Quantizing Drums

[TheEoghanMan]

Just wondering how yous like to quantize drums?

I am having a bit of trouble fitting the overheads with the quantized kick, snare, toms, hats, etc. When I try to quantize the overheads they sound a bit glitchy and terrible.

What do you guys do? Any suggestions? :)

[cwsand]

I assume you're talking about live drums? Well there's different ways to "quantize" them but keep in mind - making them perfectly in time will suck the soul from them. If you're working with a full kit, you need to quantize all of the drums together exactly them same as one instrument. In other words, don't quantize them individually or you'll get all kinds of echoes and phase issues. You can use Beat Detective which I have luck with - check Youtube - I'm sure there are tutorials. I prefer pocketing which is a method of editing the whole kit as a group so that the kick and snare are more or less aligned with the grid. There's an art to it and it takes practice. Best bet is to start with a great drummer!

[albee1952]

Russ at Pro Tools Expert.com has 2 good tutorials on just this. Well worth a donation to access his videos as there's a ton of learning to be found there Whatever you do to drums, if they are live, you should make a group so everything gets moved/quantized together to maintain phase.