Going from a Loop to a Full Track using Filters

This is a transcript from my YouTube video Going from a Loop to a Full Track using Filters. Click that link to watch the video.

Today I wanted to talk about how we can use filters to go from a loop to a full track. So I do this a lot because if I’m making music, especially if it’s electronic music, I start with some type of 4 or 8 bar loop and I want to use that in a more interesting way than just having it be played over and over and over and over again.

One way we can do that is by using filters. Specifically we’re going to talk about low-pass filters. What that means is you’re letting all of the low frequencies pass. All of the low frequencies are going to go through, but the high frequencies are going to be cut off. As you open it those high frequencies will be opened. So we’re going to automate our low-pass filters to slowly reveal and introduce different aspects of our music.

So we’re going to talk about one of my songs. It’s called Dreaming of Turquoise. It’s a single. It’s on Spotify and it’s also on my album Starshine. That’ll be coming out. Either it’s already out or it’ll come out in about a month or so. One of the things that I did when I made this song was I thought of a little idea and I kept adding multiple and multiple layers. So I added, I think, somewhere around 6 to 7 layers or something like that. 6 to 8 layers of just different pieces that I thought would be interesting being put together and I wanted to be able to take that and actually have it as a full song, but you can’t really do that if you just play the same loop with however many layers it doesn’t really matter. It’ll get boring after you hear it probably about 3 times. So one thing that you can do is just start with just maybe a couple of those layers and you introduce one of the layers with a low-pass filter on it.

You keep that filter really low. You aren’t even hearing any of the track, but you keep that filter on there and you slowly introduce it. So if we listen to the beginning, the very beginning. There are layers there, but you’re not hearing them because their filters are too low. Let’s take a listen to that at the beginning.

Let’s hear the end of it. That’s where all the layers are present. That’s where everything’s open. Everything’s opened up. We can hear all of those layers. Let’s take a listen to what that sounds like.

Those layers are present in both of them, it’s just that the low-pass filters are really really low and are cutting out almost all of the frequencies of those layers. So once you hear it open up those layers are slowly introduced and slowly added to the song so it sounds like it’s growing. It sounds like it’s changing. There’s something new that you’re listening to, but it’s added so gradually and so slowly that you’re not even hearing it as a change and it’s not made as an abrupt, big change.

So I like it as a composition/production technique because you can introduce your layers gradually and it allows you to write in a different way than just writing linearly. If you want to write linearly go ahead, but if you’re also writing loop music and you like working with loops you can use those loops and use that style of writing to your advantage. So you can have a loop that has maybe 10 different layers, but you don’t hear them right away. You hear maybe the first 3.

I’m a huge fan of this technique because it allows you to turn your loop basically into a song. It’s almost like these things are being added in the music organically. You’re not hearing this very direct, “okay it’s the down beat. Here’s the second part. Here’s the next section.” Right? That’s great and that’s fun to compose with, but you can also do it in a way that’s a little more subtle. So at the end of that song you’re hearing so many different layers, but you don’t really notice them if you listen to the music because everything’s been added so gradually. It’s almost like they’re just sneaking into the music and you never really notice them.

Alright, I hope you found that useful and learned a little bit more about  music and music production. If you did make sure you sign up for my newsletter and I’ll see you later. Peace.

ISJ