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Thoughts on Pods, Triggers, Quantization and Autotune

Thoughts on Pods, Triggers, Quantization and Autotune
by John McKay

There are so many interesting tools out there these days for recording, with entry-level products like Garage Band, and plug-ins like Amp Farm, that it's tempting to use these tools to make records that "sound professional."

Unfortunately, I don't think anything sounds more unprofessional than triggered drums, guitars played through Pods or Amplitube, and quantized tracks that are so perfectly timed as to be mechanical.

Sure, you can listen to Blink 182 and say every kick sounds good, every snare hit is perfect. But does that make a great record? Some of my favorite records are very far from "perfect." Modest Mouse, the Pixies, Shellac, Built to Spill, etc. You feel like you're actually listening to real live people playing real instruments when you hear those records. I don't think you can say the same about some of the super-produced stuff out there these days.

Of course, this debate is nothing new, people have complained about sequencers and drum machines for decades. And there are certain aesthetics where those mechanical rhythms work. Trance, electronica, techno, etc. all function as good dance music because the beats are predictable, and the listener doesn't have to do much "work."

But with the advent of Amp simulators, Mic Pre emulation, even Microphone Modeling, it's gotten to the point where you can plug your guitar straight into your computer and have it sound like a vintage Les Paul through a 1960's Marshall, mic'd with a Neumann, running through an API pre, an LA-2A compressor to analogue 2" tape!

Sort of.

The thing is, every time you model something, you take a little life out of it. A Pod doesn't sound like a real guitar. It sounds like an ok recording of a guitar amp, 2nd generation. Drum triggers don't sound like a real stick hitting a real drum head. It's more like a collage than a painting or photograph.

And while I may be able to make a picture of your band by cutting pictures of beautiful people out of magazines and pasting them together, it's not you, and it looks fake.

When you take a drum track and slice it up and quantize it, so that every hit is dead on tempo, you take the "breath" out of it. A great drummer has rock solid timing, but he still will push and pull the beat, to emphasize the parts, to give the song life. Quantized drums just don't get it.

And the same is true of Auto-tune. Yes, it is possible to use an Auto-tune plug-in to correct notes that are off pitch. Pushed to its limits, you start sounding like Cher. And while a perfectly in tune vocal sounds good, it doesn't sound great, and it never can. Imagine Robert Plant, or Robert Smith, auto-tuned. It would suck.

The point here is that when your engineer says "Don't worry about your crappy amp, we'll run it through the Pod," or "Go ahead and take a break while I quantize the drums," or "I can fix that kick with a trigger," he's taking a little bit of "you" away. He's moving you towards generic, middle-of-the-road mediocrity. Yes, it may sound better to a 14 year old girl, but is that really the audience you're after (no offense to any 14 year old girls reading this)?

There are a few studios in town (I won't name names) that use these processes, and every band they record sounds good. They sound exactly alike, of course, but they sound nice and safe. If that's what you want, great! If not, make sure you let the engineer know. Or call someone who understands where you're coming from.