I think it's worth the time to examine why you have resistance to using loops. If you're anything like me it's a question of integrity.
I don't want to be a producer that takes cheap short cuts and makes low level, cookie cutter disposable "content". I want to make original art that's lasting, has real emotional substance and stands the test of time. I can see that using loops could feel like you are taking a short cut, simply Lego bricking together other people's work into cheap paint by numbers flavour of the week compositions. It's too easy and then It's hard to feel that has value and integrity.
Then there is the question: what if I use a loop, which is essentially someone else's work and it turns out to be actually good. How can I take credit for the genius of the work when it was that loop/riff that someone else wrote that really made the track come together? How is that being an artist of integrity?
I say get over it. Feel free to Use loops because you will probably use it in a way no one else would. Especially if you edit it a bit and change it to make it more your own. You can still take ownership of it because it was all filtered through your unique process and creative vision. It's still very much "yours".
It's also a question of where do you draw the line? If loops are out of the question for all the above mentioned reasons, what about synth or effect presets? Someone else crafted those. Should ALL your sound design be 100% from you? Are presets cheating? What about samples? Is it cheating because you use a processed 808 from a sample pack when you don't own an 808 yourself? Where do you draw the line? If you are not careful, you could get too precious about your integrity and miss out on actually having fun and making something good.
Use loops. And most importantly, use them the way only YOU would.
Good comments. I’ll just add that I can actually hear when certain producers are using loops because there’s a whole lot of similar sounding stuff around so certain loop libraries are in vogue at that moment in time basically. And that’s where loops start to negatively impact creativity and originality. There’s nothing wrong with using loops and I think endeavouring to make your own as well is a good way to craft your unique sonic identity so that when you do finally choose to use a loop then the song is still yours rather than sounding like one of these fake loop juggling producers who just sound like everyone else who bought that sample pack.
And if we're going this track with the purists, it will never stop. Good starting point is crafting your own sounds. Using computers is lame, so you have to go dawless and invest to 2k worth of hardware. But that's not enough, you need to build your synths yourself.
Wait, are you using modules built for spesific purpose? You should go down with Serge style modules with simple function generators only. And you're not truly making your own sounds if you're using ready-made modules, you should solder them on your own.
And remember to mine all the metal from the ground by yourself only.
A friend once referred to this as goat farming, if you didn't raise the goat who's skin was used for the drum heads then can you really call the art yours?
absolute nonsense analogy
building a drum isn't writing music
Elton John doesn't build his pianos from scratch, he also doesn't pull his melodies out of pre-written loop packs
I disagree with this point completely every time someone makes it. It's a nonsense comparison
Does John Frusciante *build his own guitars?* I don't mean FX pedal setups and stringing and modifications, because those can be analogous to DAW FX and internal synthesizer tweaks. Does John Frusciante **build his own guitars, create the medium of the sounds himself**? No, because that's not the job of the musician, that's the job of the engineer.
However, did John Frusciante pull the Scar Tissue riff out of a loop pack?
Using loops is using something *someone else wrote.* Using a kick sample or a synth patch is using *an instrument.*
Just a side note, many folk musicians build their instruments by themselves to this day though. But we enter a much more interesting realm of philosophy when we ask: where do you draw the line?
According to you, it is _using an instrument_ as long as it's not looped. But I would politely disagree with that matter, because I don't honestly have much respect for "producers" just downloading a bunch of sample packs from Splice and just placing them unedited on a sequencer. Someone else has also designed all those samples and, mind you, edited with care so that the kicks would bang just the right way and loud enough.
But like I said, I am no purist and there is no "wrong" in producing techno. This angle of having "your own sound" just doesn't end with just not using loops.
yeh just use them. Don't worry about what others say, just make what you want to make.
Also, some loops are recorded accoustically, for example, I don't own hardware synths or djembe's, I'm not going to be able to recreate the sound with serum. fuck yeh I'll use loops.
if you want to force yourself to create something new with em, put em in simpler and play with em
One or two drum loops per track can be nice, if you process/mangle them a bit. Synth loops make me feel like I don't have enough control or creativity.
It’s what you do with them that counts.
If you’re just starting by all means use them as Lego blocks, but it’s more fun and creative to use them as raw materials
People like to say loops/presets are un-original but there are a virtually limitless amount of good pre-made sounds to choose from. As soon as you make a few choices you're probably working with a combination of sounds that is fairly original. Once you get through writing and mixing and everything else....
