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I am currently a student at Music Industry Arts in London, Ontario and we are studying Pro Tools and Logic. The topic we covered this week was how to quantize however, I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around it's uses (specifically for audio tracks such as vocals or guitars).

I've watched videos on youtube about it but most cover the MIDI aspect of locking, say, drums into a set grid of your choosing. What is the purpose of this for vocals specifically (any audio tracks though)? My engineer told me that he uses it as a pitch corrector on vocals. Can you guys help clear this concept up for me or give me links to anything that has helped you with it? I've been trying very hard to get my mind around it but it's eluding me.

Thank you.

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RHolla88 Wed, 02/29/2012 - 18:11

audiokid, post: 385329 wrote: Who knows though, could be a new program made in China that calls it quantizy?

Cracked me up, thanks for the laugh. Thank you for "Quantize is aligning notes to a set rule." I think I just needed a nice definition like that. It was what I kind of thought it was in the first place, now I need to learn how to properly apply it and to know when to apply it.

audiokid Wed, 02/29/2012 - 21:18

hehe, glad to make you laugh.

Some programs have very advanced quantizing options to apply feel. IMHO, Akai MPC's are the best at it all.

Simplified, place notes in front, on top or behind the beat is what its about, including swing. I've been programming music since 1980, learned a lot over the years. Computers are the coolest thing going. Good programmers can use these tools to create very real sounding tracks or the opposite. Its all how we program it or leave it alone. Its a composers dream.

A mix of real time and quantized tracks work great. Quantzing sure helps VSTi latency.

Cheers!

Black Diamond … Wed, 03/07/2012 - 10:47

I've been producing for more than 15 years and I have never really heard of quantizing vocals. Quantizing is generally used in midi applications to keep your drums ( especially ) and other instruments aligned to a specified grid. Kinda like what audiokid said. To achieve a more natural feel on your track, vocals should always rely on the physical timing of the performer. However, there is a feature in ProTools 8 that will allow you to adjust the timing of vocals and other recorded instruments. It's called elastic audio ( please google that for complete info ). Basically it allows you to grab the end of an audio region and stretch it in real time to the desired timing you wish to achieve. In my experience that can get a little choppy, so I would recommend just leaving all quantization methods in the midi realm and leave what is suppose to be natural ---natural.