When the beat goes off

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/07/when-the-beat-goes-off/

would reading something like this inform any music makers' experimentation or output?

I think anyone who's been writing music for a little while is aware of this. Unless I missed something in the article (likely) they didn't go into a whole lot of detail, and that's kind of upsetting because I'm really curious. They should definitely record a few more drummers.

  On 7/21/2012 at 4:14 AM, Oscar said:

I think anyone who's been writing music for a little while is aware of this. Unless I missed something in the article (likely) they didn't go into a whole lot of detail, and that's kind of upsetting because I'm really curious. They should definitely record a few more drummers.

Yeah cool article but I felt like it was a preview about the research.

Anyway, obviously the whole concept of "swing" is fairly well-known to most musicians and music listeners. I remember in a musicology class the instructor pulled up the audio of both Little Richard's original "Tutti Frutti" with Pat Boone's cover in audacity (or something similar). They were both almost the exact BPM, so he matched them up and played the same bars. Little Richard's sounded faster and more upbeat specifically because the drummer was far more loose and syncopated in his playing.

Another example that comes to mind is DJ Screw. A lot of fans mention how unique his style is, especially how distinct his remixes are compared to later chopped-and-screwed producers. Most use editing software and looping now, but he specifically used turntables and mixers and recorded live. I had a friend play out one DJ Screw track he was obsessed with (wish I could remember which one) and how DJ Screw would fuck around with the track in a seemingly random sequence - dropping bars, repeating certains sections more often than others, a lot of "errors" and improvisation and yet he'd return to the refrain like clockwork. It was like a very long and thought out rhythm pattern DJ Screw would execute in his remixes.

Sometimes it seems like it's inevitable in experimental/improv based music, especially in random collage and mash-ups patterns seem to emerge. Maybe that's just how we percieve it as listeners? It'd be interesting to see if there's a connection to that with the "rhythmns in error" mentioned in the article.

.... um yeah, of course when a drummer starts playing behind the beat he'll continue to do so for a while so he's more consistently in time with his own rhythm. That's why he's a drummer. I thought this was pretty evident the first time I ever edited drums and was more or less common knowledge to any musician. Unless I'm completely missing something, this article is silly. Also no complete study is based off one test subject (unless it's a case of "this man is the only drummer in the world"). Oh Harvard.

Sorry for shitting all over the article nene, not trying to be a dick.

lol, of course it's interesting, they're trying to recreate a better "swing" or "humanize" function in music programs, what's there that's not interesting?? they realized there were patterns even in these slightest off-tempo variations, i think you guys didn't read the article at all...

THE GUYS DISCOVERED THAT PATTERNS EMERGE, EVEN OUT OF ERRORS!!!

Hasn't Autechre been exploring this for over a decade now?

I like this quote

  Quote

people prefer music that deviates from perfection in a natural way: "a mix of predictability and surprise," Hennig said.