Loop Composition

This project was super difficult for me to start at first. I think I was just trying to make it too complicated. Once I was able to just let go of the pressure to make something amazing or revolutionary I started having a lot of fun combining sounds and just seeing what sounded cool to me.

The loops I started with were the synth and bass you hear at the beginning. The two together just gave such good vibes and sounded super summery to me so I wanted to keep going down that path. I also loved the ambiance of the synth track and the way it pans; it felt super immersive. From there I added in the tambourine and drum tracks. I was drawn to the tambourine especially because it gave the high-end percussion sound of a hi-hat while being just a little different and slightly more unusual. I was drawn to the super crunchy sound of the snare in the drum loop and the contrast it gave to the super flowy ambiance of the synth.

Next, I found this electric guitar riff you hear sprinkled in throughout the song. I knew I wanted to add guitar but I wasn't sure if I wanted it throughout the whole piece since it might distract from the synth and bass, which I wanted to be the main backbone. The rhythm of the riff kind of threw me for a loop though (no pun intended) and I was struggling with where exactly to place it in relation to the other loops. I eventually just decided to stop overthinking it and trying to music theory my way into a solution and just put it in random places that sounded interesting to me. I think this worked pretty well and it gives it a fun unpredictable quality.

After I got the beginning instruments down, the song just started flowing. To build it up some more I added in a synth pad, giving it even more of that ethereal immersive vibe. Once I had all of that going I started to break it down, first taking out the bass and drums, then the main synth and synth pad. That left just the tambourine and a new synth melody in the breakdown section. At the very end of this section, I dropped out the tambourine and let the synth have its moment. I wanted to make a super stark contrast, almost like a beat drop, coming out of this section, so I added a beat of nothing before I brought everything back in. I didn't want the synth ending to sound too abrupt so I added reverb to it, extending it through the rest. This is my favorite part of the song.

After the break I brought every loop back in full force and, after a couple measures, swapped the new synth for a new guitar loop. The guitar loop feels a little bass-y to me and adds some more intrigue to the end of the song. In this final section I also chopped up the electric guitar riff, not playing the full riff until the very end to add to the build-up and delay the resolution.

To end the song, first I took out the synth pad, thinning out the mix a little bit. Then I took out the new guitar loop and the drums at the same time, leaving just the original synth, bass, and tambourine. I didn't want the song to end with just synth since that's how it began, so I took out the synth and kept the bass and tambourine going to the end, adding one final full guitar riff to finish it off.

I think this way of creating music is ABSOLUTELY a legitimate form of musical creativity. This is probably the most musically creative I've felt in a while. The possibilities are endless here, and even if I gave other people the same exact loops I used in this song they would all come up with totally different pieces. But even if they didn't, I don't believe that music or art in general is about complete individuality and uniqueness. These loops are a tool for expression and experimentation and I think that's what it's all about.