A great way to overcome the ‘16-bar loop problem’ is to create a rough song template before you even begin creating any sounds. Do this by creating empty MIDI clips across your DAW’s arranger for each major track element, sketching out a map of how you expect your song to progress. This doesn’t have to be a final arrangement you end up sticking to rigidly, but it will be much easier to ‘remix’ this rough idea than start with a totally empty timeline.
An easy method for creating these kinds of templates is to base them around a reference track. Drag one of your ‘placeholder’ reference tracks onto your DAW’s timeline, and follow the steps below to create – and reshape – a template from it.
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Now we can start ‘remixing’ our reference track, even before creating any elements of our own. Try extending sections, or moving the breakdown. Does your reference track start with just drums? Try swapping it out for a melodic element. Again, we don’t have to stick to this, but it will provide a starting sketch to work around later on in the process.
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Play through your reference track one 16-bar section at a time. Whenever a new element is introduced, create a new MIDI track and add an empty MIDI clip to represent this new part. Duplicate parts as you listen to the track, but remove any part that cuts/fades out. Listen through to the reference track a couple of times to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
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Label each element. No need to be too specific – we’re not trying to replicate our reference track – simply tagging elements as percussive or melodic would do. Or use rough labels such as ‘kick’, ‘bassline’, ‘pads’, ‘chords’. Try using colour coding to show how a part progresses throughout the track – eg make a synth’s clips a light colour as the filter opens.