How to Use Loops to Make a Song

Utilising samples and loops to build music is criticized by some, but it's not to be ignored. In loops are the future of music, infact, just about all mainsteam songs produced today are from loops found online. You have no excuses!

For example take Daft Punk, their work revolves soley around the use of loops. By the way, hip hop came from mixing music to create a beat for vocals, as have many other genres. Some drum loops are used in multitudes of hit songs.

Besides percussion samples, music gadgets and singing can give the song that extra spazaz it needed. Below we've compiled some useful tips. 

DON’T USE THEM EXCLUSIVELY

The key is to try and be creative with your loops and samples. Just to dragging and drop them into a session, using nothing but loops and expecting to end up with something good is probably not going to happen. It probably won’t be the most original or inspiring piece you’ve heard either and being creative is the reason you’re writing music in the first place. So be picky, take your time and find the right one, or two, to get the musical juices flowing. 

LAYERING LOOPS

Many producers use loops as a layer, particularly drums. Dubstep and Drum & Bass are two common styles that use loops as an extra layer to help the groove of a song or beat as they sit underneath the main drum hits. By hi-passing a loop, it can be used as more of a percussive element behind the main kick and snare. If you have a great drum loop as the main body of your drum track, then adding a percussion loop (or even parts of) can give some great energy to the rhythm.

Similarly, by adding rhythmical elements (spliced up) from an instrument or vocal sample you can create a more aesthetically interesting groove.

DON’T JUST USE 1 LOOP

It's a simple concept. You don't have to layer constantly, instead you can choose a percussion loop to build your song. Or, a single audio bit containing vocal material can be changed to create a loop, or chorus. There's no rules when it comes to making music, if you don't use loops because it's not original you won't get anywhere.

Take the scenario you come across multiple drums of the same bpm. You could seperate the bits into peices using parts from each in a lineal way and put them together.

MANIPULATE YOUR LOOPS

When it comes to material, you have a ton of loops available to you at loopazon.

You can put these tracks together and it sometimes works to great effect, but not always. Often you have to manually tweak your sample, this can be a grueling task that devours your time. If you can do it, you will be payed off eventually with the materialisation of your idea into reality. If you hear a melody in your head, and you want to hear it in reality you've got to be ready for a lot of work. After recording your mock up idea in some way so you don't forget it, you've got to manipulate sound so it fits what you have in mind.

This can be so much harder then it sounds. If you can achieve a particular sound, it likely didn't come easy. With practice it can become second nature - a lot of practice.