Music Production & Engineering
Home / Unit 1 / Lesson 4
Unit 1 · Lesson 4 of 9

Quantize & Velocity

Snap recorded notes into time, then use velocity to make some notes hit harder than others.

Warm-up 5 minLearn 15 minTry it in Logic 27 minCheck + exit 10 min
Learning targets
  • I can quantize recorded MIDI to a note value and choose a quantize strength.
  • I can edit note velocity to create accents.
  • I can explain why producers don't always quantize to 100%.

Warm-up: robot or human?

Your teacher plays two versions of the same drum part. One is perfectly on the grid and every hit is the same volume. The other has tiny timing and loudness differences. Which one sounds more like a real drummer? Which would fit an electronic dance track better?

Quantize

When you record with a MIDI keyboard, your notes land slightly early or late. That's normal. Logic can fix it.

Quantize
Moving MIDI notes to the nearest grid line (for example, the nearest 1/16 note) so they're exactly in time.
Q-Strength
How far quantize moves each note toward the grid. 100% puts notes exactly on the grid. Lower values move them only part of the way, which keeps some human feel.

Pick a quantize value that matches the smallest note you played. If you played eighth notes, quantize to 1/8. If you quantize eighths to 1/4, some of your notes will jump to the wrong beat.

Velocity

Velocity
How hard a MIDI note was played, from 1 (softest) to 127 (hardest). Higher velocity usually means louder and brighter.
Accent
A note played louder than the notes around it to make it stand out.

In the Piano Roll, a note's color shows its velocity. Cooler colors are softer and warmer colors (toward red) are harder. A hi-hat part with every note at the same velocity sounds robotic. Accents make it groove.

1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a
Hi-hat

Bright boxes = accented (high velocity) · faded boxes = soft (low velocity)

Try it in Logic

Record and quantize
  1. Make a new software instrument track: press Option⌘N, choose Software Instrument, and click Create.
  2. Set the tempo to 90, turn on the metronome, and record 2 bars of eighth notes on one key (count 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &). Don't try to be perfect.
  3. Open the region in the Piano Roll (P). Notice that the notes don't line up with the grid.
  4. Press ⌘A to select all notes. In the Piano Roll's Time Quantize menu, choose 1/8 Note and click the Q button. The notes snap to the grid.
  5. Listen. Then press ⌘Z, lower Q-Strength to about 70%, and quantize again. Compare the two.

Another way: select the whole region, press I to open the Inspector, and choose a value from the Quantize menu in the region settings. This quantizes the whole region at once.

Shape the velocity
  1. In the Piano Roll, select the notes on beats 1, 2, 3, and 4 (the downbeats). Hold Shift to select more than one.
  2. Drag the Velocity slider in the Piano Roll's inspector (on its left side) to about 110.
  3. Select the notes on the & counts and set their velocity to about 60.
  4. Listen with Cycle on. Hear the pulse? That's accenting.
Practice

Duplicate your quantized region three times (Option-drag it) and give each copy a different accent pattern:

Check your understanding

Quick check: You recorded sixteenth notes but quantized to 1/4. What happens?

Quick check: What does a velocity of 127 mean?

Exit ticket

Explain why a producer might set Q-Strength to 70% instead of 100%. Use the words grid and feel.