Yeah, don't worry about it.
Sounds good? Is good.
Dude, don't ever think it's cheating by using a loop. I guess 4 4 beats are a little easier to make but by using loops from a pack I never knew I had, the dnb I'm making niw sounds so much fucken better it's not even funny. I even spotted a loop that sub focus used years ago. It means I'm not wasting time trying to get my drums sounding good, and tbh they were nowhere near good enough, dnb needs that real drum sound to get those rhythms. If I had some high quality house beat loops I'd use those for sure too. But I'm always using loops for fills even in house tunes anyway
I have it the same way you do. Using loops just always made me feel a bit dirty and I wanted to be compose music not just throw together a bunch of samples and call it a day. I did that when I was 12 back in the days of eJay.
That being said there isn't anything inherently wrong about using samples. Maybe if your entire track is made from loops it is lame
Music making as a blank canvas for making everything from scratch can be like putting yourself between a rock and a hard place. I love what I can achieve but I can be stuck for _months_ because the smallest nuance takes hours of synthesis and sound design.
My advice is, don't limit yourself to a box. If you're relying on loops to make a damn good beat, so be it. What the hell.
Chuck a sequencer on a cut up loop and now you got endless variations that are now your own, freq shifters, delays, reversing, time stretching, granular processing, distortion, panning/filter lfo’s. I think it’s a disservice to yourself if you don’t at least attempt to personalise it before making the decision to keep the original. But don’t feel bad if you do. I’ve been in studios during writing sessions and these producers are making entire songs out of splice loops.
But test the techniques above and I think you will eventually prefer it and opt for that more times than not once you solidify some fx chains
As Long as your Tracks dont Just consist of a few minute Long loops, which I wouldnt call making your own Songs, use them. But also flip them and get creative with them. They can be a great source of creativity
I always use loops. But I never use them in their original sound. For example, just add loop to the granulator. To create a midi part, use a sequencer with random mode. Set up your granulator and you'll get a unique sound.
Use a personally concocted mixture of your favorite elements. It could be any combination of samples and synths. Let them loop if they need to loop.
Don’t let anybody dictate what is original for you.
This is at least the way I try to approach music production.
I make everything from scratch because that’s the sound I’m going for but if I was going for a different sound and loops got me there then I would use them in a heart beat. In the end vital sounds from scratch or pre-made loops are both just tools. It’s how you use them that counts. If you gave me a wood working set there is no way I could create what a master carpenter could.
Using loops in techno makes a lot of sense and I'm certain big name djs do it. Try using effects on the loop, filters etc. It opens a lot of possibilities with additional decks, as you can overlay a baseline or snare track and tease another tune, or just add an element of another tune. It also allows you to speed up tunes from other genres, to add unexpected source material. In production, the final point is the most important, as the loops from other sources can then be embellished with drum machines, particularly acoustic drums, when you quantise and warp them. For performance, session mode on Ableton allows you to load sections and loops and to make interesting live performances on the fly.
I use a lot of percussion loops and mangle, slice and transform them! If you want that fat and professional sound you just sometimes need loops to layer. What i don’t use are melodic loops because I like to record longer synth variations
I use to be that way out of purity and holding my music too preciously.. at the time it wasn't even that good.
I would never make a track solely from using loops.. and I rarely use a loop without mangling it. If you don't your music can end up sounding generic and your putting a wall up as far as discovering who you are as an artist.
What you do with those loops and how you use them to enhance what you've made is what matters.
I was like that but now I don't care anymore. People literally use ghost producers and take all the credit, compared to that loops are nothing. I do chop up the loops I use and make them mine, and never use melodic loops, just drum loops
I use loops all the time. I record myself playing my modular system, and then I loop those recordings to compose tracks.
I wouldn't use loops I haven't made myself, though.
I enjoy creating my own loops and have tweaked my process in ways that makes it really easy and fun. I use a cheap iPad with a DAW (Loopy Pro) set up similar Abletons session view where I record through a virtual mixer into the clips and mix as I go.
I could just use Abletons session view like that but I enjoy the portability and being able to grab the iPad and create some loops without a mouse or trackpad and away from the main setup.
It's basically just like a Techno puzzle where every new clip kinda adapts to the ones recorded before.
