do you feel guilty using loops you didnt make?

[Tarekith]

I'll use anything, I don't care. Loops are fun to mess with, and sometimes they sound great as is, so be it. It's like presets in a synth to me, a lot of times they make great starting points, and it saves me a ton of time doing a lot of repetitious work to get to that point. If they sound perfect just like they are, then lucky me I just saved some time and got to use the skills of someone obviously better at the task than I am in that particular case. It's like using session musicians to me, I'm leveraging other people's skills to improve my craft. I know with enough time and practice I can learn any instrument I put my mind to. Doesn't mean I want to do it every single time I go to write a song though.

That said, there's a string loop that came with Logic 7 that I used in one of my songs when I first got that app. Now I hear it all the time in other artists songs, some quite famous. I don't regret using the loop, I just wish I would have mangled that one a little more, doh!

[SuburbanThug]

Autechre's been known to use a loop here and there. Aphex Twin uses breaks. Luke Vibert built his entire legacy on breaks. Loops are cool but not all loops were created equal. I've made some cool sounds out of factory loops though.

[dredd i knight]

I'll use anything, I don't care. Loops are fun to mess with, and sometimes they sound great as is, so be it. It's like presets in a synth to me, a lot of times they make great starting points, and it saves me a ton of time doing a lot of repetitious work to get to that point. If they sound perfect just like they are, then lucky me I just saved some time and got to use the skills of someone obviously better at the task than I am in that particular case. It's like using session musicians to me, I'm leveraging other people's skills to improve my craft. I know with enough time and practice I can learn any instrument I put my mind to. Doesn't mean I want to do it every single time I go to write a song though.

!

this.
if i could drum like Bernard Purdie, play keyboards like Jimmy Smith, rap like Masta Ace, play bass like Charlie Mingus, sing like Ella Fiztgerald etc, I would feel guilty if I sampled shit and used loops....

I cant.

So I get my ideas down any way I can, and that includes stealing shit from great people. I dont have any pretensions about any of that "making it my own" bollocks either. If I make a collage of other images what it becomes is still mine... If I take a groove from Bernard Purdue, and riff from Jimmy Smith, a word or 2 from Ella, and Ace, and retune a couple of duble bass notes off Mingus... Fuck it, it makes me happy not guilty!

And that goes for using stylus and pre-made loops as well.... I can't get grooves like that down, and if you can you should make some money off that shit selling loops to people like me!

Went to a great Lichenstein exhibition the other day... Music is still so defensive when it comes to reinterpretations etc. His whole style was based on recreating images from photos, comics and magazines... Just writ large.

[Breaks Dude]

I have no issues using them. I have been collecting loop CDs for 10 years and have about 1 terabyte worth of them. Drums, string arrangements, basslines, vocals, MIDI clips, you name it. I also work professionally in the music biz. That said, I'm fond of mangling things so they don't sound exactly like the originals. In between those loops I compose my own stuff, so 50/50.

[ikeaboy]

I have no problem doing it but not if it tips past 10-15% of the sound of the track. Then again it depends on the source of the loop and how it's used. It's like using clip art or goggle images for a poster, did I do it creatively and find new combinations and contexts? Or am I just standing over somebody else's work, instead of learning my own craft, and taking the credit? Personally I have no time for the latter.

[ikeaboy]

I hate loops, they make you so laaazy, and for me even with a tweak or 2, even if you bought it... it's like a steal to me.

what's the difference if you paid for it? it still another people's work, not yours.

indeed we can see 2 different loops uses:

-casual, occasionnal

-regular, systematic

these are totally different to me.

we could also precise 2 different "loop" definitions :

-a pre-made ready to play loop, perhaps even with the tempo included in the name, included in huge banks by styles, instruments, bpm... that is the most lazy and steal to me, even if you paid 10000$ for your collection

-a sample you record from somewhere (movie, cd, video game...) and yourself make a "personnal" loop of it. That is to my eyes way more creative and personnal, less a steal than a real re-creation, rebirth of the soundbite you extract and use differently.


I have lots of loops in my HD, but never used a single one in a finished song. It's sometimes a good teacher to try to make yourself a loop you like.

The only stuff I use that is not my own are : drum hits and a few one-shot samples, acapellas (I'm not a good mc nor singer), and sometimes one or two presets of my hard and soft synths but only with a tweak somewhere to be able to say "I did this sound"

my 2 extremist cents

This!
Unless your making music just to entertain yourself, then do whatever the hell you want.