Loop Mode

[ApexAudioTech]

hey guys, (not sure if I'm breaking forum rules with a lil' self promotion)

I put together my first blog article for the year, and I was hoping I could get some feedback on it?

https://www.apexaudio.org/blog/loop-mod ... -tutorial/

I don't think the stuff I talk about is necessarily music theory, in the traditional western sense. But, ultimately I want to build the blog to have content that's musically relevant AND useful, but from a newer perspective that's more oriented towards the psychological/physiological impact that music creates on the listener. I'm still doing a ton of research before I start diving really deep into stuff, but I didn't want to start the year off by procrastinating on posts and telling myself "oh well I should do more research first, etc..."

So, let me know what you think! And if this is too self-promotional and violates rules, I'll take it down, not trying to step on any toes here!


Cheers, friends!

[jopy]

This is an interesting and potentially useful idea. I'll be following this series as you move along.

One thing I would note quickly is that your (good) suggestions are very oriented toward electronic music styles. That's not a problem per se, but I think given that, you should either make it clear that your blog will be focused on that specific genre of songwriting, or broaden the scope of the suggestions. For example, I'm mostly writing in music to be performed in real time, so your suggestions focused on production techniques aren't quite relevant for my situation, but the problem is certainly common enough. If you want to branch out to general songwriting, you'd probably want to include more information about things like changing harmony, rhythmic variations, repetition of themes on different instruments (which you do mention), solo passages to work against group passages, or use of formal structures like counterpoint, rondo, rounded binary, theme-and-variations, or even biggies like sonata form or fugal passages. Otherwise, a set of suggestions for DAW writers is also likely to be very appreciated by some people, so that could work too.

[ApexAudioTech]

Jopy, thanks for the feedback I appreciate it so much!

Yeah I started with stuff geared more towards the electronic & DAW-based stuff, mostly because it's what I'm more familiar with from a personal writing perspective. But I'll definitely put in some work to make content that's also more palatable for the non-EDM/DAW based songwriters.

[jancivil]

I think the key takeaway from this is to lose the fear of making a mess; try and err is a learning opportunity you don't even have if you're too cool for school.

When I first started to record in a DAW, I considered that I was facing a paradigm change; my experience with recording had always been about being prepared to nail it, first take preferably. Which derives from the live performance emphasis, and the fact that we were always running out of tape, and in the studio out of money. Now my m.o. is to hit the record button, damn the torpedoes full speed ahead. Record all the time, the more interesting stuff may live in the accidents. And <MIDI editors> as a way of life.

It strikes me, the boxes you're choosing to reside in, like a cat must feel secure when she gets up in that box. I must say that the one time I heard a track labeled 'House' and it wasn't just tedious was an Indian musician's track. Your "loop mode" and the machinations you suggest (and the elements of music you establish as de rigeur) are products of a prefabricated way. What isn't happening is the organic process of the next idea as the outgrowth of the initial idea. True, mechanical and cut-and-dried analytics can provide tactics towards more momentary interest, or at least a misdirection from the dull, but musical creativity really flowers when we're beyond thinking and naming. So, naturally this Indian House music - where somebody has been a tabla player working in realtime (and elastic time) - flows; so while there is a groove and the audience remains in a comfort zone of clear, reliable backbeat, it's a groove rather than a rut.

[jopy]

I totally agree with the idea of just digging in and losing your self-consciousness Jan. The example of a Hindustani musician taking over a house track is also spot on. In a lot of cases, improvising musicians have a leg up for composing because they are literally composing against the discipline of a running clock every time they pick up their instrument, which is somewhat lost in a lot of today's formal concert music forms.

I also think sometimes there's a kick in the head that you can get by just listing out all the possibilities, playing around with doing one totally "by the book," and then twisting it after you're out of the rut. I have sometimes found it useful to just flat out steal a standard harmonic or formal composition idea, improvise around that for a while, then peel away the standard parts with more and more new things to keep it interesting. In other words, I know it's not super interesting to just do a pure melodic inversion of a theme, but it can be a nice starting point for development at times.

[jancivil]

Yes, definitely. I focused in on the loop and the way out of it, which I think is holistic. You see in his blog methods of alteration but the initial idea is still looping. (Actually I took that on as an exercise last yr, made a 4-bar drum loop, duped it x8 and maintained the simple tune (& the same bass part) for all 8 reps. The drum part gets to specifically happen via the hihat part, in fact. So the aspect that keeps it alive was located in a flow from the improvisational attitude. And dynamically the arc is 32 bars; even as the 4th bar of the 4 bar loop is the same turnaround. At 8 reps it was pretty much played out as far as listening music, though. Pretty strict shoes. The following section amounts to 'breakbeat' and new material.)

[jancivil]

flat out steal a standard harmonic or formal composition idea, improvise around that for a while, then peel away the standard parts with more and more new things to keep it interesting.

Nice ideas! As to the harmonic idea as basis, that's pretty much where bebop is located. You could start as a passacaglia, bass line that's easily recalled and bit by bit deconstruct it, and/or replace chunks of it from another whole idea and the arc is about the mutation. Britten's Nocturnal is reverse variation on a theme; so by the end the basis, a John Dowland piece is revealed. The beginning is all the way out on a limb. So he's defined two poles as to vocabulary and as to what is possible; less and less is permissable, finally only the Dowland is possible.

[elxsound]

I'm a bit sleep deprived, so I won't jump in anymore than to write that this was a very nice read. Definitely nothing to worry about from a self-promo aspect, especially when I think quite a few people could stand to benefit from what amounts to be a very quick read and gain a tool to bust through "Loop Mode."

And what a great term Loop Mode is!