What’s a Loop Really About?

Here’s a very important point: No song “comes with” a loop in the way that most people think. Instead, whatever you sample can then be looped. (If you haven’t read Chapter 7 of The BeatTips Manual yet, read it. And if you have read it, re-read it again…carefully!) One of the biggest misnomers in beatmaking is the word “loop”.

Again, songs do not contain “loops” per se. Songs contain arrangements of sounds, and these arrangements are made up of any number of different phrases and sections within any given measure. Some phrases and sections within an arrangement may repeat, but that is NOT a loop! The repetition of a particular riff, motif, etc. on a song (played by a live band) is NOT a loop. Still, common lexicon in beatmaking is to refer to these 2- to 4-bar sections that repeat as loops.

It’s important to distinguish what a loop actually is because you can literally sample ANYTHING and then program it to loop. So if you look for “loops” on a record rather than interesting sounds, parts, or phrases that you’d like to try to sample and program to loop, you’re taking a very limited (and incomplete) approach to sampling. Again, ANYTHING 1-bar, 2-bars, 4-bars, 1/4 of a bar, ANYTHING can be sampled and then looped.

So focusing your attention on “finding” *loops, in the literal sense, is actually a misnomer. This is why it’s so absolutely paramount to listen to music and develop an ear for what sort of parts and phrases that appeal to your style and sound.

Next, whether someone chops a little or a lot, in beatmaking the arrangement(s) will ultimately wind up as a programmed loop. That’s the nature of electronic music production, which relies necessarily on sequencers for repetition as opposed to live instrumentation, which relies on humans playing everything live for the duration of a song. Also, looping and chopping are to interrelated concepts in beatmaking. Even the most basic of looping requires some level of chopping.

Next, some people may think “finding loops” is too easy. But here’s acouple of things in you have to keep in mind. First, digging in the crates and developing an ear does not come easy!  The entire process is actually time consuming and requires attention to detail. Second, learning which grooves and riffs tend to work with your own style of drum programming is also not easy; it’s a skill that takes time to develop. And learning how to chop (especially without the help of auto-chop functionality), that’s another thing altogether. This is a skill not easily picked up. As your music sensibilities move in the same direction as your chopping skills, you make the style and sound of beats in a way that matched those sensibilities. Sometimes this means relying less on finding loops (i.e. 1- to 4-bar sections from songs that are already prime to be looped up into a beat) and more on making loops from your chops of various sections, parts, or sound stabs.

And for another perspective with regards to finding loops being easy, consider this. Many of the greatest tunes in the history of popular music were created in 10 minutes or less. It’s been documented at one time or another by everyone from Robert Plant to Paul McCartney.  McCartney said that he came up with the melody and lyrics for “When I’m 64” in about 10 minutes when he was only 14 years old! In other words, music isn’t suppose to be unnecessarily difficult, especially once you know what you’re doing. Think about Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page, both guitar icons whose styles were rooted in the blues. These two musicians never got tired of coming up with new riffs; they didn’t see composing on their guitars as a thing of ease — although clearly they were virtuosos on the guitar. Sure, some of the guitar parts that they recorded on songs were more complex than others, but “ease” was not something they sought to ignore. If something simply worked, sounded good, and moved them, they went with it!

So if you come across a song with a dope sounding complete phrase (1-, 2-, or 4-bars), and you sample it, then recontextualize it by adding your own (carefully selected and/or customized) drums and drum pattern, that shouldn’t be considered a thing of “ease”, but instead, a thing of skill. Skill, which is a combination of knowledge, understanding, experience, imagination, and creativity, is what ultimately allows us to make dope beats.

That said, each person chooses their own challenges to face. But as you move between skill sets, it’s important to remember that creating art has a lot to do with achieving your vision. But the way in which one chooses to make that vision a reality should not be the choice between ease or difficulty, but instead, it should be about the things (skills, tools, experience, etc.) that best manifest that vision.