Recent studies have been very kind to drummers. We've learned blast beats can be scholarly and that drummers are natural intellectuals. Today, there's a study that shows drummers aren't easily replaceable.
As we're all well aware, drum programming is a rampant part of today's music. Not even just in metal! Between programming and having a live performance quantized down to perfection and then completely drained of all life, a good, roomy, live drum track in rock and metal is a rare occasion. The debate on what sounds better has been raging on essentially since the creation of things like ProTools and the ability to program drums, but now purists have a reason to rejoice! You've got science on your side!
According to a piece on Mic.com, researcher Holger Henning says the human ear can tell the difference between a live performance and a programmed to perfection one.
Even the most professional and seasoned drummers cannot keep time like a drum machine. They fluctuate slightly when attempting to play along to a steady, metronomic beat. But these variations are actually extremely pleasing to the ear.
"The offsets are typically small, perhaps 10 to 20 [milliseconds]," wrote researcher Holger Hennig in a 2012 Physics Todayarticle. "That's less than the time it takes for a dragonfly to flap its wings, but you can tell the difference in the music."
Famed drummer, and the closest thing humans have to a living drum machine, Jojo Mayer also weighs in on the article, arguing that machines will never have the feel of a real drum track.
"Digital computers are binary machines, which means they compute tasks making decisions between zero and one — yes or no," says musician Jojo Mayer in the mini-documentary Between Zero and One. "When we play music and generate it in real time, when we improvise, that decision-making process gets condensed to a degree where it surpasses our capability to make conscious decisions anymore. When that happens, I am entering that zone beyond zero and one, beyond yes and no, which is a space that machines cannot access yet. That's the human experience — right between zero and one."
So what do you think? Personally, I've had this conversation with friends numerous times before and my opinion has been fairly unwavering throughout the years. I'd much rather have a record with a few mistakes that sounds like a bunch of dudes got together and energetically knocked out an entire record than an absolutely flawless performance that sounds like it was all punched into a computer. Even if it's something like technical death metal- just play the damn song! Make it sound real!
Where's the fun in that?
