Quantization came in in relation to music is taking the notes and locking them into a rhythm or time signature.
Say if you are making a trap snare and your little fingers cant hit the pads fast enough, you would simply highlight the midi-notes you are trying to adjust right click the black space around the notes in most DAW’s and select “quantize”; doing so would adjust those notes so that they are rigidly in place according to your liking.
Some people quantize everything and some people quantize nothing at all and both feel strongly about their reasoning. So Should you quantize your music or not. I’ll help you out with that question.
History of Quantization in Computer Music
I read in a forum somewhere that back in the day there was a thing between seasoned musicians who thought quantization was a waste and a crutch.
They feel like people should practice their timing to get better. Some people feel like quantization takes away from the human feel.
Hit records are made in many different ways every day. Trap music couldn’t exist as it sounds today without computerized quantization.
Finding a Middle Ground
If a real-life drummer performed your favorite quantized song it would feel more like live music. What if you don’t want the live music feel?
You can find a middle ground by only quantizing certain parts of the track like the hats, or the kick on the downbeat. You can then turn off the grid (free mode) and manually drag the notes over to your liking to give it a subtle quantized feel but keep your groove.
I Don’t Want To Quantize at All
I have good news for you, you don’t have to. There is a tool that most DAW’s have called Groove. It’s basically the computer copying the feel of how you play, your rhythm so that you can tell your other tracks to follow that same feel.
You can use this technique to keep all of your tracks playing to the same grove. You can use your own grove or a preset grove from your DAW or Hardware.
Final Thoughts
There are no rules. Do what you want and create what you want, hits aren’t made every day for anyone, hits are made after countless records are recorded.
Experiment with quantization and see if you can come up with something great.