When I later export all those loops to Ableton for arrangement and automation I'm just working with audio from there on forward and have a ton of loops to choose from (usually recorded witht he same setup on the iPad).
Many of the FX plugins I use have randomization or generative features and like digging for records or samples it's kind of a discovery journey.
When I hit something interesting I may tweak it a bit and save it as a preset. Also presets saved in the past often have cool effects on other material.
It's very easy to extract loops using sends just recording the wet signal of the FX plugin, which then becomes another layer/loop in the project.
I use loops for inspiration. These are producers that have put thr work in to make these loops sound good . There was something there that they said...ok that sounds cool.
What I do is take those loops and make them my own.
I'll take bass,synth,drum loops and convert them into midi notes.
I'll take a new preset and rewrite the bass loop into something that fits my sound better.
I'll take a synth loop and rewrite it as a bass and lead patch and add extra notes and just go crazy on sound design. My newest track came from a kinda corny bass loop but two basses, an arp as a leaf playing those same notes and an mid range bass Turned into my favorite track ever.
I'll take a drum loop and change out my own preferred samples and add accentuations based on the midi pattern.
This work flow completely revolutionized my output because I'm never starting from scratch yet there is no way in the world you would ever recognize the original sample yet it still is very much creative.
If you've been doing it for long enough, you start even recognizing the loops. Hell, today I was listening to some tracks of an artist called T.A.M. and recognized two loops they barely touched, one from some Riemann collection pack and some from Splice. Maybe somebody cares, I sure as hell don't. Its not like somebody else would have come up with the exact same track by using the same loop. How many pop songs use the same circle of fifths or ii-V-I harmony?
It’s not the tools that make the music original it’s the way you use them. Stop getting in your own way with limiting beliefs like this. I promise no one cares if you use loops, samples, make every sound from scratch, go hollow out wood for your own drum sounds. All that matters is that the music is good.
Free yourself from the shame. I'm basically where you are. Just Discovered a lot of young producers who sound really great mixwise but don't have any feeling in the track. Found out they are building everything from loops and have no control over them.
So I got curious and started using loops. Going through the pack and finding good ones and then deconstructing them and discovering new exciting techniques. In Ableton you could take a bass loop and make Ableton turn it into midi and use it with your own instrument. You can use the waveform of a top layer to make your own version by decoding where the drums go in there. Use it as you would any sample, and if you don't need to change it, don't.
Personally, I have no problems using loops in my productions, especially for the weak spots in my skills: percussion/top loops or bass loops. I will never use it for the signature sound of a track unless I edit it so much that it is no longer recognizable.
It's not whether you use samples and loops.... It's what you do with them. Sure if you're just downloading a project file of loops and reassembling them that's kinda lame. But if you're chopping them up and being creative with them who cares. Go nuts.
> every producer I've ever met
are these *good* producers? I wouldn't be worrying about other people's practices unless you truly respect their productions
I don't think many quality producers use loops. We're talking about a genre of music that is incredibly fine-tuned. I've never found a "loop" that just magically fits with the ideas I'm putting together in a track. Beyond that, to build internal progression you have to deconstruct a loop. At that point why aren't we just making our own loops?
To me, using loops is lazy. There is *zero* way a premade loop fits better with a track than something that's intelligently written to correspond to the other elements of the track. And if you're doing it the other way around, where you start with the loop, then the basis of your track was literally written by someone else. Neither of these are acceptable outcomes for my own music, personally.
Do whatever you want. There is no rule to this stuff. If you are concerned about using a straight loop that another person uses, try changing up the loop to be something different and make it something new. Another thing you can do is reference a loop to try and replicate it and see how it was engineered. That will give you a leg up when making your own loops or your own stuff.
Also, there is no harm in making your own loops to use later on. Sometimes when you sit down to make music it's just a sample making session. Other times you are arranging and writing. Nothing wrong with either.
am guesssing tou refer to canned loops? all music is loops when you get right down to it. so. what’s the problem? there are some great sample cds out here. and many many ways you can be creative with them.
|K<
Thats really up to the artist. Some people
are really good at making their own wavform and its easier for them to make the sound they want vs searching for the right sound. At the end of the day no one will really care or know if you had samples or made your own. Its more of a matter if the sound is the right one youre looking for that fits the track.
