Using Loops in your mixes
Loops have been something that I hardly ever use in my mixes, what are some tips to start integrating them into mixes. And what are some examples of times that they would be useful.
Whenever you are mixing and you think “I wish this had an acapella/percussion/drum loop going on too”
Pretty much sums it up
I am a loop whore, possibly because of the way i view music; “oooh i like that sound”
Most my transitons tend to be built around loops, just pick sounds you like that fit well and layer them up.
I use them all the time, like loop a bassline, and swap em out…or something like this:
I think having a consistent three or four loops in your set help to glue the whole thing together.
The obvious answer is it allows you to mix longer - taking the best part of a track and making it last for…as long as you want it to you.
This is what the beauty of the sync button brings - you can layer up a mix out of a track, add another loop of a little vocal from another track, a little stabby riff…ANYTHING…and before you know it your creating your very own unique version of a track. It’s amazing.
Is he talking about adding completely new loops on decks C and D for example, or looping a part of a track already playing and extending it?
Any way to use loops, granted I don’t have 4 decks to use :X
If you don’t use four decks then you’re really handicapping yourself if you want to use loops
if you like doing longer transitions and the outgoing track will end soon after the obvious mix point.
what i do is set an active loop on the tune so that when i start bringing in the next track, i can concentrate on mixing in instead of rushing the mix and risking the other track cutting off 
a lot of tracks i buy are only because i like certain small sections of them - so i can cut them up and use by themselves. a lot of other tunes i like but aren’t happy with the percussion so will add beats over the top.
I dont use specific loops really in my mixes but one thing i love doing its playing the levels melody at 110 BPM a few times, filtering and flanging it for 8 or 16 bars, then bringing it back to normal when it repeats and dropping the first 4 bars looped of the Brown Beat by Cameron Paul on it, (the beat that is the basis for ALL New Orleans Bounce songs.)
i try and use loops, i have the s2 so two decks only.
When i use loops it doesn’t sound that great lol. But then again all i have is the sample loops from traktor pro 2.
I haven’t purchased any loops or vocals yet.
u could always trigger the sample decks using a keyboard mapping
[quote]When i use loops it doesn’t sound that great lol. But then again all i have is the sample loops from traktor pro 2.
I haven’t purchased any loops or vocals yet.[/QUOTE]
i haven’t bought any loop packs (yet) but have found quite a few free ones on the interweb. there’s a lot of free and legal samples out there if u have a hunt.
I mess around with them a lot when I’m playing around with Ableton. I mostly use it as a DAW, and not as a performance tool, but sometimes loops are good for inspiration when you hit “writers block” if you will.
In my mixes though, I’ll loop particular parts (usually before a breakdown) to extend the energy a bit sometime, and so that I have time to build up the next track coming in before the track that’s currently playing cuts back the energy. I haven’t really utilized them much more than that, but it’s something I do plan on playing around with in the future.
I feel that loops are best utilized when you are doing your own production. Either that, or if you’re cutting stuff up yourself and implementing it into a mix with something like The Bridge. It’s one of the features of Ableton that I just don’t see being topped very easily, though I know NI is trying with the new remix decks. We’ll see how it pans out, but as I’m a Serato guy, Ableton is going to be my go-to.
If I don’t like the break down of a track, such as it is too long, too bland, looping 16-32 beats of the great part of the track or another song keeps the energy going. I like looping 16 beats before the drop on some songs to give more time to build the mix than trying to do it with the intro alone. I like looping drums to make beat cutting super easy, if it is always on the amen, you can just concentrate on the main track and cut the amen with impunity.
Not criticising, just curious, but why would you play the track you don’t like or think isn’t effective as part of your set or are you referring to creating a track edit on the fly?
I don’t use samples or loops much, but when I do…I tend to scratch around and find and make my own one shot samples.
Then I will find some loops that will fit my set. It usually tends to be synth lines or drums.
Not so much bass\kick and toms, but more hats etc.
I played a set about a year ago, where I used this one loop of really powerful hats, sounded like a locomotive kinda ‘chucka chucka chucka chucka’…what was great about it was, that i loaded it into a track deck and set it to be looped. I put 2 starting Cue Points down on it, so the one started just off phase and the one was perfect.
So at various parts of the set, I could just push the fader up and it would be there.
To vary it a bit, I could start it off phase or on.
Made a real nice set even tighter and as Jojo says, glues the whole thing together really. Like a common theme almost.
Track edit on the fly, I’ve been playing more technical drum and bass, which is filled with sleepy dull break downs, that need another layer to make them sound interesting to me. One the key decisions in djing for me is whether or not to let a breakdown happen, as it often makes an energy vacuum.