I've quantized (to grid) aka pocketed Rap vocals on my Hip Hop productions for a long time. Only recently did I find that it sometimes destroys the Rapper's flow. Quantizing helps to make the Rap really 'tight' but eg. for Boom Bap (with a loose/unquantized groove) I found leaving vocals unquantized just feels better.

What's your opinion on this this? Let's talk the Pros and Cons of quantizing Rap.

 

God no.. Don't quantize vocals. If you need to time them up, do it manually, by ear. I use Melodyne to time up my vocals the way that I want them. You could also do this manually in any DAW by using crossfades. Stretching the audio will inevitably degrade the quality. For this reason, a lot of pros use slip editing which does not warp the audio the same way stretching does. Again, Melodyne has become my favorite way to time up vocals while I also fix the pitch. It takes a lot of practice to get good at this and you can easily overdo it making the performance seem robotic.

 

Hard no... we musnt turn hip hop into what metal got turned into (midi madness bullshit and drum replacements)

 

errrr autotune? and metal took the 808 replacement FROP hip hop thanks rick rubin

 

Not aka; a "pocket" groove does not mean that. Look it up. And "pocket" doesn't mean quantized.
You've just taken the expression and put it with quantizing.
And no, please don't quantize what the rapper spits.

If a rapper needs this, they are bad.
I would not say any rapper in Boom Bap is loose or out of time.
Real performance will always sound better.
Thanks for trying to teach us a new word usage!

 

There are no pro's on quantizing vocals unless you get paid by a bad rapper to fix his offbeat spits :P

 

It is a tool to solve a problem. I would always rather have them rerecord a not-shit version but sometimes you have to. Like others have said, dont smack quantize on ableton, but move the audio by ear on the grid so it doesn't stretch.