Mixing loops

ttauri · 3rd August 2005, 06:30 PM

What do you folks do as far as getting loop-y material to balance right? Particularly when stacking a lot of them (say like old PE or De La)?

Peece,
T. Tauri

beatzz · 3rd August 2005, 10:54 PM

Well a trick I use is that I don't use loops for the bed of my track, only for certain audio "enhancements". I find i get much better results this way.

For eg: If your sequenced midi hi-hats sound really static and sterile, just hi pass filter a loop(s) whose hi hat line you really like the feel of, and use that one instead. You might need some additional EQ on getting it to sit right...

jgo · 4th August 2005, 03:47 AM

Chopping where necessary, EQ & compress to fill the gaps.

If it's just a straight up loop with drums, bass & lead something then I pretty much just EQ it as is.
If I am layering loops, I will def EQ each loop/part for it's essence & chop off the un-needed parts.
Sometimes Panning a stereo loop works wonders too.

XHipHop · 4th August 2005, 04:13 AM

I hate when you pull a loop off of a cd and it's not the BPM it's supposed to be. Does anyone have any quick ways to figure out BPMs?

Mazaga · 4th August 2005, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XHipHop

I hate when you pull a loop off of a cd and it's not the BPM it's supposed to be. Does anyone have any quick ways to figure out BPMs?

in PRO TOOLS: try this

You must use PT in "auto tempo mode".....(light up the maestro at transport window)

Select say, one bar or two of the loop
go to the "Identify beat" at EDIT menu (cmd+i)

type in "Identify beat" dialog the start and end

BINGO!
PT will calculate the BPM and show in the Transport window

Best
M.

beatzz · 4th August 2005, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XHipHop

I hate when you pull a loop off of a cd and it's not the BPM it's supposed to be. Does anyone have any quick ways to figure out BPMs?

I have found the quickest and most reliable way to find out loop tempo's is to use Acid. Acid will "beat map" the tracks for you, and in general its very accurate.

beatzz · 4th August 2005, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mazaga

in PRO TOOLS: try this

You must use PT in "auto tempo mode".....(light up the maestro at transport window)

Select say, one bar or two of the loop
go to the "Identify beat" at EDIT menu (cmd+i)

type in "Identify beat" dialog the start and end

BINGO!
PT will calculate the BPM and show in the Transport window

Best
M.

Awesome, ill have to try this out!

rickrock305 · 4th August 2005, 05:07 PM

the best and most reliable way to find the tempo of something is this:

You will need the tab-to-transient enabled and you will also need the Digi Time Compression/Expansion audiosuite plugin.

First, tab to the downbeat of a bar. Then get a loop going that is AT LEAST four bars, preferably eight. Using tab to transient is a quick way to get it to loop perfectly. After you have this selection, just open the Time compression plugin and in the field for bars/beats, type in how long your selection is, either four or eight bars or whatever, press enter, and in the BPM window it will update to reflect the tempo of the selection.

Simple, and accurate as hell!

kennyd03 · 4th August 2005, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XHipHop

I hate when you pull a loop off of a cd and it's not the BPM it's supposed to be. Does anyone have any quick ways to figure out BPMs?

OK, I'll admit it. I've sometimes used GarageBand to get some loops at the tempo that I want. What I'll do is pull the loop (preferably at least one or two bars long) into the SoundTrack Loop Utility - a free app that is available here. I enter in the beats and it automatically figures out the original tempo for you. I then save the loop as an APPLE LOOP AIFF. Then I'll pull the loop into GarageBand and set the project tempo to the one I'm looking for - bounce it out of GarageBand and "Wa-La," it's exactly at the tempo I need. The whole process takes a minute.

There's more than one way to skin a cat, for sure - but this is a simple way to do it with free software.

-KD03

XHipHop · 4th August 2005, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyd03

OK, I'll admit it. I've sometimes used GarageBand to get some loops at the tempo that I want. What I'll do is pull the loop (preferably at least one or two bars long) into the SoundTrack Loop Utility - a free app that is available here. I enter in the beats and it automatically figures out the original tempo for you. I then save the loop as an APPLE LOOP AIFF. Then I'll pull the loop into GarageBand and set the project tempo to the one I'm looking for - bounce it out of GarageBand and "Wa-La," it's exactly at the tempo I need. The whole process takes a minute.

There's more than one way to skin a cat, for sure - but this is a simple way to do it with free software.

-KD03

Oh yeah! I'm still on Logic 6.4 but I guess this is a good enough reason to upgrade to 7!

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3rd August 2005, 06:30 PM	#1
ttauri Lives for gear Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Knife, Fork, Bottle, Cork Posts: 759	Mixing loops What do you folks do as far as getting loop-y material to balance right? Particularly when stacking a lot of them (say like old PE or De La)? Peece, T. Tauri

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3rd August 2005, 10:54 PM	#2
beatzz Gear maniac Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Toronto Posts: 262	Well a trick I use is that I don't use loops for the bed of my track, only for certain audio "enhancements". I find i get much better results this way. For eg: If your sequenced midi hi-hats sound really static and sterile, just hi pass filter a loop(s) whose hi hat line you really like the feel of, and use that one instead. You might need some additional EQ on getting it to sit right...

4th August 2005, 03:47 AM	#3
jgo Gear Head Join Date: May 2003 Location: Bay Area Posts: 50	Chopping where necessary, EQ & compress to fill the gaps. If it's just a straight up loop with drums, bass & lead something then I pretty much just EQ it as is. If I am layering loops, I will def EQ each loop/part for it's essence & chop off the un-needed parts. Sometimes Panning a stereo loop works wonders too.

4th August 2005, 04:13 AM	#4
XHipHop Moderator Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 2,022	I hate when you pull a loop off of a cd and it's not the BPM it's supposed to be. Does anyone have any quick ways to figure out BPMs?

4th August 2005, 05:07 PM	#8
rickrock305 Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Miami FL Posts: 6,828	the best and most reliable way to find the tempo of something is this: You will need the tab-to-transient enabled and you will also need the Digi Time Compression/Expansion audiosuite plugin. First, tab to the downbeat of a bar. Then get a loop going that is AT LEAST four bars, preferably eight. Using tab to transient is a quick way to get it to loop perfectly. After you have this selection, just open the Time compression plugin and in the field for bars/beats, type in how long your selection is, either four or eight bars or whatever, press enter, and in the BPM window it will update to reflect the tempo of the selection. Simple, and accurate as hell!