"Music Looping Techniques - Part 1"

In this article, we will discuss editing techniques for creating music loops from longer sections of a music recording.

Timing Is Everything.

In our February, 2011 newsletter, we discussed how to best choose sections of a musical recording for use as a background music loop for your website.  Because we want to keep buffering and streaming load-times to a minimum, it is best to choose a section of music - on average between 30 seconds to one minute in length.  While a first instinct might be to use the first 30 or 45 seconds of the music track, quite often this will not be the best choice, as we want the loop to appear seamless, which means we want to find a musical section that ends in such a way as to naturally lead back - musically - to the beginning of the loop.  Therefore, it is beneficial to spend some time with a stopwatch listening to various segments of the music track.

A Musical Ear.


Finding the optimal section of music to use for your loop can definitely benefit from an educated musical ear; one that can identify harmony, key changes and musical phrases, as good loop-points can often be found at natural musical cadences.  Even without a musical education, you can often identify these points based on a repeated section of music - verse, chorus, etc., where the musical phrase repeats - for example, every 8 bars.  Try to identify the overall structure of the song - for example: verse, verse, chorus, verse, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.  Then choose a loop based on how many of these sections you will need to fill 30 or 45 seconds - perhaps that might be verse, verse, chorus (looping back to the verse).

Now that you have chosen the section to use for your loop, you will need to make use of one of the many music editing software applications available for Mac or PC.  These include programs such as: Bias Peak, Sony Sound Forge, Steinberg Wavelab, and Adobe Sound Booth.


In our next issue, we will discuss editing techniques using any of these commercially available audio programs.

Until next time,

EZ Edit Music 

www.ezeditmusic.com

EZ Edit Music was born out of the idea that web-designers and interactive advertising agencies often do not have the time or budget to hire a commercial composer to create a specifically-tailored soundtrack for their website; but have also found it difficult to find music that not only fits the necessary mood, but is also prepared in a format that is ready for internet streaming.  All of our music tracks have been specifically composed and edited to be used as website background music soundtracks, saving you the time and cost of hiring a sound editor to prepare an existing licensed music track for internet streaming(which typically costs more than the license fee for one of our music tracks).  Our music library is constantly growing and offers a wide variety of music to suit many different industries and services.  We have also created a unique search engine to help take the guesswork out of choosing the right kind of music; plus the ability for you to audition and experiment with re-mixes for any song before you license a music track from us.  We invite you to explore what we have to offer by visiting us at: http://www.ezeditmusic.com.