The way out of the 8-bar loop

When composing electronic music many people compose an 8-bar loop, but then get stuck, unsure about how to do any proper musical storytelling from that point forward. Let's talk about a simple workflow for breaking that mental block, and how to think more in terms of tension & release 💥


Contents:
0:00 Everyone gets stuck in the 8 bar loop
0:32 An example of a loop
1:22 What to do once you have a good loop
2:00 Building tension and release
2:45 Creating a musical moment of release
4:10 The Reversed Reverb technique
7:08 The Foundations course

[TWER]

My problem is I get stuck in loops for so long that I start to hate the sound of my own creation, then start a new track thinking, "This time it will be different." It never is, lol. I'm going to try your strategy!

[louminati]

Mate I've been stuck at this point since 1990. LOL.

[colincromwell]

As someone who constantly gets stuck in the 8-bar loop this was immensely helpful!

[MagnificentlyHighAlien]

I've been caught up in overperfecting loops to the point of 'wtf is this'*delete*, and then repeat, for a frustratingly long time now. I've been following your tutorials since almost the beginning, I think, and so far your explainations are the most comprehensible out there. I'm using a free DAW which doesn't have fancy return busses, quick and easy MIDI to wav conversion and whatnot, but thanks to you the way you explain the stuff I can almost always figure out a way to make it work with what I have, for now.


Also, fancy nails

[easytoassemble]

Yes, I needed this. I tend to get locked into tunnel vision on my loops very easily, so having a "toolkit" like this is very good.

[ogami]

So i think what you're saying is that a loop should be regarded as a starting point, rather than the actual meat. Good video!

[peterelfman]

I've been playing a lot with reversed delays. They have a lot of the same emotional impacts as reversed reverb while adding rhythmic texture. For added bonus, reverse the thing you're delaying before you flatten the delay, so that when you reverse the flatten delay, it's playing "normally".

Great video as always, Oscar!

[josepe]

Wow man, this info is so game changing for producers that are good beat makers but with no musical knowledge. Excellent

[BaddBadger]

Oscar doesn't just tell me what i need to know, but ever since i started following this channel he has told me those things exactly WHEN i need to know them!

[mccowncmKY]

Cleanest and easiest to understand tutorial I have seen in a long long time. I have so many loops and snippets of songs that I have created but can never bring together and get stuck and thus the project sits in a folder and on to the next. Looking forward to playing around with this and your other tutorials. Thanks for posting!

[arizonateagod]

Another good tip to build a bit of tension and release is to introduce a couple notes in the break section of whatever your main melody of the “drop” is going to be. (I usually do like 2 or 3) and then once the “drop” comes introduce the full melody. Musical foreshadowing is very powerful

[ringtangting]

That's a serious loop, Oscar. Hope it will be a full track!

[LiquidGhaash]

I am never going to do this, or create music at all. Yet i am still here and enjoying it greatly. Off to the next video!

[mukisajohnmary]

Thanks uncle Oscar. Been taking nudgets of wisdom from your channel for a while now. Thanks for the good work

[HugoJL]

Love how these concepts apply to any genre

[movement]

Don’t even stop making vids mate. Whether pro, intermediate or beginner, your vid’s are always fun and educational 💪💪

[cookieintune]

I actually made a ver poor attempt in explaining it but oscar simply knows how to do it properly, gladly I could get out of it about one year ago, but it's so easy to get stuck and so so important for who is starting because it can be unmotivating to simply not being able to progress over a loop, thanks for the good reliable and useful info that we can apply right away to any daw thats really priceless 👍

[Luos_]

I also like to do preverbs for this.
Same steps basically, but invert the sound, then add a nice echo/reverb, freeze, flatten, and invert the sound again.

[gooneybird]

I was always afraid of the next step after the loop is made but the sooner you start to develop the song the more ideas you’ll get for tension instead of just adding more and more to the loop. Even spreading out a few core sounds will make you think of a direction to take the song.

[MeneerSpijker]

TY!
I will most definitely check out your courses as soon as I have some money on the side.
Just by seeing the value you bring for free and for your/our pleasure I can't (or can) imagine what your course has to offer.
<3