How in the world did Dilla not quantize his beats brehs?

[Mr Hate Coffee]

I keep reading that dude didn't quantize AT ALL. All my producers out there know how hard that is.

I also read he did some songs without sequencing repeat tracks.

Like instead of having a repeat pattern, he would have a straight up 4 minute one shot track.

 

[blackwaterpark]

all kinds of musicians have been doing this since the beginning of recording.

dilla was a real musician.

 

[TEKBEATZ]

its not that hard to do

 

[Freestyle Phantom3.0]

what does quantize mean I feel like I should know this considering hes my favorite producer...

 

[Mr Hate Coffee]

what does quantize mean I feel like I should know this considering hes my favorite producer...

In digital music processing technology, quantization is the process of transforming performed musical notes, which may have some imprecision due to expressive performance, to an underlying musical representation that eliminates this imprecision. The process results in notes being set on beats and on exact fractions of beats.

Basically if you're off beat it keeps you on beat. To make beats without it, you have to be PERFECT or have a constant rhythm. Similar to live performances.

Pretty much all hip-hop producers quantize. Maybe not all instruments, but they'll quantize something.

 

[Aje]

too much or over-quantizing makes your sh*t sound like a robot with a suit on made your drum pattern. Not quantizing was what gave that swing to Dilla beats. Plus, the other aspect mentioned by OP, was why you could listen to a Dilla beat tape (with no words) and it listened like an album. It felt like he was up on stage, with an MPC, just hitting the pads live.

 

[Tetris v2.0]

If you want his drums, thats definitely the trick. Black Milk and Mr Porter have said the same thing. Detroit and LA beatmakers (Madlib, Exile, Battlecat, Khalil etc) seem to do that a lot

Maschine has the 50% Quantize option which is helpful for getting a nice rhythm without sounding too rigid or forcing you to tweak the Swing for every sound

 

[Mr Hate Coffee]

If you want his drums, thats definitely the trick. Black Milk and Mr Porter have said the same thing. Detroit and LA beatmakers (Madlib, Exile, Battlecat, Khalil etc) seem to do that a lot

Maschine has the 50% Quantize option which is helpful for getting a nice rhythm without sounding too rigid or forcing you to tweak the Swing for every sound

That's the part that has me like when I found out he didn't quantize ANYTHING. that's a lot of work or you have to have great timing

 

[MrPentatonic]

Not quantizing helps your rythm in the long run because you know you can't just go in and shift a few drums if your timing is off, you have to get it right

 

[ZEB WALTON]

once you get the hang of it, and start to see, doing it LIVE is the only way brehs... me and my boy been trying to do shyt live for like 2-3 years now, practice def makes perfect. theres nothing like going off for 2.5 minutes straight and seeing what happened in the interim. where the sample clashes off with the drum and it still sounds good...lovely

 

[Ian1362]

Basically if you're off beat it keeps you on beat. To make beats without it, you have to be PERFECT or have a constant rhythm. Similar to live performances.

Pretty much all hip-hop producers quantize. Maybe not all instruments, but they'll quantize something.

 

[Tetris v2.0]

J Dilla - L.L. - YouTube

That was a monster right there

 

[True Weltch Media]

ive tried to make beats that way, and your timing has to be IMPECCABLE or your going to be doing a lot of takes... The fact he was doing this on old MPC's is impressive, because you can't visualize the placement of kicks like you can do nowadays with software

RIP...To One Of The Goat Producers

 

[Huellz Santana]

ive tried to make beats that way, and your timing has to be IMPECCABLE or your going to be doing a lot of takes... The fact he was doing this on old MPC's is impressive, because you can't visualize the placement of kicks like you can do nowadays with software

RIP...To One Of The Goat Producers

sometimes i think the visualization actually HURTS you. learn to trust your ears.​

 

[head shots101]

I rarely quantize tho.....I found when I quantize my drums it gives a real robotic feel to it...sounds stiff(if that makes sense)