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How to keep the loops interesting...

We all know that much of our favorite music is very much made of repetitive loops, so my question is: how do you keep the music interesting and dynamic? When I listen to a trance track I hear the same loops, yes, but I always notice things that I have to listen hard to notice.

I always think its things like phase shifts, slightly modifying drum patterns, volumes, and filters and I toy with this too but it isn't good enough. Can anyone help give me insight into this so I can create more interesting tracks?

Thank you!
Lester

modify it even more and add your own percs too

could also be that your other elements are repetitive which makes your percussion sound loopy

Oops, I responded to the wrong post.

Yeah, I am not good with drums. Any suggestions on how to get better?

variation

Well the way I see it, a lot of trance is very formulaic. This is speaking of course, moreso of uplifting trance on the 90s, which is what I know and love.
The first minute or so should be spent on simply drums & bass. You'll notice most songs start this way. Kick+bass for 8-16 beats, then adding in the clap, snare, hi-hat, ride, or whatever you choose to put in next. That part is up to you.
Then you sort of have what I call the buildup pattern, where more sounds come in and play a short loop until the breakdown. This also typically goes for around a minute or so.
After that comes the pad...let it loop 2-4 times, and then bring in the lead over the pad. I generally do this by starting the lead at low cutoff and letting it rise. After that, you bring in the drums & bass again. Add some new sounds into the drums if you want a little more energetic feel. Let the lead play out for another minute or so, and then transition back into the "buildup pattern." Let this go for the same amount of time and then transition back into the main lead for another minute. After that, switch back to the singular bass pattern you had in the beginning and every 8-16 beats, take out 1-2 of the drum components. Your song should be around 7 minutes...the typical length of a trance song; and you *probably* don't want a loop to carry on for more than a minute or so. Sorry if I didn't make this as clear as I could have...I'm not very technical, and I've learned just about everything on my own, so I'm not quite sure how to explain these things. ;P
Cheers, - Infinity

Here's a couple ideas for adding depth to a loop/sample.

First of all, start by putting a backbeat (4 on 4 kick will do) just so you have something to nod your head to.

Next, throw the loop on top. Does it sound kinda cool? Like it's almost there but needs some work? Great!

If it's a little off, or could use a little variation...try to chop it up a little and stretch pieces of it in your timeline window. Play around with different edits...beat repeating a couple chunks, maybe time-stretching, and even possibly rearranging the hits. You never know what you'll get until you start messing with it. Once you get something cool...

Now it's time to add some "depth," even though there is little concrete meaning to that word in a musical context. Duplicate that track and add your fav effects processor on the dupe. Make the craziest effect you think works with the loop. It could just be a whole crapload of reverb. Maybe it's some distortion. Maybe it's a little of everything Your choice. The point is, your duplicate should be quite heavily effected.

Now layer both the original part and the effected part until you have something you cream your pants over. Maybe have the FX part play the original loop without any cuts/edits and then your NOFX part will play the chopped up part.

This is just food for thought, and is by no means any kind of secret. Many producers might consider it rubbish advice. I don't care. It's a way to get you exploring the possibilities is all.

Cheers

Coincidentally, LinPlug (developer of Albino 3, RMV, etc.) just released a new plugin this week called Relectro that is designed largely for processing and mangling percussion loops. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks interesting and the demos really make it sound like a good tool to have for getting more interest out of your percussion.

http://www.linplug.com/Instruments/...ro/relectro.htm

Wow, all awesome replies.

Might get a little flak but you can sidechain some loops to the kick, it can change the feel and rhythm slightly.

quote:

Originally posted by ReclusNdangrmnt Might get a little flak but you can sidechain some loops to the kick, it can change the feel and rhythm slightly.

Why would you get flak for this? This is an excellent technique and can produce some very interesting results.

quote:

Originally posted by pointPi

Yep, this is a great feature of Live which allows for improvisation with loops.

Live or use stylus. You will have to convert to rex first but then you can do alot of stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Nick Cenik Yep, this is a great feature of Live which allows for improvisation with loops.

Yeah, but you can do the same thing in FL Studio with Fruity Slicer or Slicex.

Re: How to keep the loops interesting...

quote:

Originally posted by Ponemax Can anyone help give me insight into this so I can create more interesting tracks?

My answer to this is to for example automate several paramaters of lets say a repeating synth perc type sound, throughout the entire life of the track. It takes a lot of time to get right.

So on such a sound I would automate;

1) The filter
2) Volume
3) FM / WMA type parameters - really can make a sound more organic and evolving

4) Release
5) Oscilators - altering the waveforms (where a dial allows gradual morphing)
6) Delay feedback and intensity

7) Reverb sends and legnth of verb
8) eq - so as the verb goes long and white, gradualy remove lower freqs

This is the minimum I'd do to such sounds.


I really don't like tracks where it's a collection of loops with a lead. It's like claiming to be a decent chef by throwing some ready made sauces together.

instead of using pre-made loops create your own source sounds and load them into a sampler instrument and sequence your own loops via midi. It's so much easier to change everything when it's all midi data

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