Extreme editing?

[Wireneck]

I listen to play/record all types of heavy progressive rock and metal. I am familiar with many of the extreme recording techniques utilized in these genres but a few things are still escaping me. Most of the newer commercial metal albums sound like they literally cut/pasted and quantized every single note to the grid. I got some really good tips on quantizing drums (audio not midi) from the producer that my signed band works with but he stays busy and of course isn't going to tell me all of his tricks for free.
Ok I am rambling so my main question pertains to guitar/bass tracks. Lets say you cut a rhythm part that is playing quarter notes at its transients. Then align all of quarter notes with the grid. How do you guys go about filling in the gaps if each note isn't quite the length of a quarter note? I have used the "edit smoothing" function on beat detective and it seems to work ok but I am thinking there has to be some other approaches to this type of thing. Any input is appreciated.

[wreckd504]

Have you ever worked with a session musician who plays so tight it sounds like you're listening to the final mix? I get that you are looking for a "trick" to make it sound like everything was played in time, and so was I. So far i've found its beat detective, editing it yourself, a combination of those two, or getting a top musician to nail the part.

At the moment I use local session guys, but when I'm doing a demo for someone with a godo budget I use eSession.com at the moment. You can actually do a search that specifies instrument, style and "no less than 15 major label credits". Rates vary, but imho are very reasonable. Even if just for a test, get a session guy once to see the difference.

Although if you want to go the editing route, it's good to practice anyway!

[pezking]

In PT 7.4 and higher you can use elastic audio to quantize the transients to the grid.

[Wireneck]

wreck504- I probably should have clarified more. I am not trying to polish crappy playing by any means. I am not sure how much current metal you are familiar with but it has gotten to the point where everything is "PERFECT". Yes these guys can play extremely tight but the production/editing is what takes it to another level. I am more curious just for the editing experience. I have been mostly going the manual edits/beat detective route as well.

Pezking- I admittedly haven't worked with Elastic Audio very much. I may have to give it a shot.

[Nick The Man]

Yeah, your best bet is using beat detective and elastic together. Thats what they we're made for! Just make sure for the final mixdown you use the X-Form elastic audio plugin for top notch quality. It requires rendering, therefore you can't play it back in real time.

[fishkarma]

For quantization I use elsatic audio and find it works well for tightening up a loose recording and takes good recordings to a higher level of tightness (note: I wouldnt quantise genres of music that wouldn't require it ie classic rock is supposed to sound classic!) especially in Metal it works a treat.

That x-form sounds good unfortunatly I don't have $495