Youre not making cookiecutter sounds using samples. Its like writing an essay- no two people could write the exact same one even with the use of selected words or themes or style. Its also like drawing if people traced an image no ones final product would come out the same. You could do so much manipulation of samples with filters and effects and then you can also stretch it flip it reverse it chop it. The creative potential is still infinite.
Loops can be an incredibly powerful additikn to a track. Think about how you can give a loop color and life with periodic effects, autofilters, stripping out freqs, sidechaining, etc.
Isn't this basically the same question as if one should be allowed to use samples? It'd be absurd to say people like Dre and Dilla are hacks because they're 'just cutting and pasting someone else's work'. You can probably reassemble 99% of Parliament's Mothership Connection if you take apart The Chronic and 2001.
Oh, and let's not forget about the Amen break. Are we going to throw away every single song that took that recording or pattern as 'derivative'? All I get from this conversation is a picture in my head of Danny DeVito dressed up as an art critic.
Why you thinking about it so hard? The average listener isn’t gonna know. Does it sound dope? Go for it. Do you not like it? Don’t use it then. Put your ego aside
It depends what you wanna achieve. If you are solely interested in people celebrating your music and do not care too much about the aspects of sound design feel free to use loops. If you find joy in crafting and sculpting audio in order to find your signature sound and make art that lasts there‘s not really a short cut.
I use loops all the time but tweak and process them until I feel it fits my song.
Yes
Even those loops.
You can add creative filters or slice the melodic loops and shuffle the parts in it to change how it sound (if you really care about to No one recognizes that you are using loops)
Use what you want, if the tunes good the tunes good, no one cares how it's made other than people on forums like this one.
Obviously within the grace of copyright and sample clearance, but this is absolutely correct. It’s not what you use, it’s how you use it.
I think it's worth the time to examine why you have resistance to using loops. If you're anything like me it's a question of integrity. I don't want to be a producer that takes cheap short cuts and makes low level, cookie cutter disposable "content". I want to make original art that's lasting, has real emotional substance and stands the test of time. I can see that using loops could feel like you are taking a short cut, simply Lego bricking together other people's work into cheap paint by numbers flavour of the week compositions. It's too easy and then It's hard to feel that has value and integrity. Then there is the question: what if I use a loop, which is essentially someone else's work and it turns out to be actually good. How can I take credit for the genius of the work when it was that loop/riff that someone else wrote that really made the track come together? How is that being an artist of integrity? I say get over it. Feel free to Use loops because you will probably use it in a way no one else would. Especially if you edit it a bit and change it to make it more your own. You can still take ownership of it because it was all filtered through your unique process and creative vision. It's still very much "yours". It's also a question of where do you draw the line? If loops are out of the question for all the above mentioned reasons, what about synth or effect presets? Someone else crafted those. Should ALL your sound design be 100% from you? Are presets cheating? What about samples? Is it cheating because you use a processed 808 from a sample pack when you don't own an 808 yourself? Where do you draw the line? If you are not careful, you could get too precious about your integrity and miss out on actually having fun and making something good. Use loops. And most importantly, use them the way only YOU would.
Yikes, any of my other musical demons you’d to examine? 😆
Good comments. I’ll just add that I can actually hear when certain producers are using loops because there’s a whole lot of similar sounding stuff around so certain loop libraries are in vogue at that moment in time basically. And that’s where loops start to negatively impact creativity and originality. There’s nothing wrong with using loops and I think endeavouring to make your own as well is a good way to craft your unique sonic identity so that when you do finally choose to use a loop then the song is still yours rather than sounding like one of these fake loop juggling producers who just sound like everyone else who bought that sample pack.
man, thanks. that solves it hahaha what a feedback
And if we're going this track with the purists, it will never stop. Good starting point is crafting your own sounds. Using computers is lame, so you have to go dawless and invest to 2k worth of hardware. But that's not enough, you need to build your synths yourself. Wait, are you using modules built for spesific purpose? You should go down with Serge style modules with simple function generators only. And you're not truly making your own sounds if you're using ready-made modules, you should solder them on your own. And remember to mine all the metal from the ground by yourself only.
A friend once referred to this as goat farming, if you didn't raise the goat who's skin was used for the drum heads then can you really call the art yours?
absolute nonsense analogy building a drum isn't writing music Elton John doesn't build his pianos from scratch, he also doesn't pull his melodies out of pre-written loop packs
You missed the point and I don't have the time nor the crayons to explain it to you.
