Why Quantize?

Why Quantize? the question is a question of time. and the problem with the question is that time is, as Einstein said, relative. relative to what, you might ask? well time is relative to space—as in time and space, along with light and sound, form the primary axes that make up the matrix of Life—and time is also relative to itself. for example: larger units of time are comprised of smaller units of time, like an hour is defined as 60 minutes, and a minute is defined as 60 seconds, but what is a second? well a second is the amount of time it takes to count ‘one-mississippi’, of course. yes, but what if i’m a practiced rapper and i can talk faster than you? does that mean that time—when i’m counting—can speed up? well no, silly, its not like that…except, well, given that time can warp [just watch star trek] and time can stretch [and bewitched]…um, i don’t know actually…who’s in control of keeping an absolute measure of time. i mean, come to think of it…what is the smallest objectively and absolutely definable measurement of time?

the issue here is about relative verses absolute and how these concepts apply to real life. and this debate parallels the one about subjective verses objective interpretations of reality, as in ‘go ask Schrödinger’s cat’. now it seems to me that there still may be a difference in opinion as to the validity of Einstein’s research as it applies to time. in his very special theory of relativity, Einstein believed that he had proved that time is relative to your frame of reference. meaning that a second is not an absolute measurement of time…meaning that a second doesn’t always amount to or last for an entire second.

so…why quantize? is that the way to perfect your rhythms and beats? not necessarily. see, time and space have an inseparable bond [again, see inside Einstein’s mind]. so if time is relative, then space must also be relative, as in relative to time and relative to itself [note how this essay first began]. and rhythm is pulsating sound waves occurring in space at regular intervals over a length of time. but how do we ‘keep time’, in music? conventional classical wisdom says ‘use a metronome as you play’ and modern conventional wisdom says ‘don’t worry about it, because the computer can ‘quantize’ or superimpose the metronome onto your music after it is recorded’, thus digitally perfecting your rhythm.

but i have a problem with this, on both ends. and it’s not just because supposedly no one can figure out what rhythm really is without the aide of an artificial crutch…meaning that all those scenes in the old movies of African drummers and dancers stirring it up before the metronome was invented…is that all made up? or is it that we traded our ancient instincts of rhythms and such for all these technological advancements that got us all tangled up in each other’s business till nobody knows what’s up? no, i have a different problem, and it goes like this: time is not a line, and space is not a box, although for most practical purposes they can in fact be represented as such. but when we are discussing something as sensitive and as delicate as music, then the details become paramount. in rhythm we are going for precision: the down beat must fall just so for the piece to be magical. and when you stretch time into a flat line in order to quantize it, you are loosing the subtle nuances of what organic rhythms really feel like and and how an organic sense of time really flows. time flows like space goes, and i believe that science has finally debunked the theories that both the earth and the universe are flat, and replaced them with a theory of spacetime curvature along the time-space continuum? time is a mystery, and glory be, but we know that time is not linear: it is cyclical at the very least and more likely spiral by nature, unless of course the whole idea of progress is a fantastic illusion generated as some ancient Illuminati conspiracy to keep us all thinking that we have to try to keep working harder to make our lives better when in reality we are all bound by predestined cosmic cycles of creation and destruction and therefore already doomed. i prefer to think that evolutionary progress is possible and so i hold tight to the concept of the spiral nature of time. which, by the way, fits potentially better with the little we know about space, namely that space is multi-dimensional and therefore also an unfolding mystery. but what math can verify so far is this: one dimension is a point; two dimensions is a line [connecting two points—and we now have a flat surface]; three dimensions is a box [length, width, and height—and then there was depth!]…and you now have space. a box. something you can get inside of. but that space is stagnant, and only exists in theory, because no one can actually test this because there is, in a three dimensional world, no time. and therefore no movement. time is the fourth dimension, and time makes space work. now we can do stuff, like make music.

so time and space are inseparable and also interdependent; time effects space and space effects time and these big mysteries make up the boundaries of the matrix that supports our lives. so, why quantize? why apply a digitally-fixed metronome to your rhythm? the answer is, that’s its a bad idea. i mean i guess if you you listen to the oldies where the rhythm section is mostly just a faint cymbal jingle in the background, probably masking the sound of the metronome, then i guess it really doesn’t matter. but as the percussion gets louder, then listening to a metronome that sounds like a snare drum will drive you crazy. and then they want you to turn down the drums. well, yeah, cuz it sounds bad. i mean, have you ever been stuck in a silent room with nothing to listen to but the sound of the ticking clock on the wall? its like modernized Chinese water torture…or am i the only one who associates that sound with punishment. the way this form of torture works is with rhythm, the wrong kind of rhythm. rhythm that is too mechanical, too flatlined and it straps you to that flat line, when what rhythm should do is encourage you to move and motivate you to want to dance.