The Beauty of Imperfection: before you quantize, cmd-C and cmd-V your track to its completion.

The majority of young music creatives I work with these days instrument of choice is the computer. Many old heads would scoff at the thought of even calling it an instrument, but for better or worse (and everything in between), it is. In the 60s and 70s Brian Wilson and some of his contemporaries were utilizing different studios as “instruments”, no one would argue with that, so why can’t something as versatile and powerful as a computer share that same designation. Most of these musicians label themselves as “producers” or “beat makers”. Full disclosure, I loathe the later term (showing my age here), but I have recently come around to accept our new cultural definition of “producer”. Being a music producer used to involve a much more diversified technical and social skillset, but that’s a discussion for another day. It’s 2024: got computer, got DAW? You’re a producer.

Back to the point, these modern non-linear editing systems and sophisticated sample libraries work wonders for simplifying and accelerating workflow, but often times cripple the nuance that makes music interesting and inherently human. I’m not making a case for that being better or worse, though; there are plenty of compositions that I enjoy that are formulaic, fit nicely in a box, and perfect to grid. However, it is worth exploring NOT doing that, at least for the initial passes of a part. Try performing your inputs just to hear how it comes out. You can bring additional interest or excitement with variation. You can always use your editing tools to change elements after the fact, but imperfection can convey great emotion and is worth at least giving it a chance. Slight dissonance or minor mentronomic fluctuation can influence the listener in unique ways. Remember, everyone’s perception is unique; what might sound less than perfect to you, might hold great character and sound amazing to someone else. There are plenty of celebrated recordings of performances where the vocalist comes up slightly flat, but the rub sounds great (I’m thinking of certain McCartney vocal on a Beatles tune, but can’t place it at the moment.) EDIT: ("Oh! Darling")

If art is human expression, why is there such a massive push to remove the humanity from it? Some composers, performers, producers (myself included) rely on that type of minute control to present our musical statements they way we hear them. You just might find a new bag of tricks.