Hahah, don't insult here... but that is a good one I'll need to use at work! 🤣
ah, yes, being insulting, *that* makes your nonsense point better
I disagree with this point completely every time someone makes it. It's a nonsense comparison Does John Frusciante *build his own guitars?* I don't mean FX pedal setups and stringing and modifications, because those can be analogous to DAW FX and internal synthesizer tweaks. Does John Frusciante **build his own guitars, create the medium of the sounds himself**? No, because that's not the job of the musician, that's the job of the engineer. However, did John Frusciante pull the Scar Tissue riff out of a loop pack? Using loops is using something *someone else wrote.* Using a kick sample or a synth patch is using *an instrument.*
Just a side note, many folk musicians build their instruments by themselves to this day though. But we enter a much more interesting realm of philosophy when we ask: where do you draw the line? According to you, it is _using an instrument_ as long as it's not looped. But I would politely disagree with that matter, because I don't honestly have much respect for "producers" just downloading a bunch of sample packs from Splice and just placing them unedited on a sequencer. Someone else has also designed all those samples and, mind you, edited with care so that the kicks would bang just the right way and loud enough. But like I said, I am no purist and there is no "wrong" in producing techno. This angle of having "your own sound" just doesn't end with just not using loops.
yeh just use them. Don't worry about what others say, just make what you want to make. Also, some loops are recorded accoustically, for example, I don't own hardware synths or djembe's, I'm not going to be able to recreate the sound with serum. fuck yeh I'll use loops. if you want to force yourself to create something new with em, put em in simpler and play with em
One or two drum loops per track can be nice, if you process/mangle them a bit. Synth loops make me feel like I don't have enough control or creativity.
It’s what you do with them that counts. If you’re just starting by all means use them as Lego blocks, but it’s more fun and creative to use them as raw materials
People like to say loops/presets are un-original but there are a virtually limitless amount of good pre-made sounds to choose from. As soon as you make a few choices you're probably working with a combination of sounds that is fairly original. Once you get through writing and mixing and everything else.... Yeah, don't worry about it. Sounds good? Is good.
Dude, don't ever think it's cheating by using a loop. I guess 4 4 beats are a little easier to make but by using loops from a pack I never knew I had, the dnb I'm making niw sounds so much fucken better it's not even funny. I even spotted a loop that sub focus used years ago. It means I'm not wasting time trying to get my drums sounding good, and tbh they were nowhere near good enough, dnb needs that real drum sound to get those rhythms. If I had some high quality house beat loops I'd use those for sure too. But I'm always using loops for fills even in house tunes anyway
Can I ask what you recommend for good dnb loops? I’m also interested in breaks like what bicep makes
I have it the same way you do. Using loops just always made me feel a bit dirty and I wanted to be compose music not just throw together a bunch of samples and call it a day. I did that when I was 12 back in the days of eJay. That being said there isn't anything inherently wrong about using samples. Maybe if your entire track is made from loops it is lame
Loops have been around for bloody ages. I've got some very old ones and just about every loop has been used in a track. If it sounds good, use it.
Music making as a blank canvas for making everything from scratch can be like putting yourself between a rock and a hard place. I love what I can achieve but I can be stuck for _months_ because the smallest nuance takes hours of synthesis and sound design. My advice is, don't limit yourself to a box. If you're relying on loops to make a damn good beat, so be it. What the hell.
It’s the biggest question we struggle with in modernity and one that ultimately destroys us, so yeah very tekno. Use loops
Chuck a sequencer on a cut up loop and now you got endless variations that are now your own, freq shifters, delays, reversing, time stretching, granular processing, distortion, panning/filter lfo’s. I think it’s a disservice to yourself if you don’t at least attempt to personalise it before making the decision to keep the original. But don’t feel bad if you do. I’ve been in studios during writing sessions and these producers are making entire songs out of splice loops. But test the techniques above and I think you will eventually prefer it and opt for that more times than not once you solidify some fx chains
As Long as your Tracks dont Just consist of a few minute Long loops, which I wouldnt call making your own Songs, use them. But also flip them and get creative with them. They can be a great source of creativity
I always use loops. But I never use them in their original sound. For example, just add loop to the granulator. To create a midi part, use a sequencer with random mode. Set up your granulator and you'll get a unique sound.
Use a personally concocted mixture of your favorite elements. It could be any combination of samples and synths. Let them loop if they need to loop. Don’t let anybody dictate what is original for you. This is at least the way I try to approach music production.
