"Creative Composing" ... With LOOPS(!)

[MikeRobinson]

Most DAW programs today offer a very(!) expansive library of "loops."  These are prefabricated snippets of music – 2, 4, 8, 16, or some other "power-of-two" bars long – which ordinarily also have the characteristic that they "end exactly where they begin."  As the name implies, they form musically-perfect "loops."

 

Most of us who've spent any time with this – that is to say, "on the composer side" – now find it painful to walk outside of any dance-club in the early evening, or to be stuck at a traffic-light at any time of day if the automobile next-door to us appears to be "changing lanes" under its own steam.  (We've heard it all before.  As Charles M. Schulz [RIP ...] once put it, "Beethoven comes in spray cans™")

 

Nonetheless, "loops" do offer a branch of musical creativity that you can – if you care to – profitably use to kick yourself out of any musical doldrums ... and to create something that really is(!) original.  Allow me to explain ...

 

First of all, "a loop is a professionally-made musical performance," even if it's only a few measures long.  If your musical imagination is motivated by what you hear, here's a really easy way to hear something that will get those juices flowing.

 

Second, "a loop might actually be a ready-made and usable part."  A part of something bigger.  A part of something that is yours, even if some of "the parts, themselves" are not.  Go with it ...

 

Third, "there are two kinds of loops – audio loops, and MIDI."  The latter are interesting because they consist of professionally-rendered performances, expressed as event-sequences executed under a particular patch.  You can edit those event-sequences, or splice them together as you wish, to create something brand new.

 

When we leverage "loops" in our musical inventions, I would argue that we are not cheating – rather, we are building on the shoulders of other giants.  Instead of starting with a blank piece of paper, we're starting with completed segments that other artists have filled-in.  And that, to me, "is okay, too."

 

HTH...!

[ImKeN]

Interesting, I never thought of it as a form of collaboration before! I often use loops myself, especially in the early stages of composing when I'm mostly brainstorming for ideas. Sometimes I do allow the loop to remain in my final composition but I often try to alter it in one way or another so its not exactly a "copy and paste" situation, but most times I recreate the loop and try to give it my own unique spin.

 

This is a great topic, thanks for posting!

 

Fun fact, the acoustic guitar picking in Marshmello & Anne Marie's song, "Friends," is a loop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY8E6N5Nzec

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

[ccarnucci]

Isn't 12 bar blues just a pre-tech era loop?