If you’re a rapper that’s struggling to get your instrumental to loop perfectly in your DAW then stay tuned because today I’m going to show you how you can pull this off in 3 easy steps. So without further ado… LET’S GET IT!!
FEATURED INSTRUMENTAL
For this lesson I’m using an instrumental I produced called “Bounty Hunter” which is available on my beat store.
WHY IS LOOPING HELPFUL?
Songwriting
Looping sections of a song during songwriting allows you to focus on specific areas without having to constantly adjust the music players position.
Recording
Looping while recording can allow you to take advantage of “loop recording” which allows you to record multiple takes of the same section of the song, eliminating the need to hit stop and re-record after each take.
Rearranging the instrumental
Setting loops correctly will also allow you to rearrange an instrumental to fit your needs. For example, removing a verse and or the order of the verses.
Serato link
Mix Vibes
DETECT TEMPO
#1. Drag your instrumental into your DAW
#2. Detect the tempo and update the tempo of the DAW accordingly.
#3. If you find it difficult to detect the tempo from within your DAW consider using DJ software such as Serato or Cross DJ
ALIGN TO GRID
#1. If there’s a pause at the beginning of the instrumental that’s throwing it off the grid, remove it.
#2. Align the transient of the snare so that it lands on the 2nd and 4th beat of the grid.
#3. Engage the metronome to help with aligning the snares with the beats of your DAW’s grid.
#4. If you’re using a Trap style instrumental, determine if your tempo is double-time or normal time.
If your tempo is 100 bpm or above, that’s likely the double-time tempo.
If you’re using a double-time tempo there will likely only be one snare per bar and it will likely land on the 3rd beat.
#5. Be sure to disengage the “snap” or “nudge” function in your daw so that you can freely move the instrumental when aligning the snare.
SET YOUR LOOP POINTS
#1. Clicking and dragging around the numbers will allow you to set beginning and ending loop points in most DAW’s. You may also need to click the loop region you create in order to activate it.
#2. Loop one ore two bars and if you’ve aligned the instrumental to the grid correctly it should sound perfect.
#3. To double-check, loop a bar or two toward the end of the song. If you’re instrumental isn’t aligned to the grid perfectly it will be the most noticeable toward the end of the instrumental.
DID THIS HELP?
Have you struggled with looping the instrumental perfectly within a DAW before? If so let me know which one of these tips was the most helpful to you!
