "Roxanne" and the deviation in tempos because they didn't record to a click, but rather, they live tracked sans click as a band....kind of like what I said about what my son's band is getting ready to do in the studio soon. I don't know if those songs would have been better or not if they had been recorded to a click. (And thus, possibly still retaining the essences of feel and groove.)

Man - have I don't something wrong here recently? It's like everyone wants to pick apart my posts and prove to me that they know more than I do. It's been bad lately.

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First; my apologies for making you feel attacked... I was responding to more than one post which I thought was equating Rick's comments simply to click recording. I like your input here and the last thing I want is to discourage that.

Secondly, I bet some of the songs that rick analysed and had pegged as click-less might have had a click going in the studio, and just not worried about pegging every note on a click blip. It's very possible, often even advisable to have it going simply as a general reference to the tempo range you want to stay in. With practice it's totally even legit to push or pull against a click track for certain parts; it's also valid to literally program click tracks that do their own speed up or slow down operations. In a few cases I've removed the accents so it doesn't really matter where the 1's go as long as we stay in general with the beeps the tempo can end up sounding more solid but with some flow and variation.

Ok - that's fair, and I've actually experienced that with a couple of big band CD projects i was a part of. The drummer had the click - no one else - and we didn't always stay on it, but it was there as a general reference so that we didn't run away with tempos, nor did we turn tunes into a dirge.

Regarding the other bit, no sweat - I'm pretty thick skinned and I get over things quickly.

I've been using a click ever since I began playing this damned instrument a few years ago. I even use it when I'm jotting down a motif so I can remember it later, which allows me to loop it and listen for where and on which instruments I need to dedicate some practice time.

Example motif: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAgwenr-O5w

As far as quant goes, it really only makes sense if you want a quantized feel. If your part has a lope to it, a lazy kick, or a lazy snare, etc, quantization will ultimately ruin the song.

I love Rick despite the clickbait titles on his vids.

I love how titles designed to grab your attention are dissed as being "clickbait"...

Lol

As if titles should not be written in a way to get you to get your attention?

Would you click on this? "An Examination of the Use of Computer Software and it's Impact on the Production of Modern Pop Songs By the Quantizating of Beats and Tempo" by Rick Beato. Lol

A true "clickbait" title is a title designed to get you to click on a link regardless of the worthlessness or inappropriateness of the material it takes you too.

I don't see any of that with Rick's material. It always has value and his titles are pretty much dead on in their assertions.

Mongrel said:

I love how titles designed to grab your attention are dissed as being "clickbait"...

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How computers ruined Rock Music
How THE LICK killed jazz
The four chords that killed pop music.

Dissing these titles as clickbait, as they imply that rock, jazz, and pop are somehow dead, or no longer as glorious as their formative selves, when in fact the opposite is true.

Dissing these titles because they disparage the use of the four chords, the lick, and computers, when there are numerous situations and creative permutations where they may be entirely appropriate.

I click on Rick for a pseudo cerebral analysis of music and musical works, and because it offers more to me than a reaction video of some rando non-musician listening to Queen for the first time. His "What makes this song great" series is a divine gift.

I'd have still clicked on Rick's video if it had matched the thread title.

Someone's Dad said:

I don’t listen to modern music and think “this was recorded by a Stepford Wife”...

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I certainly do.

I think of it like this. If I'm a two-year-old, I like the bright shiny object, preferably in a primary colour. If I'm an adult, the same thing looks like a cheap plastic toy.

Most recordings since the mid 80's make music sound like a cheap plastic toy spit out of a factory in China.

These days almost the only Rock recordings that catch my ear are lo-fi stuff and live recordings.

On the plus side, all this cheap electronic processing has pushed me more toward Blues and Jazz. Those guys still make recordings that sound like actual bands.

And it isn't just Pop and Rock music. You can listen to recorded music from all around the world and the quality peaks in the 70's and then falls off a cliff in the 80's when all the cheap electronic processing became available.

That was a good one, went on a little long.
Pretty sad state, if people producing simply want musicians in one at a time, give their parts in one take...for assembly later by some algorithm. What a sterile bore.
I love studio albums, but always felt the real picture of a band has always been their live albums. And yes I know some/many live albums have dubbed parts, even dubbed audiences, but not like this.