Loops, share some tips on how YOU use them

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Even

Even

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It seems that everyday theres more and more loops being made available. I won't lie, I am not even sure how to go about using them. As of yet I have not been fully convinced to them being particularly handy.

Whats the advantage of a gang of drum loops over a drum machine for example?

How is it that a loop can be considered royalty free when it is some other dude playing a lick?

Do you use them as "sampled" sounds to duplicate?

I am very receptive to using new tools, and always open to try new. But thus far it seems I am only able to use them in the respect that they are making a song for me. I would love suggestions or tips....
 
I agree with you, in that "it is some other dude playing a lick?". I can't get past that at all - my music is my music - I'm not going to waste my time re-arranging somebody else's work.

Having said that, I do make my own loops. When I'm writing and arranging a song, it's so much easier to record a few measures, snip and loop.

From there, it's like building blocks. I can drag & drop a 3rd verse, layer the intro riff into the last chorus with a few clicks and get the arrangement to sound the way I want it to.

From there, I usually re-record the whole thing :D I've exported a few project directly into my recording app (to add vocals), but for most of the stuff I do, it's better for me to re-record it.

So long story short, I use looping mostly as an arrangement tool. And I've gotten so used to doing it that way, that I probably always will.
 
A loop of just a few bars in length can sound MUCH more realistic than using raw samples to create a pattern from scratch.

But it's like seanmorse says, you're stuck with somebody else's beat. I do like the idea of recording your own short loops...that would work great if you can get good drum sounds.

Slackmaster 2000
 
The Hip-Hop forum may discuss loops more than here.
I agree with the other responses...who needs loops !!
Do your own thing;)
 
I have been shaking my head at the whole loop thing. I simply have pondered the actual value of loops, and moreso the uncanny market for folks to buy them. Thus far in my life I have either played the sound/pattern I wanted, or done without. I guess its like bowling... some folks actually see it as a sport, I could never see the thrill.
 
I know a couple of DJ's who do a lot with looping, and I've looked at what they do. I can understand some of it, and I can respect the fact that there is definitely a creative vision involved. They do create, but to me it's in a different class than what we do (not a lower class, just a different class).

There's definitely a market for them - especially in the commercial TV/Radio industry where efficiency rules and creativity usually takes a back seat. It's much quicker and easier to get something out of your head and into the speakers and there's a lot less hassle. But I'll never use loops out of a can because that's not who I am and that's not what I do.
 
I agree with Sean. It is actually really hard to do it really well, and it is an art in it's own. Just different.
 
First, I use Sonar as a songwiting/arranging tool to construct a song to the point of being like a "demo quality"; as a semi-finished product - its a hobby, and I play all the parts myself except for the loops I use
I use drum loops instead of constructing midi drum tracks or using a real drummer. To me its a lot faster to cut and paste a drum track this way, and it sounds like a miked drum set played by a real drummer because it is. I overcome some of the limitations of not having an infinite assortment of patterns and fills sometimes by "de-constructing" the loops and re-constructing into another pattern, or adding an extra snare hit here and there. I also use an occasional conga, tambourine, shaker or other percussion loop since I don't own any of these (and don't have the $) Someday I would like to learn how to make midi drums sound more realistic so that I could construct my own drum parts. I guess that I can justify using these drum and perc loops by saying that I am not a drummer, and I can't afford to pay a studio drummer to track the part. As far as available loops of instruments like guitar or keyboard or whatever, I have not used any of these yet, it seems like it would be hard to find and then integrate them into a project - there are a lot more variables than a drum part. To me it seems like you would almost have to build your project around the loops - the chord changes or riffs or whatever in that key... I could see myself maybe using a little sax riff or something like that to add a little "flavor" if I could find a set of loops with the right feel, in the right key, in the right tempo range, etc etc., again since I don't play sax..
A loop can also be the 10 measure chorus of the rhythm guitar track that I recorded, that I can just copy and paste for the other 2 choruses in the song. It could also be a 4 second recording of my dog barking in a peculiar way that I would like to use at the end of each verse in my song (never get him to that again !) If you havn't used loops, download a demo version of Acid or Sonar, read up and experiment to grok the possibilities. You can build music around loops, but you can also use them to save time or add things to your music that you could not do otherwise...Hell, George Martin utilized loops for the Beatles - they were pieces of tape that he spliced instead of computer files; different technology, different amount of labor, but essentially the same thing. To me loops are one of the tools that make computer recording an advantage over tape based recording.
 
so I'm the only one who repeatedly kicks my dog to get a good take? (just kidding ...I don't even have a dog) :)

Another looping program that's very good and very cheap is Magix Music Maker (any version). I still like that interface better than Acid - much more intuitive and easier to work with. You can buy the full version for like 15 bucks and it comes with 3 cd's full of canned loops. The big downside is that it doesn't support 24 bit files ...I only use it for arranging so it's fine for that purpose.
 
I use Acid for drums, and also for arranging and recording, since version 4 has ASIO drivers, and I am a one man band.
 
I'm in the same boat as Major Tom.I use Sonar and I use drum loops extensively.
I'm not crazy about using loops to the extent where you don't actually play any instuments.That's more like playing a video game in my book.But realistically if you're doing all the instruments,songwriting and engineering you're either not going to get a lot done or you're going to have to cut corners somewhere.
Hell I can't afford a drummer and besides with loops if you don't like something you can change it in a heartbeat.
One of the features of Sonar2 is the Cyclone DXI which really makes it easy to deconstruct and reconstruct loops.They can also be midi triggered from it.
With acidized/groove looped clips it's really easy to use and the visual aspect makes it more intuitive than midi beats.
 
i've gone to my friends house who has drums and just recorded a bunch of drum loops from him, and sampled his drum kit. I can make my own drum beats in fruity loops now or other programs. I use lots of variations so it doesn't get boring, but it doesn't give me a realistic drum sound. It's more of an underground hip hop style beat i go for. I wouldn't call my music hip hop but i draw inspiration from the beats. Loops get boring, mix it up.
 
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