Deliberate imperfections

[RichardT]

I’m getting some tracks ready for mastering.

There are a few imperfections in them - slightly awkward shakers, a few clumsy notes here and there - that I know how to fix. But when I do fix them, they don’t sound better, they just sound a little less human.

So it looks like I prefer slight imperfection. Islamic artists deliberately put imperfections in their creations - but that’s for religious reasons.

Do other people do this, or feel the same way?

[Drew Stephenson]

In general I'm all about embracing imperfections, mostly because it would take me forever to get a perfect take of anything, but it is a bit genre-dependent. The americana-ish stuff I do revels in it but modern pop, for example, tends to require perfection.
Apparently.

[Folderol]

I happily accept small imperfections, and will only very sparingly correct glaring errors.
I once confused a guy who had that weird idea of inserting deliberate errors. My question was:
"Do you really have the arrogance to believe you are capable of perfection? Isn't that exclusive to your god?"
I didn't make a friend that day

[Murray B]

This is a value judgement either way really. Can you live with it?

But if you want to fix them in a way that retains the human feel, fix them with a human. Re-record the parts rather than trying to edit them.

Or perhaps copy a good bit from another part of the music if you have the option?

Computers allow us to mess with a lot of stuff that in the 'good old days' would have just resulted in doing another take

Actual playing errors / mistakes in a finished track never sound good to me, but this is of course a personal view but if you are viewing the music as a product that you might wish to sell, your customers might reasonalby expect a mistake free recording. This doesn't mean that everything has to be 100% quantised and perfectly pitched though.

Edit: Just realised that this is more about philosophy rather than practicality, so much of the above is a moot point and stuff you are fully aware of However I'm still a big believer in getting the performance right at the start rather than trying to fix it afterwards and agree that the computed fixes can indeed remove the humanity from the music.

[The Elf]

I'll take a 'perfect' performance over technical perfection every time, but sometimes it needs a little help, and I am happy with that. Serve the music above anything else.

[Murray B]

Serve the music above anything else.

+1

[RichardT]

Serve the music above anything else.

+1

Absolutely right.