DR BEAT: CUSTOM HOUSE LOOPS

This month’s locum doctor talks loop-making on a budget

Joe Rossitter

With releases on many wellrespected underground labels, and over a decade of beat-making experience under his belt, Joe is well versed in all aspects of computer-based rhythm programming, arrangement and mixing.

As your regular Dr Beat, Ronan Macdonald, is out on call this month, I’m briefly stepping out of the Features Editor chair to don Ronan’s stethoscope and administer your monthly dose of drum knowledge.

Regular Dr Beat readers should already have a fairly decent knowledge of how to replicate a human drummer or percussionist on the piano roll – but what about those moments that call for a ready-made drum loop? Your chosen genre may demand a level of percussive density and thickness that can be difficult to achieve using only one-shot hits; or perhaps you need a source that can be chopped up and re-sequenced for a shot of rhythmic inspiration.

Enter the humble drum loop: a bar or more of a multilayered drum groove that cycles perfectly over and over, creating the illusion of one continuous, seamless performance.

While loop usage is often labelled ‘cheating’, I’d argue that, while using an entire loop from a sample pack isn’t the most original endeavour, it’s highly valuable – essential, in fact – to possess an arsenal of self-built loops that have been designed to neatly slot into your own tracks.

So, to keep in line with this issue’s freeware theme, I’m going to use cost-free plugins to explore the various ways you can craft bespoke cyclical creations from a ready-made loop.