"Music Looping Techniques - Part 2"

Last month, we discussed editing techniques for creating music loops from longer sections of a music recording.  This month we will get into the process of making edits to your website background music track.  It is assumed at this point that you have a professional audio-editing application such as Bias Peak, Steinberg Wavelab, Sony Sound Forge, etc..

Final Loop Prep.

Now that you have chosen a section of a song for use as a background music loop - one that is typically between 30 seconds and one minute in length, it is time to start making edits to the file so that it can loop seamlessly when played back over the internet.  It is assumed that you have also pre-processed the audio file using normalization and/or compression (see the March, 2011 article, "Preparing Background Music For Your Website - Part 2").  Once your file has been trimmed to length to use as a music loop, you may want to perform another normalization process in case your selection did not contain the maximum peak-level used for the initial normalization process.  I suggest a peak-setting of between -1.0 db and -0.7 db rather than 0.0 db, as an extra measure of precaution to avoid digital distortion during playback.)

Let's Loop.


Creating a seamless loop can be a tricky process.  The first step involves setting the start and end points of the loop.  Your first instinct may be to use the exact musical beats marking the beginning and end of a musical phrase.  Often this will work fine, but sometimes shifting the start and end points of the loop back and forth may yield better results, due to the ability for you to find "zero cross-points".  A zero cross-point is the place in the audio waveform where it is at zero-amplitude or zero-volume.  As you might guess, if the waveform is at zero-volume, you won't hear it - or for our purposes, you won't hear a pop or click when the music track loops back to the beginning; and this is our goal.  To find a suitable zero cross-point, you may need to zoom into the waveform view; or perhaps use some of the many available tools found in the various audio-editing applications.  Some of these tools can not only help you find a zero-cross-point, but can also help you find the best selection to use as a loop.

Even without the use of these 'loop-surfing' tools, there are other techniques for creating seamless loops using the exact start and end points you choose.  For example, even though the song will loop, you may want the listener to hear a musical beginning of a phrase when the song first begins playback.  In our next issue, we will discuss more techniques for creating seamless music loops.

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.