Freesound Forums

Hi everyone

This is inspired by this forum thread:
http://www.freesound.org/forum/production-techniques-music-gear-tips-and-tricks/35413/

Request is simple:
Create loops and upload to Freesound. Any type, any style, any genre (percussion, beats, synth lines, atmospheres/textures...)

Rules are simple:
1) You MUST use Audacity to create the loop itself (explained below)
2) Must upload with the following tags: "dare-29", "Audacity", "loop", "loopable"
3) Include the BPM in the name of the file and in the tags as "###BPM" - this is not required if your loop is an ambience/atmosphere/texture/drone sound that does not contain mellodic or rhythmic elements

You should post in this thread to let people know when you upload sounds.
A link to the sound(s) or pack is a good idea.

Explanation of rule 1.
You can use any sound sources (physical instruments, recordings, samples, virtual instruments) BUT the construction/mixing of the loop itself must be done in Audacity. See the thread indicated at the top for ideas on how to create loops in Audacity.
Some examples:
- sampled myself playing a loopable riff on my bass-guitar and used Audacity to trim the best take and save as a loop - NOT ALLOWED. The original sound was already a loop, you did not transform it into a loop in Audacity
- Take the above recording of bass-guitar and construct a new sequence from snippets of the original recording. - ALLOWED: You created a loop from snippets of one or more recordings.
- Assemble a loop in Audacity from individual percussion samples. - ALLOWED AND ENCOURAGED!
- Take a pre-existing loop and process it in Audacity - Hmmmmm DEPENDS: IF you just reverse a couple of hits or apply an effect, then NO. If you completely turn it into something new, then YES.

I think you get the idea

I think this is a humongous challenge, one not for the lazies like me.
I have uploaded a pack (awaiting moderation): http://freesound.org/people/afleetingspeck/packs/15245/

One could probably use these sounds and create a loop.

afleetingspeck wrote:
one not for the lazies like me.

I find myself quite limited and unfamiliar with the Audacity-only restriction...

hatchetgirl wrote:
I find myself quite limited and unfamiliar with the Audacity-only restriction...

afleetingspeck wrote:
We could always break the rules and get a little collaboration going outside of audacity?

The dare only really has one rule: the sounds must be sequenced into a loop using Audacuty. - if you break that rule, you have no dare left

OK, here it is:
http://www.freesound.org/people/AlienXXX/sounds/246417/
Now, don't tell me that it is too difficult to make loops in Audacity. - I had never tried this before.

Start with a click track, add the bassdrum.
The hihats are likely to be the most tricky, so I suggest you use a pre-made pattern and cut it up. That is what I did.

Interesting. Putting together a drum loop using only Audacity. I like how you include the working process in the sound description.

Your sound is only 3,999930s so the correct BPM is ca 120,00210003675064313625488446048 BMP (if the number of bars is supposed to be 2).

It seems impossible to cut a sound to precise length. Something happens. I had to check my own loops. Even if I have used the function “Edit/Select/Left at playback position” to cut my loops, the length is something else than intended. Has it something to do with sample length and resolution? Of academic interest only… If there is an explanation I will probably not understand it

@gis_sweden
Most Daws now offer the ability to stretch a loop to fit the tempo. So should be possible to adjust to 120BPM. The adjustment is so small, it should have no effect at all on the sound.

If your DAW or the program you are working with does not offer this, place a copy of the sample every 2 bars or trigger it in your sampler every 2 bars.

I will see if there is a way of making this absolutely correct for future loops. But consider this as a "live performance" loop, where the tempo would never be exactly 120BPM, would alsways be a bit off, and the techniques mentioned above to correct would have to be used.

Hope this helps.

gis_sweden wrote:
it seems impossible to cut a sound to precise length. Something happens.

Now I want to turn your attention to the beauty of the imperfect loop
https://www.freesound.org/people/gis_sweden/sounds/246528/
My loop does not loop seamlessly and the length is not exactly 12 seconds, as the file name says. But I like the sound and it works. I do not remember the original source of the sound. I think it was Sunrize (iPad). It was recorded in to my Kaoss Pad and the result was recorded to my Dynasonic PDR-1. Opened in Audacity. In Audacity I didn’t manage to create the perfect loop. I used the loop in Novation Launchpad (iPad) together with my latest uploads. This is the result (is it OK the post a link here?) https://soundcloud.com/gis_sweden/tiles
The track is an uneventful depiction of a sentiment… Including my Dare-29 loop.

http://www.freesound.org/people/copyc4t/sounds/248099/

Fresh from my latest track, but rebuilt totally in Audacity.
16 randomly chosen "hits", manually aligned, loosely on purpose.
Bass notes cut and manually aligned, especially because the hits are stretched and their attack is slow.
Bit of drone extracted, cross-faded, with further manual envelope reshaping on one side to keep a more constant loudness.

And now, the dark tension has become endless...

The dare only really has one rule: the sounds must be sequenced into a loop using Audacuty. wendy's lunch time surveyzop.com