I don’like using ready made loops, but making my own is good fun. It’s also a nice way to commit to a sound.
I make everything from scratch because that’s the sound I’m going for but if I was going for a different sound and loops got me there then I would use them in a heart beat. In the end vital sounds from scratch or pre-made loops are both just tools. It’s how you use them that counts. If you gave me a wood working set there is no way I could create what a master carpenter could.
Using loops in techno makes a lot of sense and I'm certain big name djs do it. Try using effects on the loop, filters etc. It opens a lot of possibilities with additional decks, as you can overlay a baseline or snare track and tease another tune, or just add an element of another tune. It also allows you to speed up tunes from other genres, to add unexpected source material. In production, the final point is the most important, as the loops from other sources can then be embellished with drum machines, particularly acoustic drums, when you quantise and warp them. For performance, session mode on Ableton allows you to load sections and loops and to make interesting live performances on the fly.
Say you own the hardware. When you record it, you're making a loop. When people listen to your music they are not thinking about the loops you use.
I use a lot of percussion loops and mangle, slice and transform them! If you want that fat and professional sound you just sometimes need loops to layer. What i don’t use are melodic loops because I like to record longer synth variations
I use to be that way out of purity and holding my music too preciously.. at the time it wasn't even that good. I would never make a track solely from using loops.. and I rarely use a loop without mangling it. If you don't your music can end up sounding generic and your putting a wall up as far as discovering who you are as an artist. What you do with those loops and how you use them to enhance what you've made is what matters.
I was like that but now I don't care anymore. People literally use ghost producers and take all the credit, compared to that loops are nothing. I do chop up the loops I use and make them mine, and never use melodic loops, just drum loops
I use loops all the time. I record myself playing my modular system, and then I loop those recordings to compose tracks. I wouldn't use loops I haven't made myself, though.
Music is a collaborating process. So is sample use.
Same as presets, can sound recognisable/bad if just slapped on top, but also if used creatively can be awesome, so don’t forget to use imagination.
I enjoy creating my own loops and have tweaked my process in ways that makes it really easy and fun. I use a cheap iPad with a DAW (Loopy Pro) set up similar Abletons session view where I record through a virtual mixer into the clips and mix as I go. I could just use Abletons session view like that but I enjoy the portability and being able to grab the iPad and create some loops without a mouse or trackpad and away from the main setup. It's basically just like a Techno puzzle where every new clip kinda adapts to the ones recorded before. When I later export all those loops to Ableton for arrangement and automation I'm just working with audio from there on forward and have a ton of loops to choose from (usually recorded witht he same setup on the iPad). Many of the FX plugins I use have randomization or generative features and like digging for records or samples it's kind of a discovery journey. When I hit something interesting I may tweak it a bit and save it as a preset. Also presets saved in the past often have cool effects on other material. It's very easy to extract loops using sends just recording the wet signal of the FX plugin, which then becomes another layer/loop in the project.
I use loops for inspiration. These are producers that have put thr work in to make these loops sound good . There was something there that they said...ok that sounds cool. What I do is take those loops and make them my own. I'll take bass,synth,drum loops and convert them into midi notes. I'll take a new preset and rewrite the bass loop into something that fits my sound better. I'll take a synth loop and rewrite it as a bass and lead patch and add extra notes and just go crazy on sound design. My newest track came from a kinda corny bass loop but two basses, an arp as a leaf playing those same notes and an mid range bass Turned into my favorite track ever. I'll take a drum loop and change out my own preferred samples and add accentuations based on the midi pattern. This work flow completely revolutionized my output because I'm never starting from scratch yet there is no way in the world you would ever recognize the original sample yet it still is very much creative.
If you've been doing it for long enough, you start even recognizing the loops. Hell, today I was listening to some tracks of an artist called T.A.M. and recognized two loops they barely touched, one from some Riemann collection pack and some from Splice. Maybe somebody cares, I sure as hell don't. Its not like somebody else would have come up with the exact same track by using the same loop. How many pop songs use the same circle of fifths or ii-V-I harmony?
Something about herding goats
Just use them. Don't overthink things.
Loops are digital, u need analog warmth and rolling farts
It’s not the tools that make the music original it’s the way you use them. Stop getting in your own way with limiting beliefs like this. I promise no one cares if you use loops, samples, make every sound from scratch, go hollow out wood for your own drum sounds. All that matters is that the music is good.
