Last month my column was all about letting other musicians in on your projects; about getting the inclusion of other musicians and their crafts onto your projects. I believe that this can be a very good process. Not just creatively, but through discovery of where your music can go. I painted a few scenarios of how this could be accomplished.

A friend of mine read the column, and said "Man, I totally get what you're saying, and it makes sense, but 'round here, it's just me." He explained that to even get to a room where drums were capable, was not only a haul, but expensive as well. Then he explained that he didn't even really know any good drummers.

So then I spoke to him about possible solutions. He said he had tried drum loops, but wasn't very successful. I asked him why. He said because it's just a four or eight bar loop, and that gets too boring. And programming actual drum parts was not in his equation. This is true for many of us guitarists that are writing on our own. We can't, or won't program the actual drum parts, because most of us don't THINK like a drummer. It doesn't come natural to us. And a simple drum loop isn't going to cut it. Yet we know what sounds good when we hear it don't we?

I've found a way to really make loops come alive. For all of the Mac users, life is much easier because of Garage Band. If you gather the libraries for GarageBand, you can really get some interesting results when combining loops. Electronic music writers have been all over this for years, and I think we sometimes look at assembling loops as more of a DJ or Groove marketplace, but surely not for POP, Rock, or Blues, right? Not necessarily.

There are a many music library companies out there that have really good drum loops now, across many genres of music. I use this to my advantage. I actually have fun mixing and matching them while creating a song.

The reason I spoke of GarageBand, is because it's easy to bring in loops of different tempos, and drag and drop them right into the song. On the PC side, ACID is one of the leading programs for this type of application. I use Apple Logic Pro, which gives me access to all of my GarageBand, and any other loop libraries on my computer from within Logic Pro. I can audition them first IN TEMPO with my song, even if they originally were recorded at a different tempo. Then when I like a loop, I can drag it right into my existing song that I am presently working on.

So in a Pop song, I may start with a simple four or eight bar kick and snare loop, but then layer a percussion loop or two on top of it, maybe congas or shakers. Then I may add a second kick and snare drum loop that has a complimentary rhythm to go with the first two. At the chorus I may add even more loops with more cymbals that wouldn't work during the verse.

Each of these loops I put on a separate track so that I can EQ each loop. Or compress it, or add effects in some manner. One of the coolest things I can do is to manipulate these loops to my liking. Just because I have eight different loops running, doesn't mean that I have to have all of them on at once, does it? So I can play mix & match. I want this loop in for two bars here, at the beginning of the verses only. Another loop can be just for the chorus. Maybe for the bridge I pull out all of the existing loops and add a new set altogether. I'm totally free to produce the drums at will. I know they all sound good, they're in tempo, and I can totally control when they play or don't play.

The end result is that my drums are much more full, and slamming when I need them to be, soft and simple when I need that as well. I can even bus all of the percussion tracks together as a submix, versus the Kick/Snare loops. This allows me to place them as if they were a real percussionist, with a real place in the audio stereo picture. Also, if each loop is on a separate track, I can automate them as well. Bring some volumes up, or down at points in the song, or change the panning.

Drum loops today are a big jump from where they used to be in fidelity, and arrangement. They now come with intros, fills, endings, turnarounds, and even single hits if you want to load your sampler with them and brave the world of programming drums.

If the loops were made to work with ACID, or GarageBand, or Apple Loops, so much the better because they're already made to be freely time-stretched to your material. There are limitations, but for the most part they work really well. They can show you the tempo they were originally recorded at, so you can look for ones close to the tempo of your song first. You can create loops like this from regular .wav or .aif files with programs as well.

So be gone the simple, boring loop. You can have a world of drums and rhythmic instruments on your songs, even if it's just yourself.

makintrax@philgates.com
http://www.philgates.com
www.myspace.com/philgatesmusic