Digital audio tools for sonic surgery.

Sure, loops are convenient because you can use them “out of the box.” But why be normal? Or for that matter, why put up with a loop that’s close to what you want, but not perfect? There are quite a few tricks you can use with loops to make them groovier, courtesy of digital audio editing . . . so let’s start.

Selective Removal

A common DJ technique is to take parts out of a mix — for example, remove the kick when it’s time to chill out the feel a bit, or take out the low-level percussion when you need a sparser, lighter sound. Of course, you can’t do that with a complete loop — or can you?

To remove a kick, use your digital audio editor to cut the bass response using a low-frequency shelf (a 100Hz corner frequency makes a good starting point). As the slope probably won’t be drastic enough to remove the kick entirely, repeat the removal process several times, or insert several EQs in series (Figure 1). Repeat as necessary until you’ve marginalized the kick.

Another removal technique involves using a noise gate to remove low-level signals. This can also “tighten” and “sharpen” a loop, as only the percussive peaks remain. You can apply this to the loop, or perhaps better yet, use a noise gate plug-in for realtime processing where you vary the noise gate threshold in real time.

An even more interesting option is available courtesy of Adobe Audition’s Frequency Space Editing option. This lets you cut or process specific slices of frequencies at specific levels; you can even do things like, oh, I dunno, surgically remove a kick drum from a loop. Really.

Beat Emphasis

For one tune, I’d found a loop that was perfect — except for an overly busy kick, as I needed more of a slammin’, “four-on-the-floor” vibe. The solution was remarkably simple: boost the bass region on every beat. Boosting about the first 25% of the beat (in other words, the same duration as a 16th note falling on the beat) seemed about right. This emphasized the kick when it fell exactly on the beat, but didn’t affect the other kick hits, as they simply receded a bit more into the background.

You can even use this technique to “synthesize” the feel of a kick drum in loops that don’t have one. For example, I had a conga loop that would have been ideal for a break, but it lacked a kick. Mixing a kick into the loop didn’t sound right — I needed more contrast between the “break” and what had come before, and the kick created a sort of sameness. So, I just boosted the bass frequencies on each beat. This added a cool bass “thump” that kept the beat going, without actually sounding like a kick.

This technique isn’t just restricted to bass frequencies; you can use something similar when you want to emphasize beats two and four. But this time, boost the upper midrange a bit (at around 1–4kHz, depending on the application) to boost instruments like snare. Again, emphasizing the first 25% of the beat seems to work best.

However, be careful not to boost too much — often 2 or 3dB of emphasis is all that’s needed. Second, if you do boost, it could create distortion unless you drop the overall level prior to boosting.

With any kind of boosting, though, make sure the region you boost begins and ends on a zero crossing (see Jargon Jockey). Although it’s sometimes possible to zoom way in and use a pencil tool or equivalent to “draw out” clicks that result from processing — especially if you have a lot of time on your hands, and significant amounts of patience — a click-removal algorithm intended for de-clicking vinyl can often do the job better and faster. It’s difficult to give general guidelines, because different types of de-clicking algorithms work very differently. The best approach is to experiment (make liberal use of the Undo command!) until the click disappears.

Why Be Normal?

Sure, you can just use canned loops. But why not put your own stamp on it? Try some of these techniques, and your music won’t sound like everyone else’s.