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Overcoming “loopitis”
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E-KL!PSE
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
Posts :
66
Posted : Jun 1, 2010 12:51:10
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I found this great topic on a wordpress blog, I found it very informative & helpful, and there are very regular insightful post on this blog too.
http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/
I think many producers here will agree with this subject. How do you overcome this issue?
Overcoming “loopitis”
It seems that many computer music composers have a problem with developing songs[1]. There is a tendency to create elaborate multilayered loops of two or four or eight bars, but a resistence to being able to put together a whole song.
At risk of oversimplification, this is caused by vertical thinking, where a section of music is developed by adding additional layers (and also getting lost in mixing – balancing and processing). What is needed is horizontal thinking – where a section of music is developed by adding and developing sections.[2]
There are a number of ways of going about this, but all of them revolve around thinking horizontally - working with sections that contrast and develop, rather than simply stacking sounds onto a single section. The way the sections of a song are organised is called structure or form. Looking at it this way, there are really two ways to approach this:
1. Know your structure before you fill it. A good example of this is if you know you want to do something roughly mainstream: verse1-chorus-verse2-chorus-bridge-chorus-chorus. You know when you start that you’ll need three sections (verse, chorus, bridge) and that one section (verse) will need two variations (verse1 and verse2). You can develop these sections independently in your sequencer. Once you’ve got them developed to a certain level (maybe drums, bass and main supporting parts) you can arrange them into place by moving and copying the sections. Once the sections are in place you can then make the transitions work and apply the finishing touches. There are other structures and forms you can try using – you can use this approach even if you don’t want to compose mainstream music! I’ll discuss some structures in future blog posts.
2. See where the music takes you. Using this approach you would develop several sections independently and think about how they fit together later in the composition process. You might use them in a standard mainstream structure (with verses and choruses, as above), or you might do something more complex, or more abstract. This is a more dangerous approach because it’s easier to come up with an incoherent song – one that sounds like a “bunch of stuff”. You’ll recognise this because the sound will sound sprawling, and not feel like it’s going anywhere or making sense. It’s also easy to fall into this approach as a result of being too lazy (or too self-righteous) to commit to a structure early on.
Whichever approach you take, you have to force yourself to break out of the two or four or eight bar loop. You have to start thinking in sections, start thinking about organising these sections to form a song.
And once you’ve got the hang of that, you can then start thinking about suspense, excitement, contrast, expectation, etc…
-Kim.
[1] For the purpose of this discussion, I’ll use the term ‘song’ as an umbrella term for songs, tracks, works, pieces, etc. This is regardless of whether it has a melody, lyrics, or lead vocal.
[2] I’ve got some more detailed ideas about the causes of this, but they’re beyond the scope of this blog post.
  E-KLIPSE Trance Productions
| SC - https://soundcloud.com/eklipse_trance |
| FB – https://www.facebook.com/aaron.eklipse | |
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Ascension
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
170
Posts :
3642
Posted : Jun 1, 2010 15:31
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Recently if I get loopitis my cure is to take that and make some techno with it. Good way to be productive and still be making loops. Eventually I'll get bored and go back to something else  . Either that or I'll open a live set and makes loops for that.
Don't fight loopitis, utilize it
http://soundcloud.com/ascensionsound
www.chilluminati.org - Midwest based psytrance group |
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*eLliSDee*
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
671
Posted : Jun 3, 2010 20:23
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i wonder what it will take to get 'loopitis' recognized by the American Psychiatric Association's as a legit mental disorder.
a lot of people suffer greatly with it, so the psychiatrists can make some profit. new drugs, therapy and all.
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Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : Jun 3, 2010 21:59
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Quote:
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On 2010-06-03 20:23, *eLliSDee* wrote:
i wonder what it will take to get 'loopitis' recognized by the American Psychiatric Association's as a legit mental disorder.
