The old people like to talk about what recordings were back in the day. I'm 27 so my background is not exactly the same as these REALLY old dudes. I was raised in the overproduced pop music of the 80s, the "alt" rock of the 90s, etc.

The old people are telling us that "the grid" sucks. (The grid refers to recordings done where each beat must line up perfectly on some line on the screen.  Another word for this is "quantize" which is popular in MIDI dominated genres like techno.) While I think there are examples of effective music to a quantized grid (particularly in the dance genre) overall, I have to agree with the old people.

It's not so much whether the grid is good or bad.  It's a mentality issue.  I think that people who sit around wondering if there drums are matching up to some line are wasting their time in many cases.  They could be making more interesting or more fun ruckus.

There is an easy way of conveying what the old people are trying to get across:

The Sound Of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel

Listen to it. You'll have to rethink your recording somewhat. I'm not sure if you can cut right to the bone of a human being any better than that. I'm not exactly a huge Simon and Garfunkel fan. You'll catch me listening to Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral long before I'm listening to a Simon and Garfunkel album. In fact, I don't know the name of a single Simon and Garfunkel album.

When I hear The Sound Of Silence, I think of people who I've loved who are long gone. I think of my eventual departure. Right now (after listening) I'm wondering if I should be writing this little blog or if I should be running down the street naked. In other words, this song makes me think that I should improve my life. I think of loved ones now who will eventually depart. 

In other words, this song effects me! It's an absolute home run. You can't write a better song....just different. This recording is absolutely perfect.

What this recording isn't.

• This song obviously isn't on a grid.
• With this song, there are mistakes. The playing is far from precise. There is an obvious total screw up at 2:13.
• The drums aren't robo pounding. Hell, they don't even come out of both speakers!
• There are no sound replacers, auto tune, or any other gadget made after 1966.
• There are no 95 tracks of noise and junk.
• This is obviously a live recording. 

What this recording is:

• Still commercially successful because I just bought the Simon and Garfunkel greatest hits
• It captures an intense yet natural vocal performance...the vocals are over the top in a sad / "silent" kind of way. The "flaws" in no way distract from the ultimate goal.
• The recording does do justice to the song. In fact, the old style recording adds to the vibe. I can't imagine hearing John Mayer "modern" production on this. It sounds appalling just thinking about it.

Conclusion
In an era where people are buying less music than ever before, we can blame downloading or the fact that kids have too many distractions.  I think if us music recording people would focus on the listener and not whether little lines on the screen matched up with our drums, we'd end up in a better musical place.