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From: BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Why pitch-corrected vocals sound so mechanical
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2025 19:50:29 -0000 (UTC)
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On Apr 11, 2025 at 3:38:33 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
wrote:

> On 2025-04-11 4:13 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDJF4lR3_eg
> 
> Just as pitch-correction alters the pitch of notes to make them 
> "perfect", quantization alters the placement of notes to make them 
> rhythmically "perfect".

Rhythmically perfect is not desirable. It makes the music sound computerized,
like Commander Data is playing it.

Humans are not perfect so music that is perfect sounds inhuman. That's why my
music software has a feature called "Human Playback", which purposely
introduces minor inaccuracies in both rhythm and pitch, making it sound a lot
less digital and cold.

>  For instance, if the drummer's high hat hits are 
> a little bit off the beat, quantization can shift them to be exactly on 
> the beat. This too makes the playing sound mechanical. I've heard 
> several musicians bemoan the (over)use of quantization just as "Fil" 
> bemoans the use of pitch-correction in this video.
> 
> This video is a brief explanation of quantization without much of the 
> philosophizing about whether it is good or bad. I'm sure there are other 
> videos that examine the issue more thoroughly.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68LtY2aATl0 [7 minutes]
> 
> Note: He makes several uses of the term "DAW" (spelled out as individual 
> letters) without explaining it. DAW stands for Digital Audio 
> Workstation, essentially the software you use to do the recording, 
> pitch-correction, quantization etc.
> 
> For what it's worth, I've often heard analysts note that bands like The 
> Beatles, the Doors, and Led Zeppelin definitely speed up and slow down 
> perceptably in some of their well-known recordings, even though they had 
> fine drummers. If quantization had existed and been used when those 
> recordings were made, we might well have found those songs somehow less 
> impressive....
> 
> This short by Rick Beato gives an example of a quantized Led Zeppelin 
> groove versus the original:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a7dTRgc0Mn4
> 
> The short is an excerpt from this longer video:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT4fFolyZYU [10 minutes]
> 
> When Beato says that the original tempo is 170 BPM, he means 170 beats 
> per minute.