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I can’t tell you how sick I am of hearing tired, canned dance beats. I don’t even like dance music. But if I have to hear it while out in public, away from the safe confines of my iPod, I might as well try to improve the quality of the drum sounds. The world has been overrun by shitty producers with their 808 samples and re-mixed Ableton Live schlock. And don’t even get me started about the kitten DJs who spin said schlock.

Stop the madness.

Loop #108

How does one try to come up with fresh sounding dance loops? Start with something that sounds nothing like a cliché electronica beat. In this case, it’s using brushes to lay down the groove. Chopped up with a touch of gating, peppered with some growly floor toms and sautéd in some extra trashy hi hats, I give you my first dance loop intended to make this genre a little more palatable (especially when served alongside a $14 gin and tonic made by someone like this).

Preview Here:

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Get the .wav file here.

Get the .rx2 file here.

Get the .aiff file here.

118 BPM

Last night I received an email from someone named Todd, with the subject, “The Money Beat”. At first I wasn’t sure what to think. Is someone with poor typing skills requesting a groove based on “Last Train to Clarksville”? Is someone holding my cats hostage again and demanding loops as ransom? Curious and slightly unnerved, I clicked into the email and read the following:

Just wanted to let you know that I used the above named loop in a new track of mine, “Manifolds V,” which you can listen to at http://www.soundclick.com/thesculptedoculus. I took out the snare on 2 and applied extensive filtering and FX. A track this meandering couldn’t possible have worked without your beat as a solid rhythmic foundation. Many thanks!

Awh yes. Several months ago, I posted a loop called, “The Money Beat”. How quickly I forget my stupid blog titles. Anyway, Todd took this particular straight ahead loop, imported it into Ableton Live 8 and crafted his own unique track around it.

Here’s a clip of my original loop:

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Here’s Todd’s track, “Manifolds V“, utilizing the loop:

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This is one of those tracks that is best listened to with headphones…. and with the lights low. Maximum, yet tasteful stereo imaging. Todd does an excellent job of taking an ominous four bar vamp and expanding upon it with layers of electronic pulses, glitched-out drums and fuzzed out crescendos until it finally peaks around the 4:30 mark.

So, who else is sitting on tracks that incorporate my loops? I love hearing the final results, especially when I can hardly recognize my original track. Email me your links… just don’t freak me out with the subject line.

Saturday Night Live’s, Shawn Pelton, is back to show us how to layer ‘down n’ dirty’ drum loops in Ableton Live.