In the old days, producers sampled sounds off old vinyl records, sliced and diced and pitch shifted things until they fit. It was an incredible amount of work. Lucky for us, we have it a little easier today. Pre-made loops have taken the place of sampling from vinyl. You simply go to a company that sells loop libraries, look for collections in the style you produce and lay them in the tracks of you favorite DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) and use them as the foundation for your productions. Any pitch shifting and time stretching is handled automatically by the computer program you are using. There are many outstanding loop libraries available these days and can be easily located on the Internet. Even better, some offer free samples that you can download. And the quality is stellar. We will discuss some of these in another post. However, they do come at a price and sometimes they are not exactly what you are looking for.
In that case, a computer software program is necessary that allows you to compose your own midi loops. There are many good ones out there. On the PC, Cakewalk Sonar is my favorite and I have used it for years, so I am a little biased towards it. Fruity Loops is another good choice. If you're a MAC user, Logic is hard to beat. The thing to look for in a midi sequencer if you're into "rolling you own" loops is a good step sequencer. A step sequencer is simply a time grid where you can click notes in for kick, snare, effects etc. You really don't need to know much about music to operate one of these although it is helpful if you do. You simply keep looping a section of music over and over and then if the notes don't occur where you like them, you simply erase the wrong note and move it ahead or behind a step at a time in the grid until you get it sounding right. As mentioned above, there are a number a great programs on the PC or MAC platform that will handle all this and more for you if you're willing to pay the $500 and up asking price tag forthese programs.
What if you don't have that kind of money? Well, do I have a bargain for you. Recently I discovered a couple of programs that offer ease of use and incredible sound for a rock bottom price. I felt I had literally stolen these, considering what I paid for Sonar. Can you believe these programs sell for a measly $29? That's right 29 BUCKS! Since a loop CD would cost about twice that much, I figured they were not worth my time, but for $29 what the heck...Was I ever surprised! Will they do everything that Sonar does, or Fruity Loops? Of course not, but I must say that I was really blown away by the quality of the sounds and the ease of use. I hate to admit it, being a die hard Sonar user, (and having spent a lot of my hard earned cash on it) but I really believe you could spend 29 bucks for either of these programs and make some great beats. There's more information in the side bar link: Review DUB Turbo and Sonic Producer. Check it out. You'll be glad you did. Until next time, remember, MAKING BEATS IS THE HEART OF IT ALL!
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