The Main Ingredients of A Successful Loop
The success of a loop depends on a number of things but mainly: The chop (truncation) of the sound, the pitch of the sound, the tempo of the sequence, and the drum framework (pattern and design of the drum arrangement). The “chop” or truncation refers to how the main sound phrase(s), whether samples or synthetic sounds, are chopped. This is to say, how precise the chops (cuts and truncation) are or how purposefully off they are; another way of seeing it is how long or short the main sound phrases are.
The “pitch”, in this case, refers to the pitch (speed) of the main sound phrases. Often the difference between a dope beat and a wack beat is the pitch of the primary sound phrase. Should you speed the sound up, slow it down, or leave it at the default pitch that you captured it in? The tendency for most beatmakers (producers) these days is to speed the sound up. But remember, for every pitch value you go up or down, you affect how the sound will loop in a sequence, as well as how the sound will sound over the drum framework and, ultimately, how the entire beat will sound.
The “tempo” of the sequence is just that; it refers to the tempo, the BPM (Beats Per Minute) value of a sequence, series of sequences, or song. Tempo determines the speed of the sequence and, subsequently, the beat. A deeper examination of tempo reveals that it does more than just determine the speed of the beat; the tempo also determines what I call “the turnover rate” of the loop.
The turnover rate is the interval, the time and space, between the ending and beginning again of a sequence. The interval determines what I refer to as the “loop point”, the audibly dead point right before the loop turns over to the next sequence. The slower the
interval, the easier it is to hear the dead space — the loop point. Likewise, the faster the interval (and, subsequently, the faster the tempo), the harder it is to hear or recognize the dead space, which means the loop point is seamless, no glitches. Unless you want to feature the dead point or a space-glitch as a component of the beat that you’re making, you should increase or decrease the tempo until the loop point is seamless and indiscernible. Finally, whenever you’re deciding on which tempo to use, always remember: The right tempo can snap or slide the beat into place; conversely, the wrong tempo can drag the beat or crack it out of place, making the drum framework sound awkward.
Here, it’s important to point out that “drum framework” refers to the pattern and design of the drum arrangement. When designing a drum framework, keep in mind that drum designs that are too active always disrupt the loop, if not the entire beat for that matter; and on the other hand, drums that lack the right kind (or level) of activity (like accents and overall structure) can really drag or drain the flow of the loop. The right drum framework is critical in beatmaking because the role of the drums is paramount in a beat. This is because in the hip hop/rap music tradition, the drums are often called upon to maintain various responsibilities simultaneously.
In all cases, the drums have to steady the beat, i.e. keep it running smoothly. And in most cases, the drums also have to knock (maintain a hard-hitting rhythmic presence) without overpowering the other musical elements within the beat. Still, in some other cases, the drums have to be balanced and subtle; that is, instead of taking a leading role, they take a supporting role.
