Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Any good tips of how to convert 4 bar loops into actual songs
I honestly think I've lost the art of how to create finished tracks.
Comments
Perhaps not an especially good tip, but as per today's pop music standards, simply copy and paste those 4 bars 12 times, add a feeble vocal track and autotune it to full cringe, done.
(I'm getting old, obviously.)
Tension/Release:
A finished track is generally just a collection of two, three, or four loops that share the same vibe and are usually (but not always) in the same key. The really simple trick I use is to write a whole bunch of different little loops/sections and then delete the crappy ones and just keep the best two or three and then build the track from there.
You can build up your sections from chord progressions, or beats, or melodies, whatever works at the time.
I load all my bits into Ableton on the desktop, and the drag/copy them around until I find something that works. I can then overdub across the whole thing to tie it together, and sound less like a bunch of repeating blocks.
Really needed, got like 200+ 4-8 bar loops with 8+ tracks each loops in Gadget LOL...
Generally I feel we get a good loop or a good chord progression. But maybe not both
If you have a good progression, select 1 or more chords to create a section, and loop it and work as you would normally build a loop.
If you have a good loop, try making a chord progression around that.
Then I think the best way would be to see where in the whole thing you need variations in themes, rhythm, layer instruments, remove instruments and start making it not boring.
That being said, I don't recall finishing a track this year.
I did drop some, but they where generally short songs for videos. None of the stuff I did for me was finished. My problem was having too many options and trying to learn and master too many apps+gear.
So the last tip is to try and keep it simple
Good stuff!
Don’t make loops in the first place. Create a structure of sections in your DAW, with changes of harmony and chord progressions, then fill in the details the same way you normally create loops, but unlooped. Add melodies and start mixing.
If you’re desperate to use the loops, import them into the sections of the structure after you’ve created it.
yeah, great video
Put a granular effect with a 100% wet reverb, say something ridiculous about the life and post the song as an ambient creation
And use PaulXStretch to slow it down - voilà, a 10-min masterpiece
Yeah, exactly, the “other technique”!
This right here. ^^^^^^^
I have found myself much more productive if I play through a whole idea with a guitar or piano. then start arranging, adjusting the timing, adding bits and pieces here and there. Maybe re-record the original part if I need to fix any timing issues. Loops are great if you want to chop them up though.
Think about a typical song, some sort of intro, verse(which is just a 4-8 bar loop), a chorus(4-8 bar loop) repeat verse maybe add something or take away something, 2nd chorus, add or take away, bridge(different 4-8bar loop) repeat chorus either full on with everything or stripped down to almost nothing. So all in all you need 3 loops that work together. and some transition sounds to go between each.
Have you been listening to my albums again?
Expand your knowledge of harmony, counterpoint, and improvisation. You can then play the loop and improvise over it until you expand it into something more substantial.
Great advice 🙏🏻
More great advice!
Playing is the key 🔑
Sometimes we get so caught up in making that we forget to play. It’s one the dangers of a timeline too early in the process.
Watch Keifer on YouTube, he does a lot of song building live:
https://youtube.com/@kiefer605
Using loops is a good way to start, but continually building one’s familiarity with song construction, learning about chord progressions and just playing on a keyboard or guitar (or simply singing something) is an easy way to get out of a rut.
Watch some YouTube videos on composing and song deconstruction
12tone
8bit music theory
David Bennett piano
David Bruce Composer
You don’t have to know everything about music theory to understand what is presented in a lot of these channels
Find a song you like and use it’s structure as a template
That is what i do, i take a 2 or a 4 bars loop and i makes that into a complete full song without being repetitive and making it sound like a complete new composition and sound,,,to me that is the art of sampling, best tool for that is KoalaSampler, and im guessing that beatmaker 3 which i ain’t so sure about it, because im an iphone beat maker, we dont have beatmaker 3 is not on iphone but i do wish that it was on iphone
the best tips would be chopping the loop and make a new composition with that !
Dear god I just realized how long ago I wrote this, but I think the tips still stand:
https://tarekith.com/articles/ArrangingSongs.pdf
Create a nice drumloop, experiment with melody hooks or chord progressions until you get something that makes you smile.
Add a bassline. That’s already three parts (drums, bass, chords/melody).
Make simpler, and more complex versions of the drums for tension/release.
Start arranging it. I find Ableton’s session loops perfect for experimenting, but make sure you are always recording. I have lost some great happy accidents I couldn’t ever repeat.
Then, think about how you can work with the material you have. Maybe add some vocal chops, field recordings, etc. Once I took a neat guitar solo/riff, converted to midi in Ableton, then used it to play the same part on a piano, only an octave down.
After a while the song will tell you what it needs. Very often, I will get stuck. I will know something more is needed, and the puzzle is to find it. I am quite spare with my arrangements, so sometimes this means removing something.
This is just one way to do it of course, but it can work. I did this song pretty much as described.
Load the clips as loops in Loopy Pro and arrange them on the timeline.
Great 🤗
I'm probably gonna cave in and buy LP instead of Multitrack Recorder plugin... And I noticed this usage of the timeline is great. Even more so because you can clear a part, and re-record it easily... but keeping its place on the structure
@mistercharlie
)
That was an awesome breakdown. Reminds me of the old days of recording to tape or even the first digital 4 tracks. This process flows really great and it ends up being more about feeling the overthinking it (which should aways be the case
The app Songen which generates 4 bar loops also has an arrangement generator for those loops. When you see what it does, and how ridiculously simple it is, there is no question of how to develop small loops. Believe the app is free to try. I recommend it because it is so straightforward and easy to see there that you’ll be smacking yourself in the head going “duh”. You can then apply that to wherever you do your work
https://makingmusic.ableton.com/?pk_vid=5001f77e287c18011671899246cab1d5
The middle section is about Problems of Progressing and explores various ways to augment your loops and explore ways to add variation
@db909
Wow
1st ai app that I like
Thanks for the heads up
Record the loop track by track into Endlesss, then use the FX to warp various parts into something new, drop out certain parts and add new ones to gradually build up new rifffs (ie loops). Use those as the other parts of the song by going through your rifff history, picking the best 3 or 4 rifffs from your jam session and then arranging them using MixTapes (Endlesss.fm Reaktor-based arrangment tool) or your DAW of choice. Chances are good they will flow together well because they are all inter-related as one evolved from another.
In short, you can absolutely create an entire, enjoyable song from one multi-dimensional loop just by turning on/off various sections and adding some new stuff over top every now and then.