I've got loopitis. Heal me.

[Sixofour]

a 16 bar loop is pretty amazing if you can pull it off without being cliche or lame.

Try making your lead first, then work on bass then percussion. I'm curious as to why everyone works on the beat first. The purpose of the rythm is to draw you in to show you the melody. If there is no lead, what is the point of being drawn in? I usually find the beat completely arbitrary.

[topaz]

at least you know what a bar is, thats a good start.

make a template of your fav drum and bass tunes and copy the arrangement.

of course the best advise is to not get stuck in genres.

go and listen to some 70's jazz fusion and funk to get some inspiration, always works for mwah

I've got this terrible affliction and it's doing my head in.

I'm having lots of trouble building actual songs. I usualy get stuck with a 2/4/8/16 bar loop of drums and bass. The beat is pretty much perfect, the bassline's fat and punchy and I can't build a proper tune to save my life.

I keep adding synths, samplers, rexes, build some melodies only to delete them after they've looped for a millon times, tweaking filters, eq, compressors and I decide they suck.

Then I take a new synth, sampler, whatever, make a melody, loop it for a million times tweaking filters, eq... Notice a pattern?

I'm not in a creative rut, I've got tons of ideas, I just can't get them to sound as they do in my head.

[kennymeg]

Mibbies try recording while you make all your tweaks and then cut it up and throw all the good bits together again. Been trying this recently and it's helping me get out of the same habit.

[iDumi]

There's some good tips in this thread:

http://www.undergroundhouse.net/forum/i ... 64141&st=0

Person had a very similar problem to you.

Dead link.

[jackson]

There's some good tips in this thread:

http://www.undergroundhouse.net/forum/i ... 64141&st=0

Person had a very similar problem to you.

Dead link.

Works for me. You might need to register on the forum first.

[Lunatique]

The best thing you can do is to compose/arrange with a different mindset. Don't think in terms of loops. Think in terms of harmonic progression, melodic contours, building up tension and doing breakdowns, variations in both horizontal and vertical structures...etc. Listen to music that does not rely on the loop structure and analyze how they do it, and then apply to your own music.

[gfk]

It's drum and bass I'm trying to do and since it's got such a very strict pattern that all tracks are made upon, it's very hard to live up to what it's supposed to be. It's odd really. Dnb started as this very experimental and original genre and now it's formulaic and you have to make your track a certain way, in order to meet expectations. I think that limits my creativity a great deal.

And it's not like I should jump off the bandwagon, because 1. it's really hard to do something original in dnb anymore since it's all been done before and 2. the bandwagon is where I want and need to be if I want to be anything in dnb.

I don't think drum and bass is strict. I don't really know much about the drum and bass scene but I know there is alot of different types of it. For example evol intent, fanu, goldie, macc and klute to me they are doing their own different style. Why shouldn't you jump off the bandwagon? Maybe you can change things and break new grounds.

Though I guess you should analyse the some tracks you like and try to see why they do what they do. Like that synth that pitches up when the track is about to kick is kinda like trying to rev you up and make you excited for what coming up. Or the 8/16bar melody then a different 8/16bar melody which is to keep you from being bored of the melody even though it sounds good. That kinda thinking.
Maybe then you find all the techniques that will help you stay on the bandwagon.

If you want try and do a sideline project doing experimental stuff that you would like without need of applying to current standards of drum and bass.


gfk

[Sascha Franck]

I'd get discouraged in like two days if I only had piano roll.

Same here. I'm an absolutely miserable keyboard player (my main instrument being the guitar), but I can't stand using my sequencer of choice without a proper MIDI input device.

- Sascha

[dan_s]

I'd get discouraged in like two days if I only had piano roll.

Same here. I'm an absolutely miserably keyboard player (my main instrument being the guitar), but I can't stand using my sequencer of choice without a proper MIDI input device.

- Sascha

First thing I bought was a small midi keyboard. Before upgrading computer, monitors, even software, keyboard first.

[Sascha Franck]

Loopitis:

http://www.cosmosis.co.uk/cms/index.php ... &Itemid=40

That about sums it up.

[Sascha Franck]

First thing I bought was a small midi keyboard. Before upgrading computer, monitors, even software, keyboard first.

Rightly so. Even if you don't know *anything* about keyboard playing, it's still the best tool to pre-listen to sounds and what not. Plus, even the most retarded among us will still be able to bang out some simple beats on a keyboard, especially given that there's always quantization to correct timing errors in a heartbeat.

A small 2 octave model can be bought for around 50 Euros (if not less when buying second hand) these days. There's no reason not to do so.

- Sascha

[ZenPunkHippy]

+2 for the Cosmosis link. It took me years to break out of loopitis, because I didn't recognise it as a problem common to most people that needs some discipline to break out of. Instead I imagined I was achieving something by chasing "the sound".

Loopers Anonymous? Recognising the problem is the first step to treating it ... disciplining yourself to stop is the trick.

Next time you find yourself with a tweaked out loop that you are pretty sure sounds great ... STOP and try out "subtractive arrangement".

Lay out a full 7 minutes of your loops (i.e. on individual tracks) and then go through and (randomly if necessary) mute various regions. Keep doing this while observing the general structure of the kind of track you are aiming for (e.g. about 2 minutes in is the first break or whatever). First up, you won't be listening to a loop any more, but a whole track.

You will quickly discover that some loops combine better than others and you can use this information to build the energy of the track towards the build ups and breakdowns. Because you have a sort-of-complete track in front of you now you will probably find you want to tweak different sections of the track to sound right together, add in some different breaks etc. ... which will contribute to feeling inspired to focus on the production and less tempted to keep on loopin' on the spot ...

Sometimes it pays to put the loops aside and work on something else until it's completely out of your head and then return to it using this method, but not until you learn to stop looping I've rescued quite a few loop situations like this, with good results.

Another technique which was already suggested is to try copying a track you really like from start to finish, which will minimise the risk of looping. Synthesise each sound as closely as you can and observe the structure of the track, copying every break down and drum fill, synth stab and bass line to the best of your ability. You will gain some valuable insights in to how you can progress your own work, and also learn some rules that need breaking to create a more individual sound.

BTW, artists like Pendulum tell me that DnB is far from dead ... wicked sound!

Peace,
Andy.

[iDumi]

Thank you everyone. There have been some great and insightful posts here and they will help.

I will also try to get a midi keyboard asap but I'm in a bit of a rough spot, financially (having bought a new computer, soundcard, monitors and a dj midi controller) in the last few months.

[Pleasurehead]

Switch of your cycle button and tell yourself it's only needed for mixing

[Marcus797]

Another technique which was already suggested is to try copying a track you really like from start to finish, which will minimise the risk of looping. Synthesise each sound as closely as you can and observe the structure of the track, copying every break down and drum fill, synth stab and bass line to the best of your ability. You will gain some valuable insights in to how you can progress your own work, and also learn some rules that need breaking to create a more individual sound.

This technique is very powerful! By far the best cure for "loopitis" in my experience.