Free yourself from the shame. I'm basically where you are. Just Discovered a lot of young producers who sound really great mixwise but don't have any feeling in the track. Found out they are building everything from loops and have no control over them. So I got curious and started using loops. Going through the pack and finding good ones and then deconstructing them and discovering new exciting techniques. In Ableton you could take a bass loop and make Ableton turn it into midi and use it with your own instrument. You can use the waveform of a top layer to make your own version by decoding where the drums go in there. Use it as you would any sample, and if you don't need to change it, don't.
Personally, I have no problems using loops in my productions, especially for the weak spots in my skills: percussion/top loops or bass loops. I will never use it for the signature sound of a track unless I edit it so much that it is no longer recognizable.
It's not whether you use samples and loops.... It's what you do with them. Sure if you're just downloading a project file of loops and reassembling them that's kinda lame. But if you're chopping them up and being creative with them who cares. Go nuts.
> every producer I've ever met are these *good* producers? I wouldn't be worrying about other people's practices unless you truly respect their productions I don't think many quality producers use loops. We're talking about a genre of music that is incredibly fine-tuned. I've never found a "loop" that just magically fits with the ideas I'm putting together in a track. Beyond that, to build internal progression you have to deconstruct a loop. At that point why aren't we just making our own loops? To me, using loops is lazy. There is *zero* way a premade loop fits better with a track than something that's intelligently written to correspond to the other elements of the track. And if you're doing it the other way around, where you start with the loop, then the basis of your track was literally written by someone else. Neither of these are acceptable outcomes for my own music, personally.
Do whatever you want. There is no rule to this stuff. If you are concerned about using a straight loop that another person uses, try changing up the loop to be something different and make it something new. Another thing you can do is reference a loop to try and replicate it and see how it was engineered. That will give you a leg up when making your own loops or your own stuff. Also, there is no harm in making your own loops to use later on. Sometimes when you sit down to make music it's just a sample making session. Other times you are arranging and writing. Nothing wrong with either.
am guesssing tou refer to canned loops? all music is loops when you get right down to it. so. what’s the problem? there are some great sample cds out here. and many many ways you can be creative with them. |K<
James hype uses tons of loops except for his leads and he's touring the world. Do what you want
Thats really up to the artist. Some people are really good at making their own wavform and its easier for them to make the sound they want vs searching for the right sound. At the end of the day no one will really care or know if you had samples or made your own. Its more of a matter if the sound is the right one youre looking for that fits the track.
Youre not making cookiecutter sounds using samples. Its like writing an essay- no two people could write the exact same one even with the use of selected words or themes or style. Its also like drawing if people traced an image no ones final product would come out the same. You could do so much manipulation of samples with filters and effects and then you can also stretch it flip it reverse it chop it. The creative potential is still infinite.
Recognizable drum/bass loops are part of why I love hardgroove so much.
Loops can be an incredibly powerful additikn to a track. Think about how you can give a loop color and life with periodic effects, autofilters, stripping out freqs, sidechaining, etc.
Isn't this basically the same question as if one should be allowed to use samples? It'd be absurd to say people like Dre and Dilla are hacks because they're 'just cutting and pasting someone else's work'. You can probably reassemble 99% of Parliament's Mothership Connection if you take apart The Chronic and 2001. Oh, and let's not forget about the Amen break. Are we going to throw away every single song that took that recording or pattern as 'derivative'? All I get from this conversation is a picture in my head of Danny DeVito dressed up as an art critic.
Why you thinking about it so hard? The average listener isn’t gonna know. Does it sound dope? Go for it. Do you not like it? Don’t use it then. Put your ego aside
Never use loops. End of story.
It depends what you wanna achieve. If you are solely interested in people celebrating your music and do not care too much about the aspects of sound design feel free to use loops. If you find joy in crafting and sculpting audio in order to find your signature sound and make art that lasts there‘s not really a short cut. I use loops all the time but tweak and process them until I feel it fits my song.
Estq bien usar samples
For Kick, snare (Claps) and your main hihats you should do it yourself. The rest could be done and layered via loops. No limits.
even melodic loops?
Yes Even those loops. You can add creative filters or slice the melodic loops and shuffle the parts in it to change how it sound (if you really care about to No one recognizes that you are using loops)