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Nothing at all - as long as Pfizer or Eli Lilly want to sell a pill against it. |
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
162
Posts :
8087
Posted : Jun 3, 2010 22:56
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nice thanks for the link,a way to get ride of these loopitus that might work for some is too try to have the fastest workflow possible, it can give a kind of rushed,spontaneous feeling to the track that is nice , everyhting need to be ready with a template for example, with all the sends effects,buss ,beat ready to let you just concentrate on making music and not much on production, then you try to finish the track the fastest you can even if it s not that great. |
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Djones
IsraTrance Senior Member
Started Topics :
267
Posts :
1766
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 00:21
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I wonder if it's got to do with perfectionism?
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*eLliSDee*
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
671
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 01:15
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[quote]
On 2010-06-03 21:59, Maine Coon wrote:
Quote:
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Nothing at all - as long as Pfizer or Eli Lilly want to sell a pill against it.
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now that's crazy
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*eLliSDee*
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
671
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 01:19
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Quote:
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On 2010-06-04 00:21, Djones wrote:
I wonder if it's got to do with perfectionism?
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i bet it has a lot to do with perfectionism..
'obsessive compulisive' is what THEY call it.
i guess it can become a bit extreme to the point of crazyness
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Obelizk
Amoeba
Started Topics :
115
Posts :
836
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 01:46
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it helps when you're making a 'psytrance' song, and you stop thinking 'psy' and you just let it flow.
Change the key, change the rhythm of the bass, add a new lead with some weird rhythms..
When you're just not thinking about the outcome and just throwing shit out there.
and
feel the grooove, yo.
www.musicproductionnatural.com || www.facebook.com/djamoeba | facebook page |
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piXan
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
107
Posts :
807
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 01:55
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piXan
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
107
Posts :
807
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 01:57
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Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 02:19
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Quote:
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On 2010-06-04 01:15, *eLliSDee* wrote:
now that's crazy
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Nice pun
It’s a bit off-topic, but I was not entirely joking. In the US psychiatric diagnoses go by the manual called DSM. It's in its fourth (1993) edition and DSM-IV includes something called "premenstrual dysphoric disorder". This is basically a severe case of PMS, and many physicians are still puzzled why it had to become a disease of its own. Well, here is my “conspiracy theory”. The patent for Prozac (fluoxetine) expired in 2001. You’d think Eli Lilly would be facing competition from producers of generic fluoxetine now. Nope. Lilly got a separate patent and an FDA approval in 2000 for using fluoxetine in “PMDD” under the trade name Sarafem. In other words, Lilly had a pill – APA invented a disease for it, effectively doubling Lilly’s patent period. Maybe right before Sarafem’s patent expires Lilly will get a third one – for treating lupitis. I think DSM-V is about to be published, by the way... 
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piXan
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
107
Posts :
807
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 02:59
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yeah farmaceutical companies and their marketing are very clever at manipulating masses. in recent times, the case of the influenza H1N1 paranoia, turned out to be just a cold .
but im really loving my ritalin , and it does help me to complete tracks ,
hoho
www.soundcloud.com/elektroakustica/sets/downtempo/ |
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Maine Coon
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
1659
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 03:47
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No, it did not turn out to be “just a cold”. It was actually quite horrible for older people and anybody with immune system problems. And that’s a sizable chunk of the population (in the US at least). I can speak only for my own city, but we had emergency rooms full of very sick people before the vaccine came out. And I live in a total joke of a city – I imagine some crowded places like NYC or LA were even worse.
I was actually wondering: isn’t loopitis a direct result of using loops? One would never had a loopitis if he/she wrote music note-by-note. I am pretty sure loopitis was very rare before 1980.
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*eLliSDee*
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
671
Posted : Jun 4, 2010 07:58
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before 1980 there was loopitus, defined as just jaming without recording the song.
Its like if you wanna just jam innovatively , your bassist will have to introduce a basic loopy baseline.
(added ;;if you know your bassist well enough, you kinda know when to expect key changes)
the definition for me is;;
when you do not progress at all and just work on 8bar or whatever amount) loop for hours,,
tweaking EQ, adding layers, changing sounds,
no real progress or 'commitment to paper' as i call it.
i'll just jam along with a loop, testing out different ideas, which i never feel totally satisfied enough with to keep or "record" or use in the structure..
instead of making the music go on. i mean, instead of actually writing the an overall song. you get stuck in this loop of unsatisfaction. or this feeling that it always can be beter.
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