Music Banter - View Single Post - New Metallica album coming out November 18, 2016 -- Hardwired..To Self-Destruct

Neapolitan · 08-23-2016, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terrapin_Station

What I mean is this: from bar to bar, or if you compare bar 10 to bar 14, say, you can keep things steady in terms of bpm, but let's say that you're playing a syncopated eighth note note figure across those four bars. Well in terms of what we'd call "quantization" a la electronic gear, some of those eighth notes might be ahead of perfect mathematical divisions, and some might be late.

Keeping the same bpm across a number of bars (and the whole piece) is being metronomic on a broad level--and usually that's desired, at least unless you're intentionally straying from it for some reason.

The eighth notes being quite a bit ahead or behind the beat within those bars would be an example of not being metronomic on a fine-grained level. Some of us prefer this, too, as it helps the music groove and lets it "breathe"--it doesn't sound like we've got a TR-909 playing four on the floor.If you were to match his playing up with a perfectly quantized sequence of a transcription of what he's playing, he'd often be ahead or behind the sequencer. (As would Lars and Ringo)

How do analyze this?

Carl Palmer is one of the more technical drummers I know, as well as Carmine Appice and Neil Peart. imo. There are different technique a drummers can do that a drum stroke won't fall exactly on the beat or some division of it, e.g. playing in swing time, playing in the pocket (either ahead of the beat or behind the beat) playing flams and flamacues etc etc. I haven't analyzed Carl Palmer drum rolls through a spectrometer or through an oscilloscope, so just judging by what I hear and I figure he's tight. Somebody who I think is loose would be like Charlie Watts e.g. on Between the Buttons album.