Loop Edits

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  • #23914
    MichaelL
    Participant

    I’ve never been asked to create loop edits by WFH libraries. But, it seems that loops sell well in RF libraries.

    So, I have a very basic question. I usually leave a tiny bit of silence at the beginning of each track so the audio previews aren’t clipped.

    How much silence, if any, to you leave at the head and tail of loop so that it’s seamless for the customers who aren’t comfortable doing edits?

    Thanks.

    #23915
    Art Munson
    Keymaster

    I leave a bit of silence on regular mixes but not on loops. I sometimes load in a couple of loops, back to back, to make sure they loop seamlessly. I have never tried leaving a bit of silence to see if that would work. Hmm, something to try.

    #23916
    MichaelL
    Participant

    Thanks Art. Seems to me that leaving any space would force the buyer to make adjustments. Just wondering how others handle it.

    #23917
    Rob (Cruciform)
    Guest

    I haven’t done loop edits for ages but I always started and finished right on the mark, no silence. I have one that’s regularly placed by JP. I think it’s only sold one in the RFs.

    #23918
    Art Munson
    Keymaster

    I’ve sold quite a few loops and I haven’t had complaints. I do hear the attack getting munched a bit on a strong downbeat though.

    #23919
    MichaelL
    Participant

    I do hear the attack getting munched a bit on a strong downbeat though.

    That sounds like a user issue, not something to do with your edit.

    Are there popular or “standard” lengths for loops?

    #23920
    Art Munson
    Keymaster

    That sounds like a user issue, not something to do with your edit.

    No, it’s because I’m not leaving that tiny bit of air at the beginning. On a regular mix I leave a 128th note. I don’t do that on a loop.

    Are there popular or “standard” lengths for loops?

    I usually do 4 bars and make sure I don’t have a cymbal crash on the downbeat. I have also done 8 bars. Bjorn at SW liked longer ones when I was submitting there (before he went exclusive).

    #23921
    MichaelL
    Participant

    Thanks!

    #23923
    woodsdenis
    Participant

    Its also not tecnically possible to make loop able mp3, it has to be a wav or similar. If you convert your perfect looped wav file to an mp3 it will be a tiny bit longer and not loop correctly.

    #23925
    Per Boysen
    Participant

    I’m not doing much loop construction today, but I did that a lot in the past and developed a trick to achieve smooth looping for the user: You render a bit of (tail) audio for the silent bars after the music has stopped and then you mix in that audio as part of the first bars. Voilà – you get a totally glitch-free merry-go-around in place!

    #23927
    PolarSounds
    Participant

    Its also not tecnically possible to make loop able mp3, it has to be a wav or similar. If you convert your perfect looped wav file to an mp3 it will be a tiny bit longer and not loop correctly.

    I’ve not experienced that with my loops. I bounce WAV and Mp3 simultaneously from Logic and they are the exact same length.

    I usually make a VERY short fade in and fade out of the looped audio region to avoid clicks.

    #23928
    woodsdenis
    Participant
    #23929
    Tbone
    Participant

    Usually the loops I’m asked for are 10-15s.

    To avoid clicking and to make the loop seamless, you can export “as loop”, which takes any tail like a delay and adds it to the beginning of the loop. This is an incredibly useful feature. I always check my loops in the DAW and listen for the transition. I don’t use fades or silence.

    I’ve made thousands of loops this way over the course of my life!

    #23930
    woodsdenis
    Participant

    I’ve not experienced that with my loops. I bounce WAV and Mp3 simultaneously from Logic and they are the exact same length.

    As a test to see how much the difference is I bounced a 4 bar loop @ 128 bpm to wav and mp3. Both Logic and Cubase bounced the wav correctly at 7.500 secs but they bounced the mp3 at different lengths 7.523 and 7.576 respectively. I did as you did in Logic, bounce both at the same time.

    If you zoom into the front of an mp3 you will see that gap which will obviously be greater at longer lengths. To be fair I imported the mp3 back into Logic and it sounded fine but beware they are not the same length.

    #23931
    PolarSounds
    Participant

    If you zoom into the front of an mp3 you will see that gap which will obviously be greater at longer lengths. To be fair I imported the mp3 back into Logic and it sounded fine but beware they are not the same length.

    I tried to import a Mp3 loop into Logic and repeat the region. After 3000 repeats I could tell the region was of the grid, so you are absolutely correct that its a bit longer. This was new to me. I still think in most cases it would be fine though, haven’t had any complains yet 🙂

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