Looping and Layering When Songwriting

More songwriting tips for you! Today we’re sharing some tips on looping and layering during the songwriting process. How much you use this might depend on the style of music you make-for many rap and electronic artists, looping might be the only way you’ve ever written music.

Looping/layering is a fantastic writing tool for everyone to use. This technique lets you mock up how your ideas work in combination, without having to worry about fitting your ideas into a song structure you don’t know yet. You can find the song through the sounds.

This is a more manageable bite when writing music. Instead of having to conceive an entire songs worth of material all at once, you just get one groove working, than add another, than another.

Timing your loops

Loop timing is very important here: don’t add a new layer until the one you’re working on is nicely in time, and stays in time when looped over multiple repetitions.

If your loop start and end points are not exactly aligned, your sounds will gradually fall out of sync with each other as they continue to play. This is where a grid based recording setup like Ableton Live can have an advantage. The program takes all the annoyance of manual loop timing out of your hands, by locking every clip you record onto the same master timing grid. A lot of people love Ableton’s grid mode, for this reason. Logic Pro also has a grid based system now!

Other options for loop timing

Another option for syncing is to write to a click.

If you don’t like using a click, try using a drum backing track instead; it’s the same steady reference tempo to write around, but more fun.

Or, have a friend record some drum loops in different styles for you to write over.

Options if you don’t like a click

If you don’t want a click when recording, that’s cool, but your internal time and/or the rhythm of your band will need to be very strong or it might sound weird.

And, to develop your internal time, you’re back to practicing your instrument on your own with a click or a backing drum track.

If you don’t want to hear a click when you’re playing music ever, also cool, but I’d make sure you have a very good and steady drummer in your band in that case! Then, you can just listen to them and play along.

Especially if you’re looping while writing on your own, keeping steady time